Rust removal before painting

[MeLikeUmFire]

Gonna be repainting a Regency insert before I put it in. While cleaning it today I noticed some minor surface rust. How should I remove the rust before painting (wire brush, sandpaper,etc). Also can I put rust converter on the rust before i paint...Is this ok?

 

[Corey]

Wire brush usually works to remove loose stuff. A wire wheel on a grinder will make quick work of larger areas and/or heavy rust. Sand paper is usually not necessary as it can't reach into rust pits and all but the very high quality carbide papers will dull pretty quickly on metal.

The rust converter is an interesting topic. A 'pure' rust converter would generally be tannic acid possibly with a bit of oxalic or phosphoric acid thrown in to speed the reaction along. You're converting rust to iron tannate which is a stable blue/black material. this is typically not necessary, but should work in stove service. The problem is, most commercial 'rust converters' also have a primer added to protect the metal - nothing special here just the usual organic polymer stuff. Trouble is, I don't know how that would react to the heat around the wood stove. I don't think it would like it very well - probably put off a lot of fumes, then flake and fall off taking your nice new paint with it.

IMHO, I'd wire brush the loose stuff away, wipe down the surface and spray away!

 

[semipro]

Wire brush usually works to remove loose stuff. A wire wheel on a grinder will make quick work of larger areas and/or heavy rust. Sand paper is usually not necessary as it can't reach into rust pits and all but the very high quality carbide papers will dull pretty quickly on metal.

The rust converter is an interesting topic. A 'pure' rust converter would generally be tannic acid possibly with a bit of oxalic or phosphoric acid thrown in to speed the reaction along. You're converting rust to iron tannate which is a stable blue/black material. this is typically not necessary, but should work in stove service. The problem is, most commercial 'rust converters' also have a primer added to protect the metal - nothing special here just the usual organic polymer stuff. Trouble is, I don't know how that would react to the heat around the wood stove. I don't think it would like it very well - probably put off a lot of fumes, then flake and fall off taking your nice new paint with it.

IMHO, I'd wire brush the loose stuff away, wipe down the surface and spray away!

I always wondered how these converters worked and what the end product was.

Thanks Corey!

 

[ccwhite]

Not positive but I don't think that the rust converter will stand up to the heat. The wire wheel on the grinder is definitely the way to go followed by some high heat paint. Use a weenie roller with a foam cover to paint. It will give you the millage of a brush & roll paint job and a finish nearly as good as a spray job.

In case you're not familiar with a weenie roller here is one from Lowes. http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=144257-11591-97614&lpage=none

 

[greythorn3]

anyone ever try painting their stove with car header paint before? that way you could get colors other then black! ive thought about it but never tried it, some says its good to 1400 degrees

 

[ccwhite]

That is a cool idea. How hot does the surface of the stove get? If the paint is good to 1400 .......

 

[WES999]

Thermolux makes stove paint is several different colors, I haven't painted a stove with it but is supposed to be a quality product.

There are some rust converters that are latex based I would stay away from them. I have used a product called rust mort, seemed to work well, I believe it is phosphoric acid and isopropanol.

You can read about it here. http://www.ecologicarchitecture.com/SoloHobbit/rust/index.htm

http://www.stovepaint.com/Content.asp?id=33