The fence was an antique of unknown provenance, allegedly from "eastern Europe", found on Craigslist. It has cast features (sort of fleur de lis spear things) but mostly hand forged elements, too. It had several old coats of paint including ochre, bright green, bright orange and a final sad coat of aluminum on some portions. Many years ago there had been some discussion with the not yet ex of having it media blasted - but some parts were thin and fragile so we were worried that this would be destructive. In any event - it was installed as is. The patina on the back of the fence was better than on the front. I spent many hours pondering this and even scraped off most of the loose crud a couple of years ago - then I chickened out.
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I just couldn't stand it any longer, so I did my YouTube, etc. research - treated it with Ospho to remediate the rust (not forgetting to rinse thoroughly then allow to dry before painting) then used a brush (well - many dollar store brushes) to coat it with alkyd primer. I had considered getting the airless sprayer and air compressor from the tool library for this job - but since I had never used a sprayer before, I was concerned about my handling abilities as well as the nightmare of cleaning out a borrowed sprayer with paint thinner, etc. So brush I did. So much brushing. Many neighbours, bystanders and complete strangers offered their $ 0.02 - including worried questions that the red oxide was the final colour. Some were disappointed that it WASN'T the chosen color.
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In Toronto, 99% of iron fences are painted black. There are a few old fences or sections that have rusted back to the metal color plus rust. There are a few oldsters that have remnants of a sort of malachite green paint. However - there was no malachite green anything on my house color - so I wasn't feeling very confident about this choice - despite its local authenticity. I was curious about a not black fence - so I
painted a small section with beige spray paint - just to satisfy my curiosity. The lighter color really popped...but I hated the glossy finish as it really showed the lumps, bumps and pits.
I discovered that I could get a flat white tintable alkyd rust paint in local hardware store's brand (before inventory becomes extinct) - so I matched the pale yellow of the front door - and started painting. Some frowns and concerns from passers by and my elderly neighbour. So far neighbourly consensus has been positive. After I get into the last nooks and crannies and tight curves with an artist's brush then I am really done painting it. Between the scraping, rust treatment, etc. it only took about 40 hours - which was faster than I had expected. My painting hand is sure stiff, though.
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