I love vintage scales. Well, I love everything vintage, but scales are one of those things I’m particularly drawn to. Years ago, when my grandma passed away, I inherited a large, hanging produce scale that used to belong to my great grandfather. It hung for years in the kitchen of our old home and I’m so sad I can’t find a place for it in the new one (yet). Here’s a photo of it. It was perfect there.

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So, I’ve set my sights on small kitchen scales in the meantime. I found this one for $6 recently at a highway antique mall, coming home from Columbia, MO.

I regret washing it before taking a first picture. It was filthy! It was total rust! I couldn’t make out the paint color, manufacturer name, anything. I often see items like this and wish I could turn back time and remove the rust (or at least some of it). So, for $6, I thought i’d give this piece a try. I researched rust removal and found that soaking in vinegar and cleaning with a wire brush does the trick. Here’s my attempt at that…

It didn’t work too well…

So, I headed to Lowe’s and picked up some CLR. I poured the CLR over all the surfaces and let soak for 2 minutes. Then scrubbed with a steel bristle brush. The steel bristles were too abrasive and removed some of the beautiful paint. So, I switched to the nylon bristles and that worked a lot better. Well, the final product wasn’t exactly what I was dreaming of, but it certainly turned a $6 scale into a fun piece for my mudroom desk.

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Tomorrow I'm heading to the gypsy caravan with my Aunt and good friend, Myssie. Both are also avid vintage hunters. We’re all day dreaming about what we may find. You have to love the thrill of the hunt!