C'mon, LSP, those old chairs aren't gonna respray themselves! Ain't that the truth, and they are old, a set of Francois Carre chairs which belonged to, I think, my great great aunt great grandmother. Or something like that. Carre patented the design in 1866 (!) and it became popular in the 1920s and '30s, on account of its Deco style, and the chairs were made in the US into the 1940s. I think mine are '30s, but that's a guess.
Regardless, they grace the front porch of the Compound now, doing their bit to lift the tone of the place. But, and here's the thing, they're made of metal, notoriously, and what happens to metal when it's exposed to the elements on a Texan porch or any other porch? It rusts.
This means you have to take care of the chairs, maintain them, lest they oxidize themselves to death like, say, Detroit or the US Navy. That in mind, I met the issue head on with a scraper, 100 grit sandpaper and Rustoleum industrial grade white enamel spray paint.
It's a fun job, if you like scraping rusty old paint off of metal chairs, sanding them down, cleaning them off and applying spray paint in pretty much triple digit heat. But the end result? Most satisfying, it feels good to restore beautiful things, even if they're only chairs.
So, one down, two more to go. And I know, do it properly fella and take the metal beasts to a shop for a sandblast and maybe a powder coat. Hey, that's for later. In the meanwhile, DIY.
Looks good, Parson. Congratulations!
ReplyDeleteBe safe and God bless.
Thanks, Linda! Bless you.
DeleteWow, what beautiful chairs. Etsy is selling 2, restored, for $3,994, listed as restored but painted black. Take good care of these.
ReplyDeleteThey do look good, glasslass, and I saw the Etsy thing. Wow, and I noticed black's a popular color but white's original and looks better, imo.
DeleteI heartily endorse sand/bead blasting, but-there was the time one damp New England evening when I picked up a freshly blasted motorcycle frame and drove it home to paint with primer. While I was hanging it up to paint, is was visibly rusting. Rumor is that some places will put some sort of wax in the mix to retard rusting. For painting, might check on that. Spray on.
ReplyDeleteGood call, Ritchie. I'll shop around when it's time for the next iteration.
DeleteI have sat in similar chairs and they are very comfortable. I also applaud your 'green' method of using a tarp to prevent overspray from turning your lawn white.
ReplyDeleteWell yes, DOS, that's me, ahem, green all the way. Speaking of which, I once butchered a hog on the front porch, it was like a scene from Deliverance, and that tarp came in handy. What innocent pasers by thought I don't know.
DeleteJust did the same on a 100 year old park bench (green) - Rust Oleum enamel is the way to go - those chairs have an awesome retro design!
ReplyDelete