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How to: Salvage the Contents of a Rusty Paint Can

by on Apr 13, 2010

Don’t you HATE rusty paint cans? Especially when they’re almost full of perfectly good paint or polyurethane? I was confronted by such a thing last week. If the can would have been almost empty, I could see (maybe) disposing of it and buying new, but this can, as you can see, was nearly full. To salvage the contents, here’s what I did:    

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First I stuck painter’s tape into the inside of the rim.

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Then I poured the poly into a new can I picked up at my local hardware store. 

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More Hints!

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  • To help prevent rusting of the new can, stick painter’s tape onto the rim and draw your brush out along that edge.
  • If rust flakes off and into the paint/poly, you can actually strain it using an old pair of nylons or cotton cloth as you pour it onto your new rust-free can.

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2 Comments

  1. Don’t holes punched in the channel prevent an airtight seal for later storage of remaining paint?

  2. This is useful to know! Also, I’ve been able to use the pump tube that some shampoo bottles have. Then the paint can be siphoned directly out into another container without the risk of disturbing any more rust flakes or dried out paint around the lid parameter.