Should I even try to strip my old radiators?

I love the look of wooden covers but always baulked at the COST. Besides, the cats absolutely adored the metal rad cover in our master bedroom. It was covered in cats at all times.

I took me a long time and a 2nd wife to learn it is not all-ways about cats.

Wow jg, that powder coated radiator is gorgeous! I think I will leave the rest of the radiators in my house to the professionals. After crouching down in my tiny little bathroom, banging and scraping away with a screwdriver for 3 hours, my entire body has been sore and achy for 2 days. I can barely walk and I feel like I have the flu.

The good news though is that on closer inspection the radiator is only slightly rusted in a few spots. I just thought the entire thing was rusted because it is a strange orangey brown color. I won't even think about painting it until the Spring. I should be fully recovered by then.

It's possible to strip and paint a radiator yourself and have a nice result. Years ago I used wire brushes and sand paper to completely strip a radiator, then used heat resistant engine block paint (Ford gray) to spray paint the whole thing. It was all done out in the garage, not in place. That was more than a decade ago and is still looks brand new. However, it was a lot of work and a lot of time invested.

Subsequently I've had a few radiators hauled, sandblasted and powder coated. They look great, too, but of course I'm not as proud of them as the one I did myself!

I've had Art Green sandblast some for me.

He's at Union Wrecking on Rt 22 at 2345 US Hwy 22, Union, NJ.

50 or 55 bucks for an average sized radiator that I delivered to him and picked up. Painted myself with spray paint from Home Depot - holding up well.

"I took me a long time and a 2nd wife to learn it is not all-ways about cats."

truly classic, thanks for the smile.

Sand blaster is only like 20$ if you have a compressor... my thought was to unhook the radiator and sand blast it in a improvised booth in the back yard... am I crazy?

SO_Dad said:

Sand blaster is only like 20$ if you have a compressor... my thought was to unhook the radiator and sand blast it in a improvised booth in the back yard... am I crazy?

Sand blasters needs a fairly good sized compressor, and it makes a huge mess! Make sure you are covered head to toe and have some sort of respirator just in case your booth doesn't contain the sand storm.

Kurt

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SO_Dad, yes you are crazy and Kurt is right.

I have a modest siphon sand blaster, hooked it up to a rather powerful compressor that I use for a plasma cutter and even THAT compressor cannot really keep up with the demands of the sand blaster for more than a minute or two at a time, -then you have to wait for it to catch-up. Tedious. Beyond tedious for a big project.

Plus, yeah, the mess. I repurposed a cabinet to recapture the sand but it is really almost more trouble than it is worth (I really only made it for sculpture work) AND you can barely see what you are doing through the dust-storm because you have to wear full-face welder mask protection or the sand will bounce back and freakin' blind you, AND tear-up your hands without the protection of heavy leather gloves. -wheeeee!

I have a "Harbor Freight" type pressure sandblaster.

My first outing with it the band clamp that holds on the hose that delivers the sand to the nozzle broke and the hose blew off.

-wheeeeeeeeeee!

Kurt