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FEATURE
before after
For my next product endorsement, here’s an inexpensive plas- back. And an old lesson from Dad: when you stop for the day,
tic gadget called a “Can Holster” that I purchased at Lowe’s. It clean all your tools, especially the brush. One unforgivable sin
solves the problem of the edge of a 1-gallon can getting filled when I was a kid was to “heel” the brush, which meant leaving
up with paint as you strip excess off of the brush while painting. a lot of paint to harden in the bristles up near the handle.
You can then replace the lid cleanly by tapping it into place
with a hammer (I used a rubber mallet) and it doesn’t get glued I had compulsively calculated the total square-footage of the
down. Below the edge on the near side in this view there’s a parts needing painting: there are 123 balusters, each 30 inches tall
ledge for stripping the brush, and the pocket is convenient to and 1½ inches on each of four sides, six railings and balusters,
hold a brush, as illustrated. A picture of their product is repro- 104 inches long, whose tops and two sides’ measurements were a
duced at the top of page 28. total of about four inches in width in height. It appeared that the
estimated coverage of the gallon of paint would be enough. How-
Here are a few things I have learned during this project. The ever, here’s something that almost any home-handyman knows:
most important is this: as you do the painting, do the top rail any project worth the title will require at least a couple of trips to
last. It’s tempting to do it first because it’s right there, easy to the hardware store. Sure enough, I underestimated how much
see and easy to get to. But unless you are young, flexible and sandpaper I’d need and I couldn’t find the paint mixer that fits
agile (none of which describe me) and it’s wet, you don’t have into an electric drill and that I had last seen about 35 years ago, I
anything to grab onto to help you get up off of your knees. Do didn’t have any disposable gloves, and as of this writing, I still have
you have to ask how I happen to have figured this out? Next, if two sections to paint. We shall see…
you’re using a water-based paint, keep a bucket of water nearby
into which you can dunk, dip, drop, slosh or throw whatever Fred H. Olin, M.D. is a retired orthopaedic sur-
needs it. That way you can break for lunch and whatever tools geon who is blessed that he doesn’t have to prove to
you’re using can go into the bucket for the duration and you you that he’s the best inside-the-house painter you’ve
will be able to clean them up and keep working when you get ever met…but he is.
visit us at www.bcms.org 29
