Refurbishing steel furniture, polished or brushed look

[sethp]

I'm just getting started with refurbishing vintage STEEL furniture pieces as a hobby. I've paid to have a couple of chairs and stools blasted and powder coated and they look great, but it was fairly expensive and hard to track down someone to do odd jobs for me, and I'm not sure that I always want to powder coat the steel.

The look that I like the most is a brushed or polished steel look, like this:


Currently I have a steel desk that is painted, but chipped. I can easily get the paint off with an orbital sander, and it leaves a shiny silver look. But I have a couple of questions:

1. How would I get rid of the tiny, circular scratches from the orbital sander? Just use a higher grit? Can I polish it somehow without getting a mirror look? (Most polishing stuff that I've read is for stainless steel or aluminum with a mirror look)

2. Can I protect the bare, sanded steel with a coat of something to help it resist rusting?

3. If I decide to just paint the steel, what is the best technique (less $$) to get a look like this:


Any ideas or advice would be helpful! I really just want to do this in my garage just to make my steel furniture look nicer. Doesn't need to be high $$ or fancy .

[marsfrogie]

You can use a belt sander and about 120grit to get the brushed finish. You can also use a wire wheel on a bench grinder or similar, but it will require a steady hand to get it looking uniform. You can use a standard automotive clearcoat to protect the metal. I have also had sucess with the VHT Clear, however, on an item that large, I highly recommend not using any spray paint type products. If you are looking to paint the desk that color, I would recommend Dupont Centari acrylic enamel. It will require a self etching primer underneath for correct adhesion. You can spray the Centari with a good organic repirator and a cheap spray gun. Centari/Imron is what they use to paint most UPS trucks, so it is quite durable. It will be glossy so a compatible flattener would most likely be required. Again, the VHT that Caswell sells will work, but it is going to take a fair amount of it to complete a project of that size.

[sethp]

Thanks! I'm leaning toward just sanding off the existing chipped paint and see how good I can make it look. But I don't want to sand all the insides of drawers, runners, etc. (not worth the work!)

What type of prep does an automotive clearcoat require? I've seen it in spray-paint form. Is there another way to apply the clearcoat? And would the clearcoat adhere to the existing paint as well as the sanded steel?

[marsfrogie]

All paint systems are different, therefore I cannot advise. Generally speaking, you can't put an enamel over a laquer, but you can put a laquer over an enamel. The clear should adhere alright to the bare steel. Normally it only requires 320-400 grit wetsand or drysand. I would go with a cellulose based laquer, it should adhere to both the steel and the existing paint.