Since we moved into our farmhouse at the beginning of this year I have decided to go with a more "rust and dust" type of decor. After shopping at several antique malls I fell in love with rusted sawblades! After deciding to do my entry in rusted sawblades I went back to the antique malls to get my rusted sawblades and that is when I noticed the price! Holy cow! $18 bucks was the average...per blade! After a long day of shopping I arrived home with no purchases but plenty of ideas! I remembered that when I was in High School and took Shop class (yes...girls can take it too) we had a project on how to remove rust. The problem was the shop class didn't have anything rusty so we had to make it ourselves. With my past now colliding with my future, I decided to rust my own sawblades. And it begins.....
You will need:
Bleach
Apple cider vinegar
Metal cookie sheet with sides (do not plan to use this cookie sheet for anything else)
Spray Polyurethane
Saw Blades (small enough to fit inside a cookie sheet pan)
And lets rust! Find an area outside or in the garage where you can set up a small table. Bring out your sacrificial cookie sheet and set it on top of the table. Mix one cup bleach with two cups of apple cider vinegar. (FYI - Make sure that you are wearing old clothes in case you spill the bleach) Pour the mixture into the cookie sheet making sure it doesn't spill over. Slip one sawblade into the mixture and wait about 5 - 10 minutes. You can actually see the sawblade beginning to rust almost immediately! After 5 - 10 minutes carefully lift the sawblade out of the mixture and place against something outside where it can stand up. I used the side of the front porch but trees would be good as well. The sawblade will continue to rust outside for the next 24 hours. If the rusting is not deep enough, you can repeat if needed. After the blade is rusted to your satisfaction you need to spray polyurethane on both sides to seal in the rust and congrats! You just saved money! You could also probably make money with them as well just check out the prices on Etsy and EBay!
Note - This is not limited to just sawblades. There are quite a few things you can rust that are metal. Let your imagination go!
PS...I accidentally bought a no rust sawblade at a yardsale and I did get it to rust but it took me about three days of dipping and drying. It is much easier if you don't get those :-)
Happy New Year from Casa Del Paca!
Edited to add - These sawblades can be sharp so they need to be secured to the wall at a height that small children can't reach. They also look great above the kitchen cabinets but my all time favorite way to display them is framed. I buy a piece of black felt and an 8 x 10 frame from Wal-Mart and simply take the frame apart and use the black felt as the background and lay the sawblade on top of it. It looks stunning and is much safer with small children.
