A short course in rusting tins

I've been stashing tins forever it seems and finally decided that I needed to do something with them.

I kept thinking that I had a can of Zip Strip somewhere in the garage or the Flower House but never came across it. I hated to start an all-out search for the stuff because those types of endevours always end up with me doing an overhaul of something else completely unrelated. And the next thing I know I have forgotten what I started out doing to begin with. So I got tired just thinking about it. And so I just didn't do it, thinking I would come across the can of Zip Strip in due course. And let's also mention I am too cheap to go buy a can when I just knew I already had some.

Then out of nowhere I remembered reading something about burning the paint off the tins. Since I am firing up the grill practically every day, anyhow, why not just throw a few of the tins onto the grill and have at it? It worked beautifully. Might I add that I did NOT cook the tins along with my veggies and meat. I suspect that the fumes of the burning off paint would probably taint my food. Just as a note: I got the grill fairly hot and it still took a little longer to get all the paint off than I would have estimated. It took about 10 minutes to cook up a batch. There was a lot of heat coming off that grill when these were done.

Obviously you want to let these cool.
This is what a few of them looked like. Yes, you can still see some traces on the back where the UPC was painted on. It sanded off very easily. I sanded these all over, especially along the edges and the insides. The insides were very smooth and I thought it would more difficult for them to rust if they weren't roughed up. I'm not wild about the Altoid tins that have embossed lettering on them but I'll figure out something to do with that problem later. I have enough other tins that are smooth to play with for the time being.

Here are the tools I used to get these tins all nice and rusty. I think steel wool would work well also.













This Patina Green made by Modern Options is the real key to rusting these tins. This is a bottle I have had for years and I think I have seen this at Michael's in different packaging so if you go looking for this exact product, it may not be the same. The Copper Topper can also be used. I found that it works best if you want that patina green look. You have to use a little of the Copper Topper first, then use the Patina Green over it. Otherwise the Patina Green will just rust the metal.

Use an old toothbrush or other small brush to coat your project and it starts to work immediately. I put mine out in the sun and within an hour I had some nice rusted tins. I cannot stress enough that you should wear gloves when applying the Patina Green as it will turn your fingernails green, too!