I've finally finished my barbecue, with the painting of the steel lid. I
bought three tins of Hycote VHT paint off eBay, not thinking much more
beyond "spray it on and that will be that". However, when I actually got
the cans, they mentioned having to cure the paint with heat after
application. Car/machine parts could be cured in use, but it warned
against doing so with "domestic articles" due to the fumes produced
during curing.

I stoked the barbecue up as hot as it went, and let it burn through ten
kilos of lumpwood over the afternoon. I didn't notice much of a change
in the paint (though when I last looked it was still too hot to touch so
I haven't had a feel of the texture). Soon after it heated up, I was
able to smear a streak through the thoroughly-dried paint with a
matchstick - hopefully it hardened again either with heat or during cooling.

Does the panel think that will be adequate "curing"? The can didn't
mention any particular temperature or length of time, and I haven't been
able to find much online. I don't want to go poisoning anybody!

Pete

In message , Pete Verdon
d writes
I've finally finished my barbecue, with the painting of the steel lid.
I bought three tins of Hycote VHT paint off eBay, not thinking much
more beyond "spray it on and that will be that". However, when I
actually got the cans, they mentioned having to cure the paint with
heat after application. Car/machine parts could be cured in use, but it
warned against doing so with "domestic articles" due to the fumes
produced during curing.

I stoked the barbecue up as hot as it went, and let it burn through ten
kilos of lumpwood over the afternoon. I didn't notice much of a change
in the paint (though when I last looked it was still too hot to touch
so I haven't had a feel of the texture). Soon after it heated up, I was
able to smear a streak through the thoroughly-dried paint with a
matchstick - hopefully it hardened again either with heat or during
cooling.

Does the panel think that will be adequate "curing"? The can didn't
mention any particular temperature or length of time, and I haven't
been able to find much online. I don't want to go poisoning anybody!

I think you sprayed too much on

or the stuff you bought was well past its sell by date

or heated it up before most of the solvent had evaporated, although I
would have thought this unlikely

I've not really had much trouble with it (I buy 12 cans at a time - a
reasonably high user)

Last lot I bought cost me £1.30 / can, why bugger about with unknown
crap on ebay ?

--
geoff

geoff wrote:
In message , Pete Verdon writes

when I
actually got the cans, they mentioned having to cure the paint with
heat after application.

I stoked the barbecue up as hot as it went, and let it burn through
ten kilos of lumpwood over the afternoon. I didn't notice much of a
change in the paint (though when I last looked it was still too hot to
touch so I haven't had a feel of the texture). Soon after it heated
up, I was able to smear a streak through the thoroughly-dried paint
with a matchstick - hopefully it hardened again either with heat or
during cooling.

Does the panel think that will be adequate "curing"?

I think you sprayed too much on

or the stuff you bought was well past its sell by date

or heated it up before most of the solvent had evaporated, although I
would have thought this unlikely

You think the coating has failed (presumably because of the matchstick)? It
looks fine to me, I was just concerned at whether it was fully cured or might
still emit toxic fumes into my food. I'll have another look at it tonight to see
if the paint's still soft; like I say, I hope that the softening was part of the
process, as it was hard beforehand.

As to your specific suggestions, I don't think I sprayed too much on - I was
actually rather pleased with the finish at the end of painting, with no signs of
thick wet clumps and nowhere near a run anywhere. Likewise it won't have been
heated before drying - I painted it Saturday and cooked it on Sunday. I suppose
there's the possibility of dodgy eBay-special paint, but the cans looked OK to
me and the seller seemed to be a fairly high-turnover supplier of this kind of
paint.

Pete

In message , Pete Verdon
d writes
geoff wrote:
In message , Pete Verdon writes

when I actually got the cans, they mentioned having to cure the
paint with heat after application.

I stoked the barbecue up as hot as it went, and let it burn through
ten kilos of lumpwood over the afternoon. I didn't notice much of a
change in the paint (though when I last looked it was still too hot
to touch so I haven't had a feel of the texture). Soon after it
heated up, I was able to smear a streak through the thoroughly-dried
matchstick - hopefully it hardened again either with heat or during
cooling.

Does the panel think that will be adequate "curing"?

I think you sprayed too much on
or the stuff you bought was well past its sell by date
or heated it up before most of the solvent had evaporated, although
I would have thought this unlikely

You think the coating has failed (presumably because of the
matchstick)? It looks fine to me, I was just concerned at whether it
was fully cured or might still emit toxic fumes into my food.

If you can smear it, it would indicate that either the paint hasn't
taken or for some reason there's some solvent there.

Toxic fumes ?

live life in the fast lane

--
geoff

geoff wrote:
In message , Pete Verdon writes

If you can smear it, it would indicate that either the paint hasn't
taken or for some reason there's some solvent there.

Mm. It is a lot harder now than it was while cooking. I don't want to
see just how hard as I don't want to leave scratches! Perhaps it's not
properly done, but it's not going to suffer much chafing etc so I've
decided to leave it for now and keep an eye out for future problems.

Toxic fumes ?

live life in the fast lane

:-) On my own behalf I would, but I rarely have a BBQ on my own and
especially not now I have this monster to play with. I don't really want
to poison my friends' food!

That said, I cooked a few bits and bobs on it on Sunday night over the
remains of the curing fire, and nothing tasted funny or killed me, so I
reckon it's good to go.

Pete