Treating and old iron bench

[DIY67]

I picked this up free in the village from a resedent who threw it out. I have seen garden benches selling in similar conditions for hundreds at reclamation yards. It's still very solid but as I like it's rustic astheatic, I still need to treat the rust so at least it holds for many more years. If I wire brush it as best as I can can anyone please recommend a suitable rust treatment?

 

[Wayners]

Make a rust remover pond thing and drop in. Loads of YouTube videos showing how.
Buy white vinegar cheap off Amazon or you can make an electric rust remover.
I'd go with white vinegar as easy.

With rust you need to remove it all for best result

 

[DIY67]

Oh right, I didn't know white vinegar worked, and like you say, cheap. Although to fill a pond with it I imagine I would need a lot. Perhaps spray some on after wire brushing. Thanks.

 

[jj4091]

I've always used Hammerite Kurust to treat the rust and Hammerite paints for things like your bench where you don't really need to worry about the finish. As an aside don't value the finished article by reclamation yard prices, it will only ever be worth scrap value.

 

[Wayners]

Plastic and wood. Make a shallow bath of white vinegar or farmers use citric acid crystals for large tanks.
£10 of vinegar will enough.
Put some recycling plastic tubs full of water to pack out volume.

Other option is rust removing gell from Screwfix

 

[DIY67]

I do have some Rustins rust converter left over from doing the rads and Evaporust but probably not enough. I found Evaporust not very good after using it to be honest and it was darn expensive.

 

[scbk]

If it was me, I would be more tempted to just scrape/wire brush all loose paint and rust, then give it 2 coats of a direct to metal paint like hammerite/rustolueam/lidl aldi own brand

The lidl/aldi direct to metal paint is good for the money

 

[foxhole]

That’s looks like a cheap one, the decent ones have wrought iron ends.Hardly worth the effort.

 

[DIY67]

That’s looks like a cheap one, the decent ones have wrought iron ends.Hardly worth the effort.

It was very cheap as I got it for free Looks good in our garden and when painted old park bench green will look even better. It's worth the effort to me.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

That’s looks like a cheap one, the decent ones have wrought iron ends.

I would call that wrought iron, did you mean cast iron?

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

If it was me, I would be more tempted to just scrape/wire brush all loose paint and rust, then give it 2 coats of a direct to metal paint like hammerite/rustolueam/lidl aldi own brand

The lidl/aldi direct to metal paint is good for the money

Yes this, no point going beyond that, minimal effort for maximum results, accept it will go rusty again at some point and will need to be repeated.

 

[Stivino]

I would call that wrought iron, did you mean cast iron?

It looks more like mild steel to me, wrought iron doesn't really rust.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

It looks more like mild steel to me, wrought iron doesn't really rust.

That was my point, though expressed badly. The ends are just formed mild steel. The better ones use cast-iron. My understanding is that wrought-iron, is just another name for mild-steel which has been worked. Wrought-iron = worked-iron.

 

[Munroast]

That was my point, though expressed badly. The ends are just formed mild steel. The better ones use cast-iron. My understanding is that wrought-iron, is just another name for mild-steel which has been worked. Wrought-iron = worked-iron.

mild steel (even with its low carbon content) will still have a higher carbon content and will be stronger but less workable. than wrought iron, I thing wrought iron can have a lot of impurities/slag mixed in with it.

 

[lostinthelight]

The lidl/aldi direct to metal paint is good for the money

Agree, I did a pair of old rusty drive gates with Aldi metal paint 8 years ago and still good now
Edit: sorry it was Baufix from Lidl