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venetian bronze door knocker finish
Our venetian bronze door knocker finish is strikingly similar to what many manufacturers call oil rubbed bronze, aged bronze or antique bronze. All are designed to have the same effect. That of a bronze casting that has been darkened by oxidation naturally over a long period of time.
Our remarkably beautiful Venetian Bronze door knocker finish is created in our studio. It is available on all our solid brass castings and styles. Our Venetian Bronze finish is shown here on our lion door knocker.
In nature unprotected bronze hardware will darken from oxidation. Wear from use will cause the metal below to be exposed through the oxidation. When the item is used regularly the oxidation is worn through. The surface of the metal is exposed at the wear points. This reddish brown colored metal creates an attractive pattern contrasting with the parts that remain dark. With the exposed metal showing through the darkened oxidized body, a great contrast is produced.
This striking appearance has become very popular for hardware in the modern home. It creates a rich atmosphere and highlights all surrounding textures.
There is no standard for a bronze door knocker finish so slight differences may be evident if trying to match another manufacturers hardware.
The first step in our process is to clean, hand polish and satin finish the brass casting to the desired texture. The casting is then heavy copper plated to create the correct reddish brown undertone. The door knocker is then hand polished again to achieve the desired texture.
The copper plated and polished door knocker is placed in a special oxidizer that "ages" the surface to a blackish brown color. The next step is to lightly hand polish to even the texture of the surface and expose the highlights of the copper plated surface below. This presents an accurate appearance for our bronze door knocker.
The bronze door knocker provides great contrast for engraving. The engraving shows the exposed copper plating against the darkened body.
A true oil rubbed bronze finish is a living finish which starts out almost totally brown. Over time with the wear of use the copper below is exposed. This situation is not good for an engraved product such as our door knockers. The engraving would soon blend in with the rest of the surface and virtually disappear.
For this reason we perform the engraving processes just before we coat the entire piece with a clear weatherproof and UV resistant lacquer. This prevents the engraving from darkening and blending with the rest of the door knocker. At the same time the appearance of an aging bronze door knocker is preserved.
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