I was painting my bedroom the other day. The windows, which are original to the house, have paint over-brush from 70 years of painting. The hardware had several paintbrush mishaps over the years.
The finish appeared to be bronze. If there is one hit on bronze finishes, it is that they are easily scarred, revealing the substrate metal. So mechanical removal of the paint was a no-no.
I tried, instead, a technique I was aware of: Putting the parts in a slow cooker.
I added water plus a few liberal squirts of Dawn dish washing liquid.
I set the unit on “high/4 hours”. The paint still adhered so I added a couple more hours and with the use of a nylon bristle brush the offending paint came off.
The second batch worked even better. I left it on high with 10 hours duration. The following morning it had cooled off and I removed the latches. I ran them under the faucet to remove the soap residue and wiped with a paper towel. All the paint wiped off.
But I would note that what I thought was bronze finish, turned out to be a combination of oxidation and (I would assume) dirt of some sort. The pieces emerged with a pink copper finish with about half the patina remaining. They appear to be solid copper or copper alloy. Since bronze is 88% copper and 12% tin, this appears to be solid bronze. I am sure they will age back to a darker color.
So if you use this slow cooker method, be aware it will likely change the patina.
After rinsing, I placed the pieces in a toaster oven at 200 degrees for about 10 minutes to drive out all the remaining water. I then soaked the latches in WD40 for about 30 minutes and drained and wiped dry with paper towels.
These latches never operated this smoothly in the past.
My findings:
The slow cooker + Dawn will remove old paint from hardware.
10 hours seems to be the magic time frame.
The operation may affect patina.
It may be necessary to use heat (a hair dryer would work) to drive out residual water.
It may be necessary to introduce lubricant to the mechanism. I used WD-40, but a very light machine oil would work also.
I am not likely to use the slow cooker for food again. Though the crock is removable and can be put in the dishwasher.
You can find these at garage sales. Don’t pay much for them. A new full-sized unit from Walmart is $40.00. A “two person” size unit is $30.00. I would go for the full-sized unit.
The finish appeared to be bronze. If there is one hit on bronze finishes, it is that they are easily scarred, revealing the substrate metal. So mechanical removal of the paint was a no-no.
I tried, instead, a technique I was aware of: Putting the parts in a slow cooker.
I added water plus a few liberal squirts of Dawn dish washing liquid.
I set the unit on “high/4 hours”. The paint still adhered so I added a couple more hours and with the use of a nylon bristle brush the offending paint came off.
The second batch worked even better. I left it on high with 10 hours duration. The following morning it had cooled off and I removed the latches. I ran them under the faucet to remove the soap residue and wiped with a paper towel. All the paint wiped off.
But I would note that what I thought was bronze finish, turned out to be a combination of oxidation and (I would assume) dirt of some sort. The pieces emerged with a pink copper finish with about half the patina remaining. They appear to be solid copper or copper alloy. Since bronze is 88% copper and 12% tin, this appears to be solid bronze. I am sure they will age back to a darker color.
So if you use this slow cooker method, be aware it will likely change the patina.
After rinsing, I placed the pieces in a toaster oven at 200 degrees for about 10 minutes to drive out all the remaining water. I then soaked the latches in WD40 for about 30 minutes and drained and wiped dry with paper towels.
These latches never operated this smoothly in the past.
My findings:
The slow cooker + Dawn will remove old paint from hardware.
10 hours seems to be the magic time frame.
The operation may affect patina.
It may be necessary to use heat (a hair dryer would work) to drive out residual water.
It may be necessary to introduce lubricant to the mechanism. I used WD-40, but a very light machine oil would work also.
I am not likely to use the slow cooker for food again. Though the crock is removable and can be put in the dishwasher.
You can find these at garage sales. Don’t pay much for them. A new full-sized unit from Walmart is $40.00. A “two person” size unit is $30.00. I would go for the full-sized unit.