How to Age Galvanized Metal Containers

CreekLineHouse .
by CreekLineHouse .
7 Materials
$15
90 Minutes
Easy

Old galvanized metal can be so beautiful and so full of character. There are many ways to quickly “age” shiny new galvanized metal, but a lot of them use scary harsh chemicals so they didn’t appeal to me so much. Read on to see how I age galvanized metal containers quickly using just basic household ingredients!

Well, it turns out that there are a lot of ways to do this. Some of them really fast, some of them a little less. Almost all of the methods that I came across used scary harsh chemicals though, which you know I’m pretty freaked out by. Some of the methods listed actually used some normal, seemingly harmless ingredients, but upon closer inspection it turned out that the instructions were to mix the two chemicals together in a way that I knew was a big no-no. For example, one method suggested mixing vinegar and bleach together. Mixing these two things together causes toxic chlorine gas so definitely avoid that method, even if you’re working outside.

Another method suggested mixing vinegar and hydrogen peroxide. Mixing these together creates peracetic acid which, again, you don’t want to do. I used a safer variation on this method which turned out be super effective, but not so scary.

I put some table salt in the bottom of my plastic container and then filled it up with my vinegar.

[You may also like: How to Age Terracotta Pots With Paint!]

After the vinegar bath, my containers were pretty well aged, but I felt like I wanted to see if I could take things just a bit further. There were still some spots that seemed a bit shiny and a little too new looking for my liking. So I rinsed my containers thoroughly to remove all of the vinegar then dried them really well.

Next I put about 2 tablespoons of salt in a little plastic container along with about 1/4 cup of the hydrogen peroxide. I dipped a paper towel into the mixture and wiped by buckets down with it. Then I left them to sit outside for about half an hour. 

I’m so thrilled with how well this experiment to age galvanized metal worked out! I definitely have plans to do quite a few more of these for various uses this summer now that I know how easily it can be done!

I recently shared detailed, in-depth videos of this process on  Instagram Stories, give me a follow for more real-life, fun projects!

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