U will have to sandblast them to bare metal, THEN paint them. Am guessing a job for the Pros with the proper tools.

I have used an old crock pot with water and powdered dishwasher detergent to "cook" off many many layers of old paint and yuck on any number of metal pieces including hinges and handles. Has worked like a charm for me. All it requires a little patience.

Haven't tried mulemom's method - but certainly will when the time comes. What a great idea.

Do think that after thoroughly cleaning and rinsing, you should apply a good quality primer coat, then paint.

Good luck!

Sorry to say, but I expect problems with adhesion for the knobs especially, not just the hinges. Items that are used everyday have a far greater chance of having the paint not adhere. And prepping metal is pretty difficult for a homeowner to do correctly. Not only do you have to bring the metal back to the original finish, you have to take it to bare metal if you want to be sure that your new paint will adhere. And not many paints have a high enough adhesion to be able to stand up to daily touching by hands and the oils and dirts that come from that. YOu'll have better luck with trying to paint the hinges than the knobs!

If you have an air compressor and small sand blast cabinet, you can strip the old finish off. Then you'll have to deal with recoating, which will be difficult. Metal primers have to go on completely bare metal. Any fingerprints or anything will show up as the "fisheyes" where the paint will eventually peel off. An acid etch bath might substitute for the sandblasting, but it's pretty dangerous if you don't know exactly what you're doing as you're dealing with muriatic acid that will burn you pronto if you make an error.

I know new hardware is expensive, but it's one thing that is worth paying money for rather than wasting your time attempting to refinish knobs. Hinges or light fixtures or other items that don't get touched have a much higher success rate.

I totally agree with live wire. I have successfully painted metal items, but ONLY things that don't get touched or moved. I painted the sconces that came with the DR, and the iron drapery rods to match. In the past I have tried painted over door hinges, and it generally ends up looking pretty awful for the reasons outlined above. It really is worth getting new hardware. And since it is changeable, you can buy something very inexpensive and change it out later for something of higher quality if budget is an issue.

Ok, I have to disagree with live wire oak.... I did a "temporary" paint job on my cabinet knobs and hinges 8 years ago when I moved into this house. I have had only one problem, it is where the knob hits the cabinet on the adjacent wall when the cabinet door is swung wide open. The paint has chipped on that one knob. The others have held up great. I did not sandblast or use caustic agents. I did clean the knobs well (see crockpot tip), screwed them into a thin board, spray painted with one of those sticks to anything primers - kilz? maybe, and then several coats of rustoleum satin. I did let them dry for about a week before I put them back on the cabinets. For me it was worth the time, and about $15 in spray paint to change the knobs on 40 cabinet door/drawers.

(Cheri--wonderful handles. I see why you had to keep them!)

Thanks for the suggestions! I wasn't clear when I said the black paint rubbed off. It only rubbed off the hinges. The knobs still look great. I did a lazy job in painting the hinges as I had serious doubt that the paint would adhere to the movement that occurs when they are opened and closed. I'm going to try your suggestions for removing the hinge paint and try to be more patient with them.
An OT question: I'm not getting follow-up emails to my post. Can you tell me what I'm doing wrong? I had a horrible time tracking this message down!