My Favorite Anti-Rust Coating

[@kevboost]

Thanks for the tips. I didn't know about the dutchboy twist and pour. How long would you say the shelf life is?

[@onemoremisfit]

I've gone thru several gallons a quart at a time over the last 5 years and it varies from batch to batch. It also depends on the humidity at the time you start using it, the less humidity it sees the longer it lasts. Generally I would not expect to have the remaining portion stay usable any longer than about 4 months after opening. It will skin over in the jar, and that skin in time will get hard and thick but you can still break thru and find liquid underneath. I have even punched a neat hole in the thick hard layer to dip a small brush and didn't even stir it and it still worked fine for some small job I had. As a rule don't buy anything more than you can use in one job and if you are able to use some of the remainder 4 months afterward you should consider that a bonus.

[@joesoika2628]

Great explain ation! Thank you sharing.

[@onemoremisfit]

You're welcome, thanks for watching.

[@brandonlure2738]

Do you typically use a degreaser first? Do you use a metal prep of any sort? Or just scuff up the part well? Thanks in advance

[@onemoremisfit]

Yes, acetone. Sorry I forgot to mention that. Lots of acetone. I cut small cotton rags, about handkerchief size and do small areas at a time because the acetone evaporates fast. Go over it once, then get a clean rag and clean it twice. I talked to Eastwood tech support and acetone is the solvent they recommend. Degreasing is very important, but metal prep is not really needed in my opinion. A good scuff and clean thoroughly with acetone is what I've been doing and I've been getting good results on clean metal. I've coated over rusty metal with it too. I sandblast and soak in Evaporust where possible, and on some things I just remove as much rust as possible by abrasion and solvent clean. The product is made to work over existing rust. Basically the instructions are descale as much as possible and thoroughly solvent clean before application. I have a steering box that was solid rust, I descaled it with rotary power wire brush and solvent cleaned it, then brush applied the product. It's been 4 years and still looks good. I sandblasted a heavily rusted rear end housing and coated it, in a year I saw speckles of rust coming thru what looked like porosity. I saw this on another item as well. For some reason a 2nd coat was needed. I just cleaned and scuffed with Scotchbright pad and applied a 2nd coat. No problems after that. I don't know but maybe the sandblast surface had something to do with that porosity. If in doubt, apply 2 coats. Regarding 2nd coats or topcoats with other materials, unless the 1st coat is only hours old, you will need to scuff before recoating or it will not stick. The instructions say topcoat adhesion is good for up to 48 hrs without sanding but that is not true. I know because I tried it. The topcoat blew off with an air hose. Once that stuff is fully cured you can topcoat it but it must be well scuffed. I have done so successfully with a thorough scuff. As an experiment I have a trailer hitch that I wanted to be black, so I coated it with the Eastwood Platinum and then I shot it with gloss black rattle can Rustoleum right away while the Eastwood was still kinda wet. It worked. The hitch has been on the road for years now and looks great. Another thing, the Dutch Boy plastic container will release the hardened unused material so easily that you can clean it all out of there and reuse the container multiple times. You can blow it loose with compressed air and scrape away any remaining spots. I have several of those containers in a rotation and have put gallons of that stuff thru them. They last a long time.

[@brandonlure2738]

@@onemoremisfit awesome. Thanks for the info! One last question for you: what thinner do you use when you spray it? The website recommends xylene, however that shit is horribly hazardous and isn’t even legal to sell in my state.

[@onemoremisfit]

@@brandonlure2738 They specify xylene for the Eastwood product and for POR 15 too, and that's the only thing I use. Also on the can of xylene the label will say things like "thins anti-rust paints, porch paints, epoxies, enamels". There is probably a good chemical reason why xylene is specified. If you can't get it then I'd say researching for a substitute is in order. I once accidentally threw a few ounces of lacquer thinner into a batch I was spraying because I picked up the wrong can of solvent. It did not affect the results, but the batch was still mostly thinned with xylene. If you can't find info on a substitute then you might have to experiment to see for yourself what happens when you use another solvent. Also I'm sure you realize when you spray that stuff you have to use the proper type of respirator. And don't have any other object you care about anywhere near the spray work area because the overspray of that stuff will get on everything around permanently.

[@brandonlure2738]

@@onemoremisfit spoke with them earlier today. They said an alternative to xylene is their Universal urethane reducer (50104zp). This stuff is much more expensive than xylene though. Wonder if it’s just their version of another basic thinning product