*This is a sponsored post – I was provided the Sonicrafter F50 free of charge from Rockwell Tools.  All opinions are my own.

Have you ever tried refinishing metal garden art?

My Mom asked me if I could do anything with these ducks;

Metal Garden Art - refinishing our ducks

While trashing them seemed like the best option, I decided to ‘duck’ around a bit and see what I could do.  Trust me the rust, peeling paint and mildew made me hesitate, but when you’ve got nothing to lose, why not try right?

Metal Garden Art - refinishing our ducks

The wing on this metal garden art duck/goose had actually rusted completely through in a couple of spots, but the shape was so cute and you can see potential here right?

Sorta, kinda, almost potential?

LOTS of potential if you have a Rockwell Tools Sonicrafter F50 (or even F30)

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Click image to go to Rockwell Tools

 

The Sonicrafter F50 – which is the big brother (in terms of power) to the Sonicrafter F30 – is an oscillating tool with interchangeable heads for sawing, grinding, detail sanding and even pipe cutting.

And the best part?

It comes with all of these attachments and accessories!

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Click image to go to Rockwell Tools

When Rockwell approached me about reviewing the Sonicrafter F50 I was hesitant – I mean, I don’t do a lot of grinding, pipe cutting or even sawing…

but I do a LOT of sanding, and a detail sander was one thing that was missing from my arsenal.  Check out the short work it made of the peeling paint, and more importantly, rust on my metal garden art:

Metal Garden Art - refinishing our ducks

This would have destroyed the pad on my regular sander – sharp metal tends to slice through sandpaper.  The Sonicrafter F50 breezed through it and ground all of the rust off completely – important if you are thinking of doing a metal project.

NO RUST can remain, or your work will just peel off in a matter of months.

To use the detail sander properly, you need to apply even pressure to the entire surface of the sanding pad.  I made the mistake of putting extra pressure on the tip (to get into really tight spots) and I did manage to melt the attachment tip.  Rockwell was wonderful and sent me a new sanding attachment and another set of sanding pads (even though it was my fault) – so I will tell you that their customer service is fantastic.

I washed my ducks down with some TSP to remove any lingering mildew and rust dust and I was ready to prime.

Now I know that most spray paints say “paint and primer in one” – but after having spray painted more than a few (dozen) items during the course of this blog, I will tell you that actually priming your piece with a separate primer is the way to go.  It blocks rust and remaining colour, smooths the surface and gives the spray paint something to adhere to.

In my books it’s a must-do step.

Metal Garden Art - refinishing our ducks

Once the primer was completely dry, I tried out some of Rustoleum’s scrumptious new colours – Key Lime and Aqua.

Metal Garden Art - refinishing our ducks

Aren’t they gorgeous?!

I used a bit of craft paint for the flowers on their hats and then sealed it with a gloss spray paint (on the flower only – don’t spray over top of your ducks/piece because it will ruin the finish – as you can see on the key lime duck/goose).

Metal Garden Art - refinishing our ducks

Metal Garden Art - refinishing our ducks

Do I need more metal garden art on my porch?

No, my little 10 X 8′ is packed – but I’ll make room for these guys.

Have you been out and about and seen items that you thought were beyond repair?

You’ll need to save this to refer back to:

Metal Garden Art - refinishing our ducks

Pretty cool for just ducking around!

ROCKWELL TOOLS

Have a great one!

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