Need some restoration advice ...

[Thumper]

I was at an estate sale a few weeks ago and spotted an old CocaCola cast iron bottle opener on a wall by the fridge. (it was an OLD frame house) It looked like it had been there for a bazillion years and was painted over (who knows how many times?) I know these are collectible and this is an old StarrX opener, so I scrounged around, found a screwdriver and removed it from the wall. The woman running the sale said she didn't even realize it was there, then gave it to me for 25-cents. It's not a bazillion $$$ treasure, but they are in demand and will bring an easy $20. It even has the (original?) slotted screws with it. Now MOST items like this, you'd never try to "clean up" ... people LOVE "patina" ... but in this particular case, I think it'll sell better with the paint removed as it has built up house paint which blocks 90% of the detail ... I believe probably an old oil-based, gloss, latex. (I'm guessing as I'm not a house paint expert)

I have a wire brush on my bench grinder, but I'd rather not be that aggressive with it. I have a gallon can of lacquer thinner in my garage, but I soaked it in that stuff for a full day and it didn't do a thing ... as in zip, zilch, nada. I really have no clue what paint I'm dealing with, but I'm sure it's nothing exotic. I also don't want to spend $10 for some fancy-schmancy paint remover just to find out it won't work either. Besides, anything I spend, cuts into my profit. ;)

Any ideas how to remove the paint from this thing without damaging it? It's really a nice old piece ... just needs to be brought back to life (as cheaply as possible).


4423

[BarryBobPosthole]

Beats me. I'd think some kind of stripper might work. It'll take some elbow grease though.
BKB

[Buckrub]

I have one of those.

Watching for a good answer here.

[Thumper]

Yeah, I'm thinking some of that "gel" type stripper. I've used it before, just can't remember what types of paint it works with. Plus, I have to keep price in mind as it would be silly if it only comes in quart sized cans at $12.95/qt. I suppose the best thing to do is sit on it a while and scan these estate sale garages for some paint remover for pennies on the dollar, then do some experimenting.

[Niner]

The best way to clean something like that IMHO is with a "sand blaster" using glass beads as the blasting media. Walnut huls work really good too.

When I was in the Navy, me and a couple of buddies had a little side bidness with a custom chopper shop. The owner of the shop was an airbrush artist and he made some very nice custom paint work for Harleys. One of my buds worked in the Non Destructive Testing section of the Jet Engine Overhaul plant. At that time in history, the powers-that-be didn't mind if we worked on personal stuff after hours. We had access to several different blaster cabinets and would pickup tanks, frames and all sorts of motorcycle stuff that needed stripping. We'd blast the stuff with either aluminum oxide, or glass beads, or walnut hulls depending on what the base metal was.

We did't get rich, but we did make enough to keep the beer fridge full and buy a few parts we needed for our scooters.
Sooooo....anyway....my vote is blasting it with glass beads. IF it is cast aluminum, the beads won't hurt the metal. Of course it could be cast iron....in which case the beads won't hurt that either.

[Big Skyz]

Call and ask these guys. http://www.ricksrestorations.com/ they restore a lot of old pop machines and coolers. If anyone would know, it would be them.

[Thumper]

Cool Buckster! As I said, they aren't worth a ton, but they sell about as fast as they get listed. There's just not enough cushion there to warrant spending any money to clean it up. Is yours an old StarrX? There are a lot of repops out there ... but I'd guess if you have one, it's an oldie.

As an example, here's one that just sold for $18.50 ... not earth-shattering, but hey, I only have a quarter invested and I work on margins. ;)

http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTU2OFgxNTM4/z/wc4AAOSwuMFUijRa/$_57.JPG

[Thumper]

Ha ha! Yeah B/S ... I watch his show all the time. It was a spin-off from Pawn Stars. I actually met him years ago in Vegas. My dad used to live there and ran the Vegas plant building custom Camaro/Firebird and Toyota/Datsun convertibles there. They crossed paths quite often and I was over at his place once, years ago. He wouldn't remember me though. Cool show. He's pretty pricey, but does great work.

[Buckrub]

I screwed mine to the door jamb under the wheelie shed a deer camp! Now I remember.........

Looks cool there.

[Chicken Dinner]

Well, if it's cast iron I'd try to strip it like I would a pan. Stick it in a trash bag with some oven cleaner and put it out in the sun for a few days. I'm thinking the lye might eat off the paint.

[Thumper]

That's a possibility CD ... never thought of that. Heck, oven cleaner will eat ANYTHING off! 'Course I'd have to buy some oven cleaner ... we've had nothing but self-cleaning ovens for years. :(

But ... I also have a stack of cast iron pans here I need to clean up, so maybe I should spring for a can of the stuff.

[Thumper]

I screwed mine to the door jamb under the wheelie shed a deer camp! Now I remember.........

Looks cool there.

I'll send you a repro to hang on the wheelie shed ... send me the StarrX. :D

[Captain]

A gallon of vinegar is dirt cheap.
Let it soak for awhile. Should bust it right off.
If not send it to me and I'll send you a dollar 2-98

[Thumper]

Vinegar would work for rust Cappy ... don't think it'll do a thing with paint. Plus you can't leave vinegar on cast iron for very long or it'll eat into the iron and pit it.

If I used oven cleaner, I'd prolly dunk it in vinegar afterwards for a couple minutes just to neutralize the oven cleaner, then rinse it well.

[LJ3]

Why the hell are we still talking about this?

Seafoam, duh.

[BaseballCoach (Rev A)]

All strippers are acidic or alkali, either will pit the metal if left on. Niner is right, a small blast cabinet with glass beads would be perfect. Lots of folks have bench models, start checking the garages and out buildings at all those estate sales. Of course, then you would have to buy Bucky's air compressor.

[Thumper]

Ha, I've has an air compressor practically since I learned to walk. I'm not sure I should spring for a bead blaster to clean something worth $15-$20 though. ;)

Course it would be nice for all this cast iron I have around here ... but I'll prolly pass.

[BarryBobPosthole]

Thumper, have you checked the oil in that air compressor?

BKB

[Thumper]

It has oil????? :confused:

[Buckrub]

You know y'all are jerks, right?

[BarryBobPosthole]

I'll just leave this here, purely as comic relief understand since some folks who shall remain nameless seem to not understand humor....

BKB



4433

[Buckrub]

See above.

[Buckrub]

You need to read this. Honest. You'll like it. If it fits anything, well, that's just gravy.

http://www.cracked.com/blog/5-types-people-who-always-give-terrible-advice/

:)

[Big Muddy]

I admit I didn't read all the link, but I did like this pic from the link....sorta reminds me of a toga party we had at MS State back in 1970....best I can re-collect about it, anyway....however, I vividly remember waking up that morning, and there was a Holstein cow, grazing on the frat house lawn.


4440

[Buckrub]

And for MS State, that was abnormal how??????????

:)

[Big Muddy]

And for MS State, that was abnormal how??????????

:)


Well, it shoulda been an Angus or Hereford cow....there weren't any Holsteins for miles around....nobody claimed it, so we had steaks, that night. ;)

[Thumper]

Dang Muddy! 1970? I think you're mistaken. This was a pic of a toga party I attended ... that's Tenn. Vol. orange there! ;)

[Buckrub]

Well, it shoulda been an Angus or Hereford cow....there weren't any Holsteins for miles around....nobody claimed it, so we had steaks, that night. ;)

Of course you did........having all passed "Cow Butchering 101"...........

:)

Seriously, you ought to read the link. It's funny as heck.

[Thumper]

I think I made it about 1/3 to 1/2 way through ... then scanned down. I guess Muddy and I have the same interests ... that's the same pic that caught my eye. Sorry, funny article, but my ADD kicked in and I had to move on. ;)

[Big Muddy]

Of course you did........having all passed "Cow Butchering 101"...........

:)

Seriously, you ought to read the link. It's funny as heck.

Yep, I read most of it....good stuff!!!

And, yes, I DID take two semesters of a Meat Processing course, at MS State....learned a TON of good stuff about processing beef and pork....I can skin, gut, and quarter a deer in about 3 minutes....even quicker, if a warden is close by ;)

We processed all the meat that was fed on campus...I started out on the "kill floor"....hogs got a quick slit to their carotid, and bled out....beef got the stun-gun between the eyes....I carried that stun-gun around in a holster....I got straight A's, too....the prof's called me the "Zapper"....sometimes we even worked weekends for extra course credit....I zapped 75 beef and bled 60 hogs on one Sat. morning....then, the work started for us, to get all that meat processed for the next week's campus meat supply on Monday morning.

Sounds sorta morbid, but that's the way it's done.

[HideHunter]

You need to read this. Honest. You'll like it. If it fits anything, well, that's just gravy.

http://www.cracked.com/blog/5-types-people-who-always-give-terrible-advice/

:)

You were right.. I liked it..