Vintage steel shelf unit - easy refinish?

[Vintage Veloce]

Scored this awesome vintage metal shelf unit.

I actually like the original look, but the crusty shelves might be a problem. I'd be tempted to matte clear coat it, but I don't think that would work...

I'm not interested in making this a big project.
I'm thinking pressure wash, dry and wipe it off, and then spraying / rolling gray rust-oleum paint.

Any better / easier suggestions for the easiest way to make it "clean"?

 

[bbxlr8]

It depends on what you put on it... I actually have three very similar to those that came out of a laboratory retrofit. They are very solid! Mine were decent with silver paint.

In similar situations, I have hit with wire brush & gone with Rustoleum primer, then color top coat of your choice, but that route has extended dry time. KISS move is one of the newer all-in-one spray bombs that cover well & dry quickly. Grab an extra can in case of touch-up down the road

 

[1982fxr]

You got it...

I'm thinking pressure wash, dry and wipe it off, and then spraying / rolling gray rust-oleum paint.

 

[pancholasvegas]

Rustoleum "Hammered," paint is what I'd recommend - I use it for just about everything in the shop or around the property - It definitely helps when the surface isn't even everywhere and the objective is "Turn the object another color."

 

[yhprum]

So, if you want to kill that rust, you could try that citric acid bath that’s over here on another thread or two. You could make a shallow tray up with some 2x4 and a piece of plastic to do one side at a time. Looks like the shelves would fit in there too.
This method doesn’t affect good paint, so afterwards you could sand and paint.
Nice find by the way !

 

[lilredex]

Just give that a good sanding and wipe down any greasy areas with paint thinner. Picture shows a cabinet that was worse than yours, someone messed it up with a grinder. It was sprayed after some hard sanding. Turned out OK. The last picture shows how it kinda looked before refinishing.

 

[FrankLee]

If you have an angle grinder, these strip discs work fast for paint and rust.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08HRZFJGT?tag=atomicindus08-20

 

[Stevettt]

I'm a patina fan, just like my surfaces smooth to the touch and sans red rust.
Otherwise I pretty much just let things tell their story.
I'd probably wet sand until smooth (basically feather out the painted edges to the bare spots).
Then maybe Penetrol as a coating.

 

[CraigStu]

I'd brush on naval jelly to chemically treat the rust. Follow the directions to hose it off at whatever time they say. Let it dry. Rustoleum self etching primer followed by Rustoleum Hammered. Like Pancho, I am a huge fan of Hammered. Try it on the back first. You can do several light coats for minimum hammered effect. If you want more effect start w/ a light coat and work your way up to 3rd or 4th heavy coat. I'd lay it down and paint the back while it is laying flat so you can get the heaviest coat w/o runs. BTW it dries fast. Wait til the coat gets tacky and shoot the next coat. This is a 351W valve cover in heavy Hammered black.

 

[The Cobbler]

at a minimum I would run a random orbit sander across it with some 100 or 120 paper to get high spots etc off. a low nap roller and a brush would work, but I would probably spray it

 

[RMERR]

I'm not a "patina" guy. I'd probably get it sand or bead blasted. A "blast only" job at a powdercoater wouldn't be that much. Then you have a nice clean start for whatever paint plan you have.

 

[Vintage Veloce]

Thanks guys for all the ideas.
I've done my share of rust removal in the bast and actually have 5 gal of evaporust in the garage... but I'm just not willing to do all that for these shelves.
I'm really looking for the lowest effort for an acceptable result. 30 minutes seems to be a good target. ;-)

 

[Jim_No_Garage]

Thanks guys for all the ideas.
I've done my share of rust removal in the bast and actually have 5 gal of evaporust in the garage... but I'm just not willing to do all that for these shelves.
I'm really looking for the lowest effort for an acceptable result. 30 minutes seems to be a good target. ;-)

I really have nothing new to add - just agreeing with others.

The good news is that the shelves are removable.

Sand the horizontal surfaces and and bad areas with a Random Orbital sander with 80 grit. Wipe it down with DNA/IPA. Roll on your favorite color of Rustoleum and consider it done.

I've done this on 3 x multi-drawer card cabinets, 1 tanker desk (sprayed that with rattle can for a specific color) and several other shop cabinets.

I bought a Flexio HVLP gun a while ago and havent used it yet, but will break it out for the right project. The cabinet below would have been 100 times easier to paint with the HVLP.



Cheers

Jim

 

[nadogail]

You can take it to your local Powder Coating Shop they will strip it, Powder Coat it, and give you bill that will take your breath away.