"George (dicegeorge)" wrote in message
...
I've taken advantage of the dry weather and removed 2 broken opening metal
windows,
they're in the best room, the Snug, so how shall i paint them - not water
based paint!

Hammerite - what's the difference between smooth and satin and hammered,
which would look best on an old victorian house?

http://www.hammerite.com/uk/products...urs.html#satin

I'm scraping off the paint and putty and car body filler,
going to Leominster or Hereford tomorrow to buy paint and solvent etc,
any recommendations please?

Hammerite is ok as a one-coat quick fix on bare metal and I've used a lot of
it on engines I've built for customers over the years but it doesn't cover
that well on smooth metal (you get streaks) and it's tricky to apply second
coats. You definitely don't want hammered finish which has bits of
metalflake in it and is used on engine blocks, industrial machinery and
castings to give a sort of mottled effect. Smooth is the normal choice for
domestic use. I've never tried (or even heard of) the satin. It also needs
its own thinner/solvent to clean brushes which is a pain. White spirit won't
do the job. Although I still use it, mainly because I have plenty left over,
it's not all it's cracked up to be IMO.

To be honest I'd go for Dulux Metalshield zinc primer followed by two coats
of Dulux Metalshield Gloss topcoat. It's designed for exactly that job and
should see you good for another ten years or so. A mate of mine always used
to say "when decorating never skimp on the quality of the paint". I've
failed to follow his advice a couple of times and always regretted it. Pick
a good brand (they've spent the money on R&D making sure it works) and slap
plenty of it on the job. Better to do it once properly than twice badly.
--
Dave Baker