CAST IRON GARDEN PLANTER

[Cobalt*Blue]

I just finished restoring this cast iron garden planter for my girlfriend. This is one of those projects that for one reason or another grew from a half hour scrape & paint to 10+ hours of a more detailed restoration.
The planter was on a low stone wall in the back yard and the hedges had covered all but the top rim. I pulled it out and found that it was more substantial than it looked (45-50 lbs.). After a quick scrap of the loose paint I realized that this item had great detail that was 75% occluded by 75-100 years of paint jobs. I just couldn't half a$$ paint it. After some trial and error I found that an old steel dental pick worked to gouge and scrap the paint form the recesses. I painted it with a rust inhibitor paint and added the color to the leaves and berries for this it the area that I had invested the most time removing the paint.
I metal detect because I like to find older things. I find that many of the older items are made better and were for years of use not to satisfy the impulse purchase. Cleaning and preserving some of my metal detecting finds keeps me interested in the hobby between the better scores. Now I'm cleaning and preserving my girlfriends yard adornments and have begone to wounder about the case and effect relationship of my metal detecting mind set and life in general. hh blue

 

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[Monty]

Nice job. Will look good with some flowers planted again. Monty

 

[Cobalt*Blue]

Thank you for the kind responces Monty and texastee2007. I'm going to sneak it back into the girlfriends yard and plant it with a nice assortment of flowers Monty. She just had to give up a horse that is sour and un-safe to ride and could use a little surprise. Texastee2007, there is no drain in this planter but there is a grate that creates a void at the bottom to keep the roots safe from over watering. hh blue