Wrought Iron Maint.

[Guest]

Besides Hedges, I hate wrought iron.

Mom has wrought iron with the decorative swirls on her house. Front and back, railings,, porch support and handrails. It is needing old paint removed, scrubbed with a wire brush, rust removed and painted.

I have a buddy of mine doing his at this moment. He is not happy about doing his, and confirms what he and I have known since were kids. 1) the builders need choking for using these, 2) no good way to maintain.

If I were rich - I'd get a sandblaster and then spray paint the blasted things.  No wait, if I were rich, I would have them replaced with maintanence free material.

Anyone have any really great ideas on this wrought iron upkeep?

Me...I'm going to hit the rust spots with a can of Dollar Store white spray paint. There has to be some Boy/Girl Scouts in need of some project money.  

I do not have time, do not want to do this. I have done some of the other fun stuff ones does , from attic to yard, this, sorry, I gotta say no. Everyone has something that they flat say no to, this is mine.

When I built a house years ago, I had no hedges and maint. free exterior.  

Told mom perhaps she needs to retire and get her an apartment in one of them retirement communites. Feed the ducks at the pond and drive the maint guy nuts with all her projects. I have made plans to be out of town if  and when she moves. Makes no difference if and when she does move - I am going to be out of town, having surgery, something - anything.

How one woman can have so much stuff in such a little house is beyond me...

I'd use birdshot and #9 shot, rock- salt - something  with a shotgun to blast the paint off the wrought iron, somehow I don't think mom, the neighbors, or police would appreciate my ingenuity...

Ya'll come up with a good idea or a needy Scout Troop for the wrought iron.

  I am making plans for the Attic Project entailing duct work being spruced up, new duct wrap and all that fun stuff.

*scratch scratch- itch -scratch scratch*

[Larry Ashcraft]

Remove, have sandblasted and powder coated.  Expensive though.

You can get a sandblaster from Sears for about $50.  The expensive part is the air compressor, though.  Maybe borrow or rent one.  Sandblasters are air hogs though, so you need a big compressor.

Don't use dollar store paint.  Use Krylon over Krylon primer, it will last much longer.

[charby]

My dad painted our wrought iron railings with Krylon ruddy brown primer and then used a black machinery/farm implement enamel for the color coat, my parents lived there for 17 years after he did that and it didn't flake or rust.

[cfabe]

I recently repainted a wrought iron handrail with black rustoleum and a brush. Took two coats of black to cover the white, but it came out well. However this was indoors, not outside rusty metal. I do have the same railing outside that also needs paint. I am planning to remove and sandblast, but I already have all the sandblasting equipment. If I did not, I would probably wire brush what I could and repaint. Check into POR-15, I've never used it but it's supposed to be excellent over rusty metal, and is marketed primarilly as a chassis paint for auto restoration.

[Larry Ashcraft]

Edit for my earlier post: RUSTOLEUM is what I used on my deck railing, not Krylon (thanks cfabe for the reminder).

POR-15 works very well.  I used it to restore the battery tray on a 50+ year old tractor.  It turns rusty metal into a hard, stable black material.  It is available through Hemmings advertisers and also from the Eastwood company, if I remember right.

[280plus]

Naval Jelly, sounds similar to the POR-15 just mentioned. Then Rustoleum primer and then Rustoleum paint.

[grampster]

Steve,
You need to find a 60 something, newly retired, anal, workaholic.  Doing that railing would be just what the doctor ordered and mom could make him lemonade and bake him cookies.

[mfree]

280Plus, POR-15 is a coating, not a stripper like naval jelly.

However, naval jelly works *great* on rust and is easy as pie, brush on, leave, blst off with garden hose, let dry, paint. Viola.

[Paddy]

I'd just wire brush and hand sand the thing to get it as smooth as possible, then paint it with a couple of coats of Rustoleum.

[Guest]

Thanks folks for some ideas and suggestions.

The $1 can of paint is to "hit that rust spot a lick"  to buy time .  I didn't get to be a 50 y/o eldest son by being totally stupid all these years.

Rule 1: cover up temorarily, buy time, and one does not hear fussing anymore -that day and maybe the next few.

My buddy called , the one doing his. His suggestion was to suggest to mom to sell the house and get an apartment. I reminded him of all  her junk and moving. He then suggested I might want to join the Military , and see the world. I reminded him that I am only two years younger than him - being 50 I don't the Military will consider me.  He mentioned basically I was screwed and perhaps the wire brushing and paint fumes had kilt even more of his brain cells.

Doing the attic stuff is going to buy time. Maybe if I put this off , it will be too cold to do this. Gets really cold, maybe the paint will just flake off. . It "could happen".

I have this idea  Like gampster suggested.  Gonna poke around and inquire if mom has some old guy at her church that likes to piddle and make a mess.  I do not know if her church has any scouts, that too is an option.

Gotta be careful about asking questions about mom's church - wouldn't want to give any wrong impressions or nothing.

My best recourse since the $1 can of paint is working so far...
Is to let my buddy do all his wrought iron and learn from all his experience.

Now...if I can figure out a way to get his wife mad at him....reallly really mad...maybe he will volunteer to go to Mom's and do her railing to stay away from his wife yelling.

This could work...

[K Frame]

I use Krylon rust converting primer and it's Krylon paint counterpart.

This circa 1903 light fixture, is an example of the Krylon treatment.




It's the original fixture for that location, but my Grandparents, when they owned the house, took it off and replaced it with a faux colonial lantern. Mom found the iron base and the globe in the basement (Grandpa never threw anything out). the base was very rusty. A wire brushing to remove the rust, paint stripper to remove the old paint that was still adhering, a bit of rewiring, and then two coats of Krylon rust converter followed by Krylon gloss black spray paint.