The first thing you need to know is whether it is solid brass or just brass plated.Scratch the backside of a hinge or a hidden part of your brass piece. If you see a different metal under the coating, it is brass plated. If a deep scratch, or even a bit of grinding reveal no different metal, it...
A young lady grabbed our camera in a store and begged for help with hanging posters in her room. The scotch tape marks were just pissing off her mom too much.Probably the best of the new gadgets for hanging things on a wall is the one that you see advertised so much by 3M, the plastic clip that ...
Often door and window hardware has special brass or antique finishes on it. When you spill some latex paint on it and don't get it wiped up right away, or it has been painted over time and again, stripping off the paint can be touchy because if you are trying to restore it to its original condit...
When paint gets onto concrete by accident, or as graffiti, it is difficult to remove because the concrete is so porous that the paint soaks down in.We decided to test a few different removers.Bio-Wash Masonry Strip works very well at removing oil, latex, and spray enamel paints.De-Greaser from St...
Most paint removal or building cleaning is either done with harsh solvents or harsh blasted granules like sand. The solvents are not good for the environment, and the sand can remove important outer layers on materials like brick.We visited a cleaning/stripping company in Toronto, Ontario called...
One of the cardinal rules of painting or staining in order to avoid lap marks is to apply material wet-on-wet. On an interior wall that is done by rolling small enough sections that allow you to overlap the edge with the next section before the first one manages to dry. Painting wet-on-wet does...
Cathy from Montreal has an old clothes dryer that works fine, except that there are bare metal spots that are leaving burn marks on her clothes. She wants to know if it is possible to re-enamel the inside of her machine.Yes, as long as you use a high temperature metal paint.First clean the surfa...
Before you try to paint the walls, you must properly prepare the wall and the most important step in that is probably to properly clean the walls of all the grease and smoke and dust that they collect over the years.Regular detergent tends to leave a soapy residue, even after careful rinsing, and...
The first photo shows a respirator. If you have ever used a respirator you will really love this new one. It has a quick latch release that allows you to drop it down off of your face without loosing any of the adjustments of the straps on your head, and quick latch it right back. When using...
Jim in Newfoundland has suggested using vegetable oil to remove paint from hands.Poor Phil, one of the guys who builds the props for the show, became our test subject. With dried oil paint all over his arm, he set about trying different ways of getting it off.The vegetable oil did pick up and re...
