Help painting CREAM CAN

You didn't say how you plan to apply the new primer and paint. This is most conveniently done with spray paint from pressure cans, and provides a neater job with no brush marks. Krylon is the recommended brand; it is my favorite, anyway. You can get it from the better hardware stores. Home Depot used to carry it but they don't have it anymore. As far as a protection for the bottom goes - consider cutting a round piece of stiff cardboard (shirt stiffener, tablet back piece, etc) the exact size of the bottom so it will provide protection but won't show. If you want to get really fancy you could use green felt for the bottom.

Rebecca Webb wrote:

Let chemicals do the work. Paint remover/stripper might be a good idea if the old paint didn't bond well originally (seems to be the case, if it's flaking off). It will leave a clean surface for a good bond with the new paint, probably no primer needed. The next chemical is Rust Convertor, or RustAway (one or the other). Available at most good hardware stores, it converts rust to a black oxide ready for painting. It would be in the automotive dept. A really important area to cover would be the inside bottom, especially inside the seam between the bottom and sides. Work the stuff in there as best you can. If you want to use a primer, one spray can of auto body primer should cover it--maybe two. For floor protection, I can think of two ideas--one, get some soft rubber tubing, slit it lengthwise, and push it on the bottom lip all around. Maybe you can get red tubing somewhere? Two, go to the Walmart crafts section or a crafts supply and get a couple sheets of Foamies, or FunnyFoam with peel-off backing. It's thin and molds around corners, really neat stuff--comes in all colors. Cut into 1" strips, and wrap around the bottom with 1/2" remaining to fold around the bottom edge. Or if you cut the strips accurately (paper cutter) you can start on the inside of the bottom rim, against the bottom--then wrap around to the outside so hopefully it ends up even all around. It should stick good on a fresh coat of paint--after it dries of course, but before finger oils and such contaminate the surfaces.

Ken Grunke SW Wisconsin

Coulee Region Woodturners AAW chapter

||Please advise a non-artisan (clueless about crafting) how to paint a ||10-gallon milk/cream can. || ||It's currently rusty around the bottom rim with a rust streak or two ||blemishing the current (flaking) paint job.

||My plan is, wash the can with dish soap and water inside and out, dry it, ||scrape at the rust around the bottom with a wire brush and maybe sand ||paper, prime the whole thing somehow, and paint it.

||Do I need to put something on the bottom or maybe even around the bottom ||edge to protect the floor (from paint rub-off or rust leakage or ||whatever)?

You need to kill the rust completely and permanently, or it will be back, bubblng the paint in a couple years. You can get a product at a hardware store called "Extend", offered under the Permatex or Duro label, perhaps others. Wire-brush off the loose scale, then shoot Extend on it, aerosol or liquid. It will turn the rust into a dark, inert 'primer' which will take paint. After this I'd use an aerosol primer with some rust preventative, like Rustoleam. Then apply your final paint coat.

Texas Parts Guy

The potters put a little clear silicone caulk on the bottom of pots to keep them from scratching the furniture, no doubt it would work on your can.

Rebecca, I guess my first question of you: Is the milk can made of stainless steel or is it hot tin dipped steel. If it is stainless (most are, unless it is over 40 or 50 years old) it needs to be treated differently.

PJ

I don't know! It's pretty heavy...

Thanks, everyone, for the replies! Very educational!

RW

||> It's currently rusty around the bottom rim with a rust streak ||> or two blemishing the current (flaking) paint job.

||I guess my first question of you: ||Is the milk can made of stainless steel or is it hot tin dipped steel. ||PJ

If it's rusty, it can't very well be stainless, can it? Texas Parts Guy

Rebecca typed:

Just a follow up thought... You might try to remove all of the rust by using a product called "Bar Keepers Friend". It is a powdered product - scouring powder for stainless.. You can get it in your local market or at Wall-Mart.. It is Stainless Steel friendly and will passivate stainless so that it will not rust. (Excellent for your sink and pots and pans.. I use it all the time..) It will not hurt most other metals in any way. Using that product will prep the metal for a good base coat of primer and paint. AND - as suggested by Robert - Krylon is an excellent spray paint to prep and finish your container.

HTH, PJ

Hey Texas Parts Guy,

No disrespect intended or implied.. Stainless can and will rust. Chlorine will do that job in a hurry as well as some other products. I'm a brewer (wine & beer) and use stainless containers all the time. If the surface of the stainless is compromised , it needs to be re-passivated to keep it from rusting further.

Check this web site:

Palmer (the author) is a metallurgist. His page gives a lot of info about stainless and the "problems" with it.

Hey.. I'm not trying to be difficult or to disrespect your opinion.

Thanks, PJ

||Rex B typed: ||>>>> It's currently rusty around the bottom rim with a rust ||>>>> streak or two blemishing the current (flaking) paint job. ||>

||>>> I guess my first question of you: ||>>> Is the milk can made of stainless steel or is it hot tin ||>>> dipped steel. PJ ||>

||> If it's rusty, it can't very well be stainless, can it? ||> Texas Parts Guy || ||Hey Texas Parts Guy, || ||No disrespect intended or implied.. Stainless can and will rust. ||Chlorine will do that job in a hurry as well as some other products. ||I'm a brewer (wine & beer) and use stainless containers all the time. ||If the surface of the stainless is compromised , it needs to be ||re-passivated to keep it from rusting further. || ||Check this web site: ||

||John Palmer (the author) is a metallurgist. His page gives a lot of ||info about stainless and the "problems" with it. || ||Hey.. I'm not trying to be difficult or to disrespect your opinion. || ||Thanks, ||PJ

No offense taken, it was a question that could have been phrased better. Thanks for the info.

Texas Parts Guy