Restoring a Clawfoot Tub: Part Two

This tub is a piece of work!! But I think the work will be worth it... I think... After one session of stripping paint, Justin and I went back to work on it. We bought a square sponge sander, and I liked how that worked. He used sandpaper. He also used to scraper to go at the tough paint on one side of the tub. Through sweat and tears, we made progress. Justin was also able to get all the hardware off except for the drain. Not sure what we are going to do about that- it's stuck pretty good.

We washed it off with wet washcloth. Some places that I read said to use "trisodium phosphate" cleanser, but we didn't. Hopefully that doesn't mess anything up for us. Another source said that if paint stripper is used, you need to scrub the tub with and acid-based citrus cleanser to stop the emulsifier. Since didn't use stripper, we just stuck with a water on a washcloth.
We used two coats of Rust-oleum's Clean Metal Primer to coat the tub after taping off the edges. It was just a white color, but it gave us an idea of what the tub was going to look like. It didn't seem totally smooth, but I really don't think that the tub was made completely smooth in 1926. I mean, so of the marks are indentations in the exterior of the tub, so we aren't going to stress about it. They add character, right?

 Rust-oleum also has a Specialty Applicance Epoxy in a Silver/Stainless Steel color. We decided to use that for the legs to give a contrast with the main exterior of the tub. Plus, we will have fixtures in that same silver family, so hopefully it will pick up on that also. Now we have to let it dry for a bit before it is ready to put the final color on. And yes, we picked a fun color to be announced in a later post!

 Here is what the claw foot looks like finished. Should have changed the settings to be more clear, but hopefully you get get idea. More updates to come...