Another one about cast iron fireplaces.

[Ascot]

Hello,

I just got a cast iron fireplace dipped and stripped of all its old paint with a view to putting it into my living room. It hasn't come up as well as i had hoped. there are still small traces of paint on parts so i'm going to take nitromorse and wire wool to those parts.

But it's also quite rough. The surface isn't the nice smooth surface i've seen on others and its blotchy. I was hoping to put iron paste on it but i can't imagine it would make a good finish as it is.

The question is, what else do i need to do before the finishing coat goes on? Is it wise to take a drill with a wire brush attachment to it or would this cause damage?

I would ideally like to polish the actually surafce of the cast iron, if you know what i mean, so it's smoother to the touch and a a more even in colour before the finsh coat.

Any ideas?
Thanks

 

[thatbloke]

try some wire wool first perhaps? i always try the least damaging way first rather than bull right in there and risk damage. perhaps even a scotch pad first?
ive wire brushed an old cast iron radiator lately and its still rough , ive also done a cast iron cistern and it also came out rough however it did polish the iron up a bit.

 

[Ascot]

Thanks Thatbloke. That would be the wise approach. I haven't had time to try the wire wool yet but i get the feeling it will hardly touch it.

Would i be right in thinking that there were cast iron fireplaces made with varying quality? Some big ornated expensive ones with a nice smooth quality finish that only needed some polishing and some smaller, less quality fireplaces that were always meant to be painted/enamelled. i think i've got a lowere quality one, you can actually see some flow lines in it were the cast iron was poured into the mould, so maybe i will have to resign myself to painting it to cover up the surface.

 

[Lower]

To polish it up properly so that you get a smooth finish is not a job for the faint hearted unless you are a skilled polisher with the proper tools. You might consider taking it to a polisher who would do that job for you.

If you want to shine it up so that the surface retains the same texture but is just more shiny then a mop attachment on a drill with some autosol polish will be fine.

 

[Nige F]

Hello,


, so it's smoother to the touch and a more even in colour before the finsh coat.

Any ideas?
Thanks

you might not get an even colour - the iron could be that colour right through - like when you roll 2 colours of plasticine together - I`d give stove paste ( blacklead) Zeebo a try - it`s only graphite with a bit of solvent , so you should be able to get it off if you need to , then paint . Blackleading is the most traditional finish .