23 September, 2010

Stripping Wood Doors, Part 3 -- Using Citristrip on the Hardware

We were busy this week doing a few repairs at the rental condo. Between that and client work, I haven't had much time to get back to stripping the bathroom door. But before going to bed last night, I decided I could spare a little time stripping the hardware for it.

I used Citristrip. Remember how the doorknob and plate looked a few days ago?


Here it is now. Ta-dah! Shiny.


And here it is with the rest of the hardware in various states of the stripping process.


Unlike the wood, I only need to leave it on the metal for a half hour or so, and the paint wipes right off. I used a turkey lacer to gently rub it out of the grooves. (It's the long metal needle-like thing with the curved end, on the bottom piece of paper towel.) For soaking, I use a disposable metal tray with a lid. (In this case, a pumpkin cake mold.) The lid keeps the Citristrip from drying out, and I can reuse it again. Afterwards, I wash everything in mild dish soap. It's important to bag and tag everything so as to remember where all the parts came from--there are dozens of tiny screws, in different sizes.

We won't be doing anything to polish the old brass parts; I rather like the patina. And even though the polished nickel has worn off in parts, we won't be replating it. I want it to look like the hardware has been here for generations.

I think this is even more satisfying than revealing the old wood

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I keep seeing on other blogs that just "cooking" the paint crusted hardware in a crockpot works wonders. Not sure what added to the water works best and can't remember exactly where I saw it - maybe StuccoHouse or KellyHouse (DaintyDigs). You may want to google it if you have more hardware to strip.

The Citristrip and elbow grease sure did work wonders for you!

Cheryl
Orlando

Joanne said...

Hi Cheryl, I've tried boiling parts in the past; it does work pretty well. The only problem is the lead paint fumes in the steam...and the smell. The odor of boiling paint was actually worse than melting it with the heat gun.

I've been toying with the idea of taking a hot plate outside and trying that.

But overall, I'm happy with the Citristrip; it doesn't really take much elbow grease, just a tiny bit of effort to pick it out of crevices.

Brigid Keely said...

That looks ~fantastic~.

Joanne said...

Thanks, Brigid!

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