Making Metal Shine-Finishing Techniques

After all your hard work of preparing, welding and grinding to a smooth finish you will probably want to your masterpiece a finishing coat of paint to even out your burn marks and protect it as well.
There are several ways to do this. Paint sloughs off metal really easily and must be prepped before any paint goes on it.

1. Sand it smooth with gradually finer grit sanding wheels, called "Flapper Wheels".

2. Mineral Spirit-whipe everything down to remove the oil bath that the metal was dipped in at the factory when it was made to prevent rust. Most metals are covered in this oil when you buy it.

3. Primer coat-Apply a primer coat of paint that is compatible with your final top coat of paint. This is an important step, so ask a paint company to check that your paints match the application and material.

4. Final overlay coat-your choice of color. Auto paint will usually look the best.

This is the quick and dirty way to finish most any piece off in a hurry.

If you wanna make your piece look like a million bucks on the cheap, then you got a couple more options.

1. Autobody paint-ask a car paint store for details. They can mix and make any metallic paint color you might want and you can spray it on. Mix it with 1ounce of paint Hardener and it will stick to the metal and last for more than 5 years. Hardener is a MUST! It is cheap too, about $20. See my next Blog on Auto Paint Finishing.

2. Powder Coating- must be sent to a commercial powder-coating/ baking factory. These companies spray on a sandy powder coating and bake it at high heat to make an almost plastic like, super hard coating, fully encasing your piece. This coating fully protects against rust for many years, better than any paint will. It will rust only if chipped off or the bare metal is exposed to air. Look up books on Amazon about this topic: Powder Coating

3. Patina- the fine technique of artificially aging, coloring and finishing fine artwork and commercial pieces directly onto the metal itself using acids, chemicals, heat treatments and so on. This is a whole topic in itself. You can buy books on how to achieve different patina finishes. This is an expert craft skill used by foundries and professional sculptors. Look up books on Amazon about this topic: Patina







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