Hardware Stripping

Thought I would share a quick post on stripping all of our door hardware.  I stripped all of the plates for the knobs when we first moved in but was left with all of the hinges painted with many coats.  When we had the paint stripped off of several of the hall doors several weeks ago, my friend, Chris, stripped the paint off of those hinges however we still had three closet and bedroom doors that needed work. 
Well, I figured that I better strip them before we put them back up (we had to remove our doors to refinish the floors).  Stripping paint off of solid metal hardware is quite an easy and quick process...

1. remove hardware
2. put into old crock pot (mine was from college but they have them at goodwill or estate sales all the time)
   
3. add a tablespoon or two of TSP
4. cover with water
5. heat for several hours 
6. wash hardware off in warm/hot water using a scrub or tooth brush and the old paint just melts away

Here are a couple pictures of the hardware soaking in the crock pot and cleaning it up in the sink after. 

Also a picture of the new nickel hinges that I purchased from Rejuvenation for the bathroom-the original nickel hardware was missing and the new hinges fit right in with no adjustments needed-wow, we were lucky!  Now just to stain the doors and put it all back up!  Living without privacy is interesting but I guess a necessary step in home restoration. :)