Whilst glue is helpful for allowing us to glue one thing to another, when it gets onto a metal surface it can be near impossible to completely remove. Regardless of whether your have managed to get sticker residue, craft glue or a stronger adhesive (like wood glue) onto your metal, with a little elbow grease you’ll be able to completely remove it.

If you can, take the metal item outside or open up the windows and doors to provide plenty of ventilation. Put on a pair of protective gloves, like the rubber gloves you use to wash the dishes. Apply an adhesive remover to the metal’s surface, following the instructions that came with it. You will need to wait for the remover to work, which may take anywhere from five to fifteen minutes.

Take a plastic scraper and chip away at the glue. If the remover has softened some of the thicker clumps, you can use a paper towel to remove them from the metal without getting it all over your fingers.

Mix together some mild soap with warm water and soak into a sponge. Use it to wipe down the metal surface to remove any remaining glue, as well as any leftover adhesive remover. If you notice that there is glue still on the metal, you can reapply the remover and leave it to work once more.

Rinse the sponge and use it to wipe down the metal surface once again, this time to remove any remaining soap residue. As the sponge will probably leave some moist residue, you can use a dry cloth to wipe it off. If you don’t, you are inviting rust to develop. Your metal surface should now be free of glue.

If you are sick and tired of having to repeatedly remove the tarnish from your brass objects, you may be interested to learn that applying a lacquer to the metal’s surface will stop this problem in its tracks. By following these directions and applying three to five coats of lacquer to your brass items a year, you are sure to keep them tarnish-free for good.

If you notice that your brass items have some old lacquer on them, use a small paintbrush dipped into a paint stripper to remove it. You will need to leave the item to sit according to the paint stripper’s instructions (usually no more than an hour) before removing it from the brass with a plastic scraper. If there is any stripper residue remaining, you can remove it with a paint solvent.

Give the brass a good polish with a nonabrasive tarnish cleaner, as this will remove any tarnish that the metal has developed over time. Then, you can use a rag to coat the brass with a neutralizer solvent (which will remove any traces of the chemicals left over from the cleaner).

Take a clean cotton rag and use it to polish away any spots or fingerprints from the brass surface. You can then use a small paintbrush to apply the clear fast-drying lacquer that you have purchased to the entire brass item, leaving it aside to dry. Apply a following 2 to 4 layer of lacquer to the item, leaving it to dry in between each coat.

These days, the scrap metal industry is a highly lucrative one with many opportunities for everyday people to make a little extra cash simply by getting rid of their old junk. If this is something that you are interested in getting involved in, the following tips may help you make some extra money:

• Most people hold garage sales on a Saturday morning and, by mid afternoon, anything that hasn’t sold is often tossed to the curb. You could do a drive-by to see whether anything of possible scrap value has been tossed out that you can salvage. 
• Remove any copper from the scrap metal that you collect, as it is worth more (especially when deposited in one go). This means cutting off the power cords from any appliances and electronics, as well as removing the copper coils and tubing from them. 
• Do some research online and at your local scrap metal dealer to determine how much each metal is worth at a given time – the prices can change from day to day, so it is always best to hold onto your scrap until you can get a good price for it. 
• Become familiar with the rubbish days in your local area, including the days when hard rubbish collections are scheduled. The night (and, in the case of hard rubbish, the week) before collection is often a great time to salvage some of the scrap metal your neighbours are throwing out. 

Another way that you can be sure to collect a considerable amount of scrap metal for selling to a dealer is to let your friends and family know that you are collecting old appliances and other metal objects. Most of the time, people cannot be bothered to haul these things away themselves, so they will be grateful of you taking them off their hands.