Cleaning and repainting wrought iron railings

Beckyy

We have wrought iron railings and a gate at the front of our house. They're on the old side and look like they haven't seen a paintbrush for a good few years now.

Having a bit of time off work I thought I'd try and clean them up and give them a fresh coat of paint. The plan was to get off all the loose paint/rust with a wire brush drill attachment, handheld wire brush and sandpaper. Then use a paint like Hammerite on them which doesn't need a primer.

The only problem I have is that now I've started getting off the loose flakey stuff I can see that there has been about 4/5 layers of paint on them over the years. Some of it is flaking off and is easy to remove but most is still stuck solid. Meaning that the parts that are flaking off are leaving 'chunks' out of the surface which are really difficult to smooth over.

I know I need the surface to be as smooth as possible for the best finish. I've read about sandblasting, but the railings are directly on a busy road so I don't think that would be a viable option due to the mess and expense.

I was wondering if anybody had any tips please?

1984ReturnsForReal_2

I have done 2 sets of gates in the last few years & what worked best for me was an angle grinder (being gentle) & for any curls & difficult areas a sanding flap wheel.




Worked a treat but its much more effort & time.

It strips it right down to the metal & gets rid of the rust. Angle grinder is quicker on the straights by far but I already have one so its no more expense.

Beckyy

Thank you for the reply.

We do have a little angle grinder, just a cheap one that I used to cut some tiles when laying our hearth.

It's this one: http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav.jsp?action=detail&fh_secondid=10957567&fh_location=//catal!!!1/en_GB/categories%3C{9372015}/categories%3C{9372047}/categories%3C{9372204}/specificationsProductType=angle_grinders/specificationsSpecificProductType=4_5__grinders

It done the job, but I'm not sure if it would do this so well. It got hot pretty quickly, and was a bit awkward to use for anything longer than a minute or two. I think I'll look into a sanding flap wheel that I can put on the drill tomorrow, it looks promising as I've been struggling to get in between the railings properly with the brush.

1984ReturnsForReal_2

You need a metal disc for the angle grinder. It will do the job but you need to be good with your hands & just skim the paint surface down to the metal.

Just go over the scruffy bits & repaint it. It will be fine if you are careful.

ormus

i just use a wire brush and then paint with hammerite.
my railings and gates dont need to look like buckingham palace.