RUST-OLEUM
The old planter shelf sat beside the house, baking in the sun and rusting. Faded, looking more like the rubbish stacked upon it, the garden shelves were a step from becoming Scrapper Stan’s property.
Mom wouldn’t have it on the screened porch although it would be a perfect replacement for her time-ravaged plastic planter shelves. She had a solution: How about some paint?
“Ace is the Place” remains true. The same sticky oil-based Rust-Oleum of my youth is still available. But instead of slopping it all over our rusted swing-set, we went New Hat all the way. A set of wire brushes, half a dozen foam brushes, and half a pint of Flat Black. Sharing the labor, they set to wire-brushing while I made a pitcher of grapefruit-crush from scratch, fresh from the tree. While they sipped, I wire-brushed one more time. Then all of us, to the painting!
Daub, stoke, dab, swipe. All manner of applications. The Rust-Oleum covered wonderfully. Across both smooth and imperfect steel, its flat black reversing years of sun damage, the oil-based paint sticking tightly to the wrought surfaces. One coat was nearly perfect, but an hour later we hit a few spots with another light coat. Wow, what a transformation! Rust-Oleum, still a winner for the professional and do-it-yourselfer alike!
American Toolbox 
March 18, 2018 at 12:09 pm
Can’t go wrong with Rust-Oleum…Use it around the house and specifically the metal railings down the front stairs. A tried and true product.