Thursday, October 8, 2009

The Height of Handiness...a COSCO Step Stool!


COSCO Step Stool Project File (Week 1):

Yeah, so, my COSCO step stool isn't quite as glamorous as the one in the advert above. That's to be expected after fifty-plus years of use and abuse. Despite a little tarnish and rust around the screw heads the chrome is in remarkably good shape. The vinyl seat cover itself was in fair condition, with the exception of a few paint splatters. A little too dated though. And not in a good way. So where to begin?

Deconstruction.


I first removed the flip top seat from its mountings. No problems here as the bolts and fasteners unscrewed easily.


I next ripped the old vinyl cover off of the steel seat and tore away the foam. The foam was so old it practically disintigrated into a poof of dust when you touched it. And then the real "fun" began.


Little did I know how difficult it would be to remove the steps themselves. The original machine screws had calcified at their connection points fusing them to the nuts. I employed a lot of Liquid Wrench (which I highly recommend) to break down a lot of the rust and other gunk.


It then took a lot of prying with the use of screw drivers, locking wrenches, and lug wrenches in order to pop the bolts. This particular screw is bent and shows a noticeable thread deterioration.

The stairs were then ready for masking and spray painting.

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