Whatcha Got Cookin?

This is the latch for the transom window.

It was completely covered with paint

before I tapped it with a hammer to loosen it enough to turn it

the way it's supposed to be turned.

I needed to get all that paint off,

so I decided to try out a pretty simple way to get paint off of hardware.

Use a crockpot.

I put a request out amongst my friends on social media

to see if anyone had an old crockpot they were willing to part with

(cooking items with lead paint makes the crockpot unusable for food items)

Luckily, a friend of mine had an old one that she had been trying to get rid of

and dropped it off.

So, you put in warm water and some dish detergent

(some say about 2 Tbsp, but I just squirt until I'm satisfied)

put your hardware in

and cook it on low overnight.

And when you're done, 

you have totally clean hardware

without the use of chemicals.

Once I've gotten the trim finished, 

I'll be putting the latch back on.