The Historic District

I'd hoped to be more active (both at working on the Easton Queen Anne AND here on this forum), but twin toddlers and life in general are keeping me busy. That being said, we started on the first of one of our passion projects, restoring some of the beautiful door hardware that's been repeatedly painted over through the decades, if not outright removed. As far as we can tell, all of our original hardware is in the Eastlake style and manufactured by Reading Hardware (inc 1885).

The first piece we went after was a pair of door hinges on a horribly dog-scratched door leading up to the third floor. We went with the ol' cook it in a crockpot technique, albeit with a fondue pot we found at Goodwill for about four bucks. Worked like a charm. After simmering it for a couple hours, the paint lifted off beautifully with some brushing with a nylon brush, and a bit of work with some pumpkin-carving tools. the technique even left the beautiful patina behind. Afterwords, we just gave them a bit of a shine (and rust protection) with some beeswax furniture polish. Two down, dozens to go!

Much better ! Do you add TSP (Trisodium Phosphate)to the water you are boiling it in ? I found that worked well for me but shouldn't be used on porcelain enamel.

It feels good to see things like hinges looking like they should, after being so sad and gunky.

It does feel good, doesn't it? I didn't use tsp, although given the likelihood of lead paint here, I probably should have. It was just warm water, but I did read that some people will add a touch of dish soap to the mixture.

I have never used dish soap, though I've heard others use it.

When I've cooked the paint off metal hardware, TSP in water seems to take it off in about 10 minutes in boiling temperature water. I have never measured how much I use - it depends on the size of the pot and the amount of hardware ?

The paint seems to soften right up and off, though occasionally I have had to put something in a second time. The cooked off paint makes a yucky sludge in the pot, which is often sort of stinky, esp, if it lived with a smoker. I had a really good pointy plastic swizzle stick shaped like an arrow which helped to dig out paint from any nooks and crannies, and didn't scratch the metal.

Well, it all seems so far so good! If there are any stubborn specimens, I will definitely give the tsp a try.

Looks faboo.

I've never put TSP in my warmers either. Might have saved me some elbow grease. I will keep this in mind for future use.

Beautiful!

I've never had/done the crock pot method, just poured boiling water into a pan with the hardware...all this fancy new technology

Tsp is, by all accounts, effective, but I do have some concerns about the possibility of it being a carcinogen. They also say it can mess up the finish of some things. I'm probably going to save it for suspected lead paint on wood. Or invest in Ledizolv.

TSP will dull the finish of porcelain enamel (as discovered with an antique cup/toothbrush holder, gunked with paint).

I have not experienced any negative effects on metal. I've cooked brass hinges, screws, latches, escutcheons, cast iron light fixtures (wiring removed first !), spelter light fixtures, hooks for hanging clothes, what have you. They all came out with with an old looking patina, but weren't matte.

I don't know about the potential carcinogenic effects of TSP. It is also used as a food additive:

http://www.livestrong.com/article/51883 ... d-for-you/

I wouldn't put my face right up to where I was pouring it out the box - the label says the dust can be irritating. I have used it for years for prepping surfaces before I paint (ie wash surfaces to be painted) and I have and haven't worn gloves. I haven't developed rashes or other ill effects, except that it will dry your skin out. This is not to say that you won't be sensitive to it. That has been my experience.

I know for sure that many of the things I cooked had lead paint on them. BUT - as the paint dissolves into the solution, the chances of inhaling or otherwise ingesting lead particles are very low. I wouldn't let kids assist with this or do if I was pregnant/trying to get pregnant.

Common sense advice:
- the TSP cooking pot isn't used for food preparation, ever. Same for any tools you use for picking paint out of crevices.
- wash your hands well with soap and water after handling the TSP'd items
- scrub the sink out with a scrubber you throw out after (if you dump the cooking solution in the sink)
- use tongs to remove metal parts from the cooking solution or you'll get burned !

Those hinges are gorgeous! I'll have to keep an eye out for one of those pots at the estate and garage sales this spring. I've used TSP a number of times with good results - it really does dry out exposed skin though.