Please don't hang me up by my thumbs, even though I deserve it.
I stripped down and cleaned the shell last night and let the hardware soak in "Safest Rust Remover" (SafestRustRemover.com). The hardware came out looking pretty good. The small copper cups that hold the tube lugs from inside the drum came back to life the most vibrant. The lugs look prety good. Not new, but I hope I look as solide and strong when I'm pushing 80 :)
The tension rods are relatively rust free and will get a little more attention. I went over the hardware with a bottle of Degreaser that was included and polished the lugs, tenion rods and washers, copper cups with a light touch using 0000 steel wool. I'm not sure what the tube lugs are made of, but they are heavy. I thought they may have been brass before I started working on them, but they have a chrome steel like appearance now that they have been cleaned. Is there a
The top hoops looks much better, but has some damage from the rust. It is a light colored brass. Plated maybe?
The bad news:
I cleaned the shell last night with some soapy water. I decided that soaking it in Dawn dish liquid for an hour might help to erase some of the dirt buildup. I checked it a couple of times, used a soft cloth to clean it a bit and let it soak a little more. Went over it again with the cloth, dried it. It looked much better and I went to bed. I looked at it this morning, and the paint has puffed up in places above and below the bead, and has popped of in a couple of places exposing the brass shell. I feel like an idiot!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I didn't even think about that possibly happening. I'm guessing there were enough nicks and scratches in the paint to allow the moisture to get behind the paint and cause it flake. The interior is fine, as it didn't affect it at all. This was a hard lesson to learn.
So, what do I do now?
1. Wear a mask (Lead paint I suppose) and gently sand down the exterior and apply a flat lacquer to hopefully prevent more paint from coming off along with any potential lead paint vapor?
2. Remove the rest of the exterior paint and play it as is? I have seen a few old drums of this era on ebay, so I now suspect that they may have also had their exterior paint removed for some reason such as this. But, I am speculating, of course.
3. Remove the exterior paint and apply a similar color paint to match the inside?
4. Head to the nearest tall building and jump?
I know #4 is the obvious choice. Any other suggestions? What would you do?