remove rust on painted frame

[flemrasm]

Hi guys, i have a question, whats the best way to remove rust while preserving paint on a old frame ?

i got this 1951 danish bike, i´d like to preserve as much of the paint as i can instead of just blasting and repainting
i found out the hard way that vinegar will take the paint along with the rust will oxalic acid take the paint as well ??
any advice you can share? the pitting is severe in places.. a few photos so you can see what im talking about

regards
Flemming

 

[udallcustombikes]

The chances are that you will loose the pin stripes and other details. I would start in an inconspicuous spot try some buffing compound and see what that does to the rust. If you need to go more aggressive step up to 0000 steel wool and some light oil followed by BC and polish to see what you have left. Good luck.

 

[gcrank1]

I've used hot, soapy water and a 'scotchbrite' pad initially, and it lightly, to remove grime and soak the crusties and get some off the looser scale. Harder stuff I used a brass scraper and a magnifier loupe to stay on the scale, not paint and make sure you keep the scale wet. Later I used polishing, not rubbing' compound to buff up the paint. You are going to end up pretty splotchy, though, and any touch up paint on the descaled spots wont likely blend very well.

 

[jackdaw]

I've used kerosene and a green scotchbrite, gently, with good results but gcrank is right, the hard stuff you need to scrape. After I got done with the scotchbrite I used McGuires Scratch-X, it brought a good shine back up. This guy did an awesome job on this old Raleigh Golden Arrow, I stole all his ideas to shine up my bike. I like that he polished out the bare metal, let it be what it was.

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.ph ... lden+arrow

Good luck, let us know how it turns out.

 

[GTV]

I'd hit it with an SOS pad first, then some rubbing compound.