Geniuses of the patina, I'm calling for help! I've got a vision for the finish, but not sure how to get there. I want to remove the paint, it's junk, but I don't want to remove it all. I would like it to be natural looking, like a faded pair of jeans. And then some type of coating, spray clear, or something to make it look wet. I'm thinking mechanical paint removal, I have a drill, random orbit sander and an angle grinder. Or wet sand with wd40 or acid of some kind? Recommendations? Tips?
Okay, so I'm assuming the bike frame still looks like it did in the first photos? Which is actually a pretty consistent, even, and glossy finish on the bike as is. These are just my thoughts, take me or leave em.
If you want it to look like a 'faded pair of jeans', you could wet sand ( just scuff, really) the gloss finish so it will take paint. Then, what I have done to 'make new look old' with this technique, is to use a couple of rattle can sprays to give a faded or aged, or in OJ terms 'ratina' look. Here are a couple examples:
Brand new Grain Belt ad sign
I didn't even scuff this at all, but just applied 3 different Rustoleum spray colors in very light "from 3 feet away outside" applications.
50 years of wear and fade applied in 5 mins. This applied in just 2 - 3
very light coats from far away, so it just mists on the parts you want it to. When I wanted to make the 'EER' section near the arrow point look more rusty, I got a little closer and used a vertical motion with the can, instead of horizontal. When you want a slightly heavier application, you move in closer and get what is called a 'near mist'.
I used Strawflower (very light yellow / tan), Cinnamon ( minimal, surreal rust effect), and a light mist of the Multi-colored Texture ( lighter of the two browns) to create this.
The other method you could try, which I used on my Shelby Flyer Woody build, would be to light wet sand to get through the gloss and 'reduce' the vibrancy of the color. Here is how it looked after step 1:
The cantilevered tube closest to the camera has been sanded, the one farther away is original color / patina.
I used 3M 400 grit paper on this, with a 'light hand' , long strokes with little pressure.
And a shot of the frame after I was done:
I went one step further, because I was really into creating 'surreal rust' in my first few bike builds, and used my rattle can rattle-tina method again to get here:
I would caution against using any grinding / sanding / brushing powered tools. You will not be able to control the impact on the paint as well, and that process will certainly leave scratches that won't look 'natural'. And as always, follow my basic rule, "Always quit before you think you are done."
