Without any idea about what you're going to do, it would be hard to make a suggestion about it, but sometimes the metal edging could be useful for certain separation and retention functions. (In some situations, it is barely or not at all visible when properly installed.) I would complete planning for the whole yard before I chucked it. If you're determined to get rid of it, you might advertise it for free on craig's and someone might dig it out for you. Other than that, you should be able to pry it out of the ground with a sturdy, long-handled shovel. Excavate a little of it to see how it is attached with metal stakes.

The walk would disintegrate if you remove the edging and don't replace it with some type of restraining edging. While a raised edging (of some type) is a popular idea to control mulch and soil, it is not the way to do it and is an eyesore. We can't see the exact details of how this walk is constructed, but the first thing I would explore is if the existing edging could be hammered down about 3/4" below the brick surface. You would need to excavate along the side of the walk, exposing the bottom of the edging. Being very careful not to undermine any of the support material, excavate straight down. Once the edging is exposed, place a piece of wood on top of it. Hammer on the wood -- which will press on the metal edging -- and see if you can tap it down. Since it's a continuous strip, you'd need to tap a little on along the whole length and gradually work the entire strip down to the proper level. You ought to be able to determine if this is likely to work by exposing a couple of feet of edging and see how able it is to be countersunk by tapping. If it works, excavate along the entire side of the walk and tap the whole edging down. Be careful NOT to accidentally hit any of the brick. (That's how the wood piece comes in handy.) Once it is 3/4" below the brick surface, backfill the excavation with soil and mulch. If the above does not work out, you could remove the edging strip and replace it with any conventional paver restraint. Once upon a time the most common paver restraint was formed of concrete. If you have a wheelbarrow, concrete trowel and skills to mix a bag of ready-mix without making it too soupy, this is still a viable option. If you have access to plastic restraint, it may be easier for you to use, but make sure you don't disturb the area too much while removing the present edging. The plastic restraint needs a solid tamped base to sit on. Depending on what you find in your exploratory excavation, you might need to rebuild the base a little. To control mulch, the soil and mulch level within the bed should not rise higher than the walk surface. It helps a lot to have a plan that calls for solid planting rather than mulch itself as the finished product. Then you don't need to keep refreshing the mulch over the years and building the level ever higher, creating the ongoing problem of mulch sweeping or washing onto the walk.

Magnets do not stick to brass. Naval jelly wil clean the metal up for further finishing. You can easily make a large trough with some thick plastic sheeting and a few pieces of 2x lumber to create a raised edge. Do the work outside in a place that does not have a lot of grass.

I pulled up all the carpet on the stairs but not in the hallway yet..that will probably happen this weekend as the railing is going to be replaced on Saturday. one of the steps to see if that would help and it seems ok. I found the holes from the tac strips aren't bad because they're tucked away at the sides/ends. ANd they didn't seem to leave the rough edges that the staples did. There wsn't any glue under our tac strips. DO you have pics?