Painting a bread box

[3fingers]

I would like to have a metal bread box in our kitchen. My wife has agreed to this as long as it looks good- not scratched up, no rusty spots and matches other things we have. I have had no luck finding anything that passes inspection for a reasonable price, actually for any price. I have a box that the metal is in very good condition but needs new paint. I am familiar with baking on enamel, so that is what I intend to do with this piece. My question is what would you use to strip the existing paint without damaging or pitting the metal? I want it to look as close to new as I can make it, so it needs to be nearly perfectly clean. Thank you for any ideas you might share.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I've had good luck using Rustoleum Aircraft Stripper on metal goods -- it's made for taking paint off aluminum aircraft skins, so it's specifically formulated to attack paint, not metal, and it works *very* fast.

It's not gentle to your skin, though, so wear gloves and do the work outdoors, away from plants or animals.

 

[Stanley Doble]

Unless the paint is peeling I would leave it on. Sand the rusty spots with 120, sand the whole thing with 400 wet or dry. Wipe with Varsol on a rag and give it 2 thin wet coats of primer. Spray bombs will do. When it is good and dry sand lightly with 600, wipe with a tack rag and give it 2 or 3 coats of finish paint. Let dry, wet sand with 600, give it 2 more coats and let it dry. If you do it right it will look like it just came out of the factory. If not you can wet sand with 600 and give it another coat.

If all else fails bread boxes were often decorated with decals.

 

[3fingers]

Thanks to both of you for the ideas. I will examine the box closely and make a decision on trying to sand and paint or strip and start over.

 

[Stanley Doble]

If it is the original paint it is better to paint over it. If it has multiple coats of paint it would be better to strip it.

You can avoid a lot of chemicals by using a scraper with a single edge razor blade. It will not remove factory paint but will remove most repaints.

On reviewing my original post you may need to primer, let dry, sand, and give it a couple more coats of primer, then sand and paint. The secret to a perfect paint job is good preparation and building up thin wet even coats.

 

[sheeplady]

Soygel does a great job of stripping metals.

We have a new breadbox from Wesco. They used to not be available in the U.S.- mine came from the Netherlands- but you can get them now.

But I understand you wanting to restore things.