[TheForge] Unique (?) coating for steel and iron...

Tue Apr 13 10:42:00 2004

Someone already makes a coating like you describe, it is called polyurethane
or any type of alkyd or phenolic varnish.  There all just plastic resins
which have been combined whith a drying oil as a carrier. Some of the bar
top type finishes have a tremendous amount of solids (plastics) incorporated
into them and as a result are super tough and look like plastic. Great
finish if you want the item to have a plastic looking coating covering
it....other varnishes hide the plastic look.
T. Clark

----- Original Message -----
From: "Bruce Freeman" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: April 13, 2004 7:29 AM
Subject: Re: [TheForge] Unique (?) coating for steel and iron...

> Dave,
>
> With the process you describe I can see that oil would be a problem.
> You were probably working at just the proper temperature for best melt
> and adhesion.
>
> With the hot-melt glue on iron, however, I think one would be working
> well over the melting point of the glue.  Hence, the glue would act as a
> solvent.  Finger oil might be problematic (it's not "oil" in the sense
> petroleum is- at "best" it's "animal fat") but I expect most oils would
> simply mix with the molten glue.
>
> The real question is whether the resulting coating is sufficiently
> impervious to water and air as to preclude rusting.  Time will tell.  My
> project was a boat hook - for salt water use!
>
> Bruce
>
> >>> [email protected] 4/12/2004 1:12:58 PM >>>
> Bruce,  Don't see any reason your idea shouldn't work well.  In another
> life
> I spent a lot of time working with applying a film of hot polyethylene
> to
> aluminum foil or to aluminum foil on one side and paper on the other.
> The
> hot poly came from a extrusion head, it started as small beads of poly
> and
> was melted and extruded under pressure from a heated power screw.  The
> film
> die was also heated.  The only real key was that the aluminum surface
> had to
> be very free of oil.  Oil in this case came from the rolling process.
> With
> clean hot iron this should not be a problem provided you don't get oil
> from
> you hands on it.  It should be worth a try and might work well out in
> the
> "weather".
>
> Dave Smucker
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Bruce Freeman" <[email protected]>
> To: <[email protected]>
> Sent: Monday, April 12, 2004 10:27 AM
> Subject: [TheForge] Unique (?) coating for steel and iron...
>
>
> > I've been sitting on this idea a few weeks in hopes of being able to
> > test it thoroughly.  Lack of time has precluded that.
> >
> > Here's the background:  While welding a polyethylene doohicky, using
> a
> > polyethylene coffee can lid as my "stick" and an old cast iron spoon
> ash
> > my iron, I noticed what a nice coating of polyethylene I got on the
> > iron.  Aha!  A water-impervious coating for iron, cheap as recycled
> > garbage...
> >
> > Well, it turns out that polyethylene melts at about 380 F, and burns
> > not much higher than that.  So, while, in principle, it could be
> used
> > fairly nicely, it's not to practical.  You're have to tow the line
> > between something moving slower than molasses, and something burning
> > like napalm.  If you could apply the polyethylene to the iron under
> > strict (~400 F) temperature control, this would probably work.
> >
> > However, while contemplating this, it occurred to me that hot-melt
> glue
> > is nothing more than low-MP polyethylene, or high-MP paraffin wax,
> with
> > a MP of~200 F or less.  So I tried applying this to a recent project
> and
> > it seems to have worked quite well.
> >
> > So there you go.  Get your metal to ~250 in an oven and rub the
> > hot-melt glue stick directly on the thing. Smooth with a cloth or
> brush
> > (vegetable fiber - not bristle or synthetic).
> >
> > Next I have to test how effective it is.  Or wait for one of you
> guys
> > to test it and let me know.
> >
> > Bruce
> > NJ
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