Edward A. Falk wrote:

In article 1Brck.177$0V1.45@trndny01,
Grant Erwin wrote:

What's the matter with your steel? Does it have oil on it? Is it just a little
bit of normal rust/scale? You don't have to kill yourself .. it would be really
easy to clean the stock before you weld everything up, then just blow it off
and paint it.


A little bit of oil on it, a little bit of surface rust, and a lot of
soot, so that my hands are black every time I handle it. I'm sure if
I painted over the soot, the paint would not stick to the steel.

I don't really have a place to work on it other than my driveway.
A rag soaked in kerosine would probably deal with the oil. If I also
cleaned off the soot, I'd have a pile of kerosene-soaked rags five feet
high and a lot of ****ed-off neighbors. I don't think kerosene would
deal with the rust at all. Maybe I'm wrong?

My biggest problem is that I just don't have a place where I can work
with volatile chemicals.

Your driveway is fine. Use kerosene and ONE rag. What I do is to put
some kero in a spray bottle and spray it on a big area, but it's OK if
you don't have a spray bottle or even if you don't have kerosene. You
can use a cheap brush and paint thinner. Get it wet, wash with the rag.
Soot and oil will come right off, enough anyway. If you have an air
compressor then blow it off, else just let it air dry for a bit and start
painting. It'll be fine. Trust me. I have painted about a hundred things
like this.

Grant