How to Age Galvanized Metal

 

Last week I shared with you a fun painting technique to make freshly painted items look old.  Go HERE to see it again.  I promised to share how I also turned the new galvanized metal tub into one that looks old, too.

 

I started with this shiny new tub I found at Tractor Supply.  It was the perfect size to fit on the springs of the old chair I was using as a planter.  But the one problem with the tub was that it was just too shiny and perfect for my aged chair.

 

After doing some searching online for a solution, I made a trip to my local Lowe's but they didn't have the product I was looking for.  After reading a lot of labels and remembering some of the things I'd read about aging new metals, I purchased a bottle of Professional Strength Lysol Toilet Bowl Cleaner.  It says right on the front of the bottle "Danger - corrosive".  Just what I was looking for!  The ingredients showed the active ingredient is hydrochloric acid, which I thought would dull the shininess to give the look I wanted.  

 

Since I chose to start on this project at night, I placed the tub in my driveway and covered it well with the Lysol.  Be careful!  Gloves are probably a good idea (don't ask me if I used them!).

 

...

 

 I went back inside for about 20 minutes and tried to wait patiently.  I was excited to see if it was going to work! I don't know if my next step was really necessary but I wanted to make sure the process was working.  It looked like it already was, but for good measure I took my heat gun and applied heat all around the tub. 

 

 

If I had done this on a bright, sunny day I may have tried just placing it in the hot sunshine instead of using the heat gun.  I ended up leaving the tub sitting in my driveway all night with the Lysol on it. The next morning, I did place the tub  in the sunshine for a little while before I washed all of the Lysol off with a water hose and let it dry.  And this is how it turned out:

 

I didn't apply the Lysol to the inside of the tub because I wasn't sure if it would leave a residue behind that would kill the flowers I was going to plant in it.  It worked out fine because the potting soil filled up most of the interior any way. 

 

 And with just one bottle of Lysol toilet bowl clean and a little time, the "aging" process was complete!