Refinishing Your Metal Outdoor Furniture
So you finally finish making your garden look amazing with one of our helpful articles, only to look over and see that your patio furniture is a rusty mess. You're probably wondering what you can do about it. Sure you can throw it out and buy new furniture, but getting that old furniture looking good again isn't difficult and you can definitely save yourself some money. If you're willing to invest a little time and a just few dollars, you can rescue that old patio furniture and give it a brand new look with a little help from naval jelly.
What's Naval Jelly?
Naval jelly is a commercial product specifically formulated to remove rust, (the active ingredient is phosphoric acid that dissolves surface rust), commonly available at most home and hardware stores. It's a great option for cleaning up metal furniture because of its thick consistency which sticks to vertical surfaces, giving the acid time to dissolve the rust.
A Word of Caution
Since naval jelly does contain acid you do need to take some precautions when using it, such as wearing rubber gloves to protect your skin, goggles to protect your eyes and working outside or where there's lots of moving air, so you're not breathing the fumes
Naval jelly should only be used on steel and iron, don't use it on chrome or aluminum and if it gets on a painted surface, wipe it off quickly or it will damage the paint.
Step 1 - Prepare the Surface
Remove as much surface rust as you can using a wire brush or steel wool. Take your time and be thorough! Doing so will prevent having to repeat steps later.
Step 2 - Apply Naval Jelly
Once the surface rust is removed, put on your rubber gloves and brush or spread a layer of Naval jelly onto the metal. Now, simply let it sit for ten or fifteen minutes. Be sure you don't let the naval jelly stay on the surface too long or it could dry out, and become difficult to remove.
Step 3 - Rinse and Dry
Using a garden hose, thoroughly rinse off the naval jelly. As the jelly rinses off it will take most of the dissolved surface rust along with it. Once it is completely dry you are ready to apply the primer.
If your furniture is deeply rusted, you may need to repeat steps 1 and 2 until you get the desired results.
Step 4 - Apply Primer
Once the rust is gone and you're down to clean, bare metal spray on a metal primer paint (sprays give the best finish - no brush marks) and let it dry.
Step 5 - Apply Paint
Once your primer has dried, complete your furniture refinishing job by applying one or two coats of metal spray paint. It helps to place old newspaper beneath the furniture to avoid getting paint on the ground.
Step 6 (optional) - Apply Clear Coat
You can add a little extra protection to your newly refinished patio furniture (and help keep it looking good longer), by spraying the metal surfaces with a clear coat.
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