Having done floors and doors my stripathon is now moving on to the
fireplaces. I want to get the paint off them and black them properly.

I made a start at the stripping last night without looking at the
archives here first. Following my success at stripping the coalhole
cover I used some wire brushes in a drill, which seemed to do the trick
OK, albeit fairly slowly. But now looking at the google archives I
don't see anyone else having done it this way - chemical strippers or
heat seem to be the preferred methods. Is there anything wrong with
using the rotating steel brush technique? As far as I can see the cast
iron seems to be hard enough not to be damaged by it, but I've not got
very far yet.

On 6 Jun 2005 04:04:40 -0700, "Martin Pentreath"
wrote:

Is there anything wrong with using the rotating steel brush technique?

Doesn't get into the corners.

You'll probably find a range of techniques are needed, right down to
picking the last bits out of the corners with a darning needle lashed to
a handle.

Andy Dingley wrote:
On 6 Jun 2005 04:04:40 -0700, "Martin Pentreath"
wrote:


Is there anything wrong with using the rotating steel brush technique?


Doesn't get into the corners.

You'll probably find a range of techniques are needed, right down to
picking the last bits out of the corners with a darning needle lashed to
a handle.
Endlessly frustrating and, unless it's 100% clean, it'll look like a bodge.
How you strip it depends what type of paint is on there. If it's oil
based paint, you could try this for a cheap solution:
Dissolve 10% caustic soda in water, add enough toilet rolls (take the
cardboard middle out first!)to give you a pulp. Pack it on with a trowel
or similar, and spray the surface with a flour and water mix. The latter
forms a kind of seal and helps hold it all together, but you can use
cling film instead. The whole thing has a tendency to slide once it
starts to dissolve the paint so you may have to keep re-packing it.
After about 24 hours you should be able to peel it off in layers and
drop it in a bin liner.
Easier to have it dipped professionally if you can get it out easily.

Hi Martin
Having done floors and doors my stripathon is now moving on to the
fireplaces. I want to get the paint off them and black them properly.

Have them bead blasted - like shotblasting but with glass beads, removes
paint without surface damage.

Dave

Andy Dingley wrote:
On 6 Jun 2005 04:04:40 -0700, "Martin Pentreath"
wrote:

Is there anything wrong with using the rotating steel brush technique?

Doesn't get into the corners.

You'll probably find a range of techniques are needed, right down to
picking the last bits out of the corners with a darning needle lashed to
a handle.

When we did ours we didn't think the brush wheel would be effective in
the corners and patterned detail however, surprisingly, it was. It took
a long time (i.e. all weekend) but I can honestly say it was more the
flat areas that took the time - perhaps the rust and other crap had
less of a grip on the corners/detail.

Having stripped it all down the 'graphite grey' looked stunning - to
keep this look we looked high and low for 'Zebo' which appears to no
longer be made. However, the chap at http://www.realpaints.com/ made me
a tin of 'isinglas with graphite' (with no black added unlike the
original Zebo) for something like =A38 and it looks superb.

The job was captured at http://www.newtonnet.co.uk/house/20050417/

Mathew

On 6 Jun 2005 07:04:50 -0700, "Mathew J. Newton"
wrote:

we looked high and low for 'Zebo' which appears to no
longer be made.

Even Tesco still sell it. It's surprisingly common. Look for yellow and
black tubes down the cleaners aisle.

"Andy Dingley" wrote in message
...
On 6 Jun 2005 07:04:50 -0700, "Mathew J. Newton"
wrote:

we looked high and low for 'Zebo' which appears to no
longer be made.

Even Tesco still sell it. It's surprisingly common. Look for yellow
and
black tubes down the cleaners aisle.



If Tesco sells it they are using up stocks - it's not made under the
Zebo brand any more. 'Black Grate Polish' is still made and is
indistinguisable from Zebo however.

AWEM

Andrew Mawson wrote:
"Andy Dingley" wrote in message
...
On 6 Jun 2005 07:04:50 -0700, "Mathew J. Newton"
wrote:

we looked high and low for 'Zebo' which appears to no
longer be made.

Even Tesco still sell it. It's surprisingly common. Look for yellow
and
black tubes down the cleaners aisle.



If Tesco sells it they are using up stocks - it's not made under the
Zebo brand any more. 'Black Grate Polish' is still made and is
indistinguisable from Zebo however.

AWEM

We ideally wanted a 'graphite' finish as opposed to 'black' so our
initially-unsuccessful search was fortunate. Admittedly, however, I'm
from what you might call the 'Internet generation' so I must confess to
not having searched any retailers in the 'real world'!

Mathew

On Mon, 6 Jun 2005 16:29:24 +0000 (UTC), "Andrew Mawson"
wrote:

If Tesco sells it they are using up stocks - it's not made under the
Zebo brand any more. '

Well in that case make your own. Colloidal graphite (locksmith) in
walnut oil. Adjust the proportions of flake graphite to ground charcoal
to adjust the colour between metallic grey and black.

Just don't use a black wax on it, even one sold for ironwork. They look
great, but they don't like heat.

Martin Pentreath wrote:

Having done floors and doors my stripathon is now moving on to the
fireplaces. I want to get the paint off them and black them properly.

I made a start at the stripping last night without looking at the
archives here first. Following my success at stripping the coalhole
cover I used some wire brushes in a drill, which seemed to do the trick
OK, albeit fairly slowly. But now looking at the google archives I
don't see anyone else having done it this way - chemical strippers or
heat seem to be the preferred methods. Is there anything wrong with
using the rotating steel brush technique? As far as I can see the cast
iron seems to be hard enough not to be damaged by it, but I've not got
very far yet.

I am pretty sure the best thing to do wolud be to phone up a sandbasting
company, and ask them to run a gun over it in their lunch hour, and slip
them a six pack of lager...

You MAY find a pressure washer lifts the muck off too. Ive seen it strip
paint off a car...