Re-painting a vintage lantern?

[Samon]

Scored a nice old vintage Feuer hand W.Germany model 275 baby lantern yesterday, but it appears to have been painted by a child, using their feet.. in the dark. And with cheap gold paint too lol.



I want to strip this mess off and apply a solid coat of weather resistant paint to the steel. Any tips on doing this? I obviously don't want to mess up the galvanised coating under the bad paint and after a little sanding the paint comes off really easy. Paint stripper? or sand paper?

Cheers guys

 

[Mesquite]

I'd use stripper as you'll be able to get it into all the nooks and crannies you won't reach with sandpaper

 

[Samon]

ARe there any good stripper brands left? Nitromors is now crap compared to its former self..

 

[Toddy]

This is going to sound really odd, but see that poor quality gold paint ? it might well be the spray on christmassy stuff. If it is then ordinary cellulose thinners will strip it off just using it on cotton wool balls. It'll leave the surface totally grease free and ready to re-paint too.
Under £3 a litre in Lidl's

M

 

[santaman2000]

If the steel underneath is galvanized, you'll need to "pickle" it with vinegar before you repaint it.

 

[Toddy]

Hah! good point

M

 

[Samon]

Popped into the gun/hardware shop down the road today and picked up 4 litres of parafin and some extra costic soda as the paint is litterally childs glitter paint and he said it'll strip it off. I made a paste and slapped it on with a brush.. lol it looked like a melting ice cream where I put on so much. But it is removing the paint now that I have submerged it into water to dilute and fully cover it all. Lots of bubbles and gold paint rising to the surface. (I removed the wick obviously!)

I'll leave it till later or tomorrow, remove any extra with a brush and then let it sun dry for a few days before I attempt a spray can paint attack!

If the steel underneath is galvanized, you'll need to "pickle" it with vinegar before you repaint it.

Why?? (does a galvanised surface not paint well??)

 

[santaman2000]

If the steel underneath is galvanized, you'll need to "pickle" it with vinegar before you repaint it.

.......Why?? (does a galvanised surface not paint well??)

The short answer is, no, it doesn't. This short video (less than 4 minutes) will explain it better than I can https://youtu.be/h9PWFGqy7PI He's using a commercial acid product (which should be just fine) but household vinegar is all we ever used in the corrosion shop for aircraft.

The good news is that if done properly, the corrosion protection afforded by the combination of the galvanizing and the paint will be 1.5 to 2.5 times the total from either system used alone. In other words, if you would expect 40 years of protection from the galvanizing and 10 years from painting, you can expect from 75 years to 120 years protection from the combination.

 

[Monikieman]

What about the DE razors in the pics What are they?

 

[Dark Horse Dave]

I'd be interested to hear how you get on with this little project Samon. My wife has just brought home an old Feuerhand she picked up in our local charity shop for 3 quid.

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[Samon]

What about the DE razors in the pics What are they?

They are De razors.

(Just kidding, well.. they are but you knwo what I mean)

One is what I think is a Gillette turbo D2 from the 1950's? and the other is a Gillette fat handle of a similar age. Both in good nick and with original bakelite cases, fiver each!

I'd be interested to hear how you get on with this little project Samon. My wife has just brought home an old Feuerhand she picked up in our local charity shop for 3 quid.

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Well it's been soaked in costic soda and water and scrubbed with a tool box toothbrush type thing and I've gotten all the paint off! Happy with that indeed and I just filled it up after drying it off and it works a charm! Really pelased. Only cost me a fiver so you're in for a treat for £3 if it's all solid and ready to go.



Was too dark to take a good picture of the cleaned up lantern, but it works! I'll take a snap tomorrow, the galvanised finish is wearing wuite thin by the looks of it but a coat of paint or forced patina may help that.

 

[Dark Horse Dave]

Great stuff - thanks!

And I've got my lantern up and running too; works fine. I'll have to try cleaning it up a bit like you've done when I get a minute.

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[Samon]

This is a day time picture.

 

[General Strike]

I thought Feuerhand lanterns were made of brass (chrome-plated or suchlike if you go for silver finish)?