Pipe Fence Paint

There are paints and products out there that will completely eliminate rust. I gather from the posts most of you would not want to spend the money for them on a fence and don't mind the fading.

But for those who want to know, he would need to use a converter such as Ospho on the rusted areas followed by an epoxy primer which is totally water proof stopping the moisture and oxygen from reaching the metal. Then for top coat an acrylic enamel or a urethane enamel will give you the longest lasting finish equivilent to the paint on a car. Steel Fuel trucks are painted with urethane enamels due to their superior resistance to fuel spills. The urethane is a clear coat mixed in with the enamel giving the paint a high gloss. Both of these have superior resistance to UV rays and fading. But require proper breathing equipment to spray.

Rustoleum and other synthetic enamels such as Tractor Supply's paint for tractors have poor resistence to UV rays in addition to being poreous they fade to a dull then chalky appearance. Much like you see on farm and landscape trailers after a year or so. If you did at least use the Ospho converter the rust would stop if you used an epoxy primer over the ospho. Then if rustoleum top coat was used, you could just repaint as it faded without further rusting.

The ospho is used by bridge maintaince and ocean going ship painters on rust. For anyone who wants to repaint a tractor or car etc, visit the paint and body board where you can learn and get great advice about the best materials.

Charles

Only problem for you is your pipe. Mine was all 2 3/8 or 2 7/8 drill stem and 3/4" sucker rod, well used. All had the paint already installed.

Your new pipe probably has black oxide with a polymer top coat to keep it from rusting so you"re gonna hafta install something to match her all up.

Mark

I hate to paint, especially fences. Really it looks nice and the brown goes good with the trunks of the trees.

Saved a ton of time and money, and can now play with my tractors instead of paint the darn fence.

Mark

DFW airpirt really has rusted railing all over the place. No joke.

That's what aluminum does too, the bright finish oxidizes on the outer surface and acts like a paint. When you polish it back to bright, your actually removing that layer and exposing a new layer of metal. Wearing it away with each polish.

I know Iron crusts over really well, like in sewer pipes, but this is not iron; much much stronger.

Was pretty available around here for a long time as we had a lot of well drilling activity here and in Okla.

Mark

Interesting stuff. There were alloys that they had to invent in the sixties for space that wouldn't melt on lift off or re-entry. Stuff that would just laugh at a plasma or cutting torch.

This stuff chemically bonds to rust and is hard as nails.

Mark

In my opinion, Ospho mentioned by Kendall is a better choice if you have rust already, you can paint anything over it and it will chemically kill the rust by converting it to iron phosphate. It is $20 (acehardware, homedepot) a gallon but is water thin so it covers a large area. It will eat into galvanized, one of its drawbacks.

If you don't care about appearance and have rust, then the guy who said keep spraying Walmart paint over it has given the cheapest solution. That won't help the life of the metal. It will continue to rust away. This is the way many who have large areas of fence do it because its practical for them especially if they will be selling the place someday.

No offense Ron, one part rustolem is old technology, there are much more durable coatings available if you have spray equipment. You also need the proper safety protection to spray paint. I use mostly automotive quality paints. A cold galvanizing compound is more durable than rustolem and provides better rust protection if all you want is a brush on coating to prevent rust and if you want no part of spraying paint. It has a grey appearence like galvanized and chemically bonds to steel. Spray cans should be avoided, the formula has to be thinned so much to come out of the can it is to weak for protection from the elements.