[Shop-talk] Painting a steel gate

[Karl Vacek]

I agree - looks like a RustOleum job to me.  Wash it and scrub with 
Scotch-Brite, rinse well, and that should take care of your prep.  If any of 
the rust is significant, RustOleum makes a prep product called Rust Reformer 
that's essentially phosphoric acid in a latex paint base.  Sounds pointless, 
but I've used it on heavily rusted outdoor stuff that then sat outside for a 
year or two before painting, and it held beautifully.

If the rust is light, RustOleum 769 red primer works fine.  Spot prime as 
necessary (no need to prime overall), and either spray or brush on the 
topcoat as you prefer.  I've found that RustOleum tends to wear and wear, so 
the better a film you put on now, the longer it should last.  We've had 
stuff go decades and still look good.

No interest in RustOleum - just a satisfied customer.

Karl



> At 05:43 PM 1/17/2009, old dirtbeard wrote:
>
> >I have a steel outdoor gate across my drive that needs painting. I don't 
> >know
> >if a rattle can would suffice or should I sand, prime and brush it, etc. 
> >It
> >has some light rust:
>
> Doug,
>
> From the pictures, it looks like the original paint is pretty
> oxidized.  I would think
> that you'd want to really rough it up to give the new paint something
> to stick to.
> If not, I think the new paint won't stick very well.
>
> As to how you apply the paint, a brush will give you a thicker coat, which 
> for
> an outdoor application like this might be better.
>
> As to the paint, I think I'd use something like Rust-o-lieum or one
> of those types
> of paint.  They are designed for metal, covering some rust, and outdoor 
> uses.
>
> John