How to remove paint from cast iron when paint stripper fails? (PHOTO ADDED)

[wendy177]

Tales I have found from working on my trunk That a dremel tool with round wire brush works excellent at removing rust & paint from metal. It is small enough to get in all detail work & gentle enough to not do any damage and on a piece as small as yours will take only minutes. They can be purchased at any home depot with all accessories needed. wear eye protection as the little wires from the brush do fly off!! No mess with chemicals or goo. good luck!!

[Dean Perdue]

Another suggestion for your consideration :

when you're done torturing your cool iron item (& yourself) , you could simply finish it with some good 'ole paste wax (Johnsons &/or etc.) & a toothbrush (for gettin' into the crannies) .
Give it a little buff with a rag & you're done (& you don't have to worry about oiling it so much) .

I had a friend who owned scads of iron items .... after years of using lamp-black , he switched over to black (paste Kiwi) shoe polish & never went back .

Sounds like a useful tip Fancypants.Thanks.
I like how this procedure could be easily reversed if desired.

[KC]

Love the past wax idea!!!!  Never thought about it!  I would even heat the item slightly in the oven first to "open" the pores then put it on!  Much like starting the seasoning on a skillet.

[talesofthesevenseas]

One word of caution with the Dremel tool, I have used mine to remove corrosion on metal items before, but be SURE to wear a mask when doing that. The Dremel puts all that stuff you're taking off into the air and it's easy to breathe it in. I coughed for several days and had some throat irritation. Nothing serious, but I would definitely wear a mask in addition to eye protection if I were to go that route again.

[talesofthesevenseas]

Today I used the Jasco AND the Dremel tool and got almost all of the paint off. There are still some left over rust stains and a few bits of paint that were not as visible when the whole thing was wet. I'll have another shot at it next weekend. It looks like I will need to use a rust remover to get the last of the rust off. it seems to be down in the pores of the iron and not just on the surface where the Dremel wire brush can get at it.

[waywardangler]

Naval Jelly will clean rust out of pores but also leave the metal looking 'cleaned' without any patina.  I am not sure how much you want to clean this.

[talesofthesevenseas]

Clean is OK on this one. The patent date is there and I'm hoping to have it come out looking as nice as the one up for sale on the gun collectibles page. It is looking a lot better. Thanks for the tip on Naval jelly.

[talesofthesevenseas]

I started back in on this project this weekend, and got a VERY good tip from my cast iron forum-

They advised putting the match safe in a plastic baggie, then putting in the Jasco paint stripper and sealing the bag. This did two things. First and most importantly, it kept the Jasco from losing strength when it comes in contact with the air. Second, it enabled me to direct the Jasco gel to the areas where it was needed and it holds it in place instead of slipping off the piece. The paint came off with very little effort after that.

The naval jelly worked great for getting off the rust in short order too.

So here is the match safe, cleaned and freshly oiled:

[talesofthesevenseas]

Compare to how it was:

[sapphire]

Tales that is incredible!  You must be so pleased with the results. Never would have expected it to return to it's original 'look' with only just removing the rust.  Now you've got to detail this process and post it in the Special Threads section! 

[talesofthesevenseas]

OK will do! That's a good idea to log it into the special threads section. Actually this was two-stage process, first to remove the paint, then to tackle the rust. The result really did turn out beautiful. It was still wet and slippery when I took the pics from being oiled, so that shiney look isn't normally there. but it is nice and black and I was really pleased with how getting years of rust, gunk and paint out of the lettering made the patent info on the self-closing lid stand out.

...Now I just have to decide which wall to hang it on! 

[KC]

Nice work Talesof!

Agree with sapphire....this would do great in the special threads section!

[talesofthesevenseas]

It's in there!
http://www.antique-shop.com/forums/index.php?topic=7105.0