Refinishing a metal/iron cart

[Powermuffin]

Hi all. I bought a pretty garden cart that is rusty and has never been painted. I know that I can take the rust off, but I am wondering, once that is finished, if I should leave it be, coated it with something or paint it? I want to keep it from further deteriorating. I will keep it covered in bad weather and use it on our deck/patio for serving food and drinks.

Any experience with this?
Thanks,
Diane

[Al F. Furnituremaker]

Hi Diane,

When I need to restore old metal without painting it, I clean it the best I can. Then spray some rust converter (used by auto finishers) all over it. It turns the rust and metal a dark grey. I then put a clear coat over that.

I've just done this on the cast iron casters for a Wooten Desk restoration. They are no longer rusty, but still look old.

[Powermuffin]

Thanks for the info. What kind of clear coat and where would I find it?
Diane

[Al F. Furnituremaker]

I'm not at my shop now so I can't tell you the brands but I got them from an independent auto body paint & supply store. (not any of the chains) I buy professional products for my customers to ensure quality results.

[lovesickest]

Hi Diane.

These are some before and after pics of a vintage porch glider that I fixed. I looked online - and some porch glider sites had a really professional refinishing process - ie sandblast it to remove old paint, then primed/painted at an automotive painter or powder coated. This was out of my reach on several levels, for a cheap thing from Craigslist. I just wanted to fix mine so that it was more attractive with some more good years left in it.

This is what I did: I scraped as much loose rust/paint off as I could with a wire brush, and sanded down any really high spots (it had a drippy DIY paint job in a far away past). I read about a product called Ospho - that converts rust to an inert substance. However - that was very hard to get in Canada. I used a Tremclad product called Rust Reformer instead, and covered all the rusted surfaces. After that I primed it with red metal alkyd primer and let that dry for a few days. After that I masked off areas then painted it with a brush, using leftover alkyd high gloss paint. My finish is not as nice as a fancy powder coated job - but it is certainly usable and better looking I think ?

If you like the rusty look of your cart, you could clear coat it so no rust rubs off on your hands. If you would like to paint it - just use a metal primer, then metal paint and it will be fine, I think ? A semi-gloss or flat finish paint will show less bumps and lumps ?

porchgliderbefore1.jpg (43.25 KiB) Viewed 1937 times

porchgliderafter (1).jpg (15.78 KiB) Viewed 1937 times

[Powermuffin]

Oh that glider is just wonderful!!! Love the two-tone paint colors. I don't want to paint the cart, at least not so far. It doesn't look too bad now but I am going to wire brush it and I have some rust remover too. I paid $15 at our resource center! I will see if I can find a good clear coat once I am ready to do that.
Diane

[Don M]

Beautiful job on your glider!