Restoring cast iron lion's head

[RedShirtGuy]

As a memento of the work I've done fixing up the Avoca railway station I've got a cast iron lion's head that was part of the guttering and was effectively a bolt used to join the pieces together.

The station was opened in 1876 so the piece would have come from around then. It's been painted at some stage of its life (which is now flaking off) and is quite rusty.

I was just going to give it a bit of wire brush/dremel treatment to bring the details back out and remove the rust and hopefully get a bit of shine back on it.

Once I've done that, what can I do to it to keep it clean and protected, showing the bare metal, and hopefully not keep rusting back up?

UPDATE: I've had a quick run over it with a wire wheel. At least you can tell what it is now

[Master Splinter]

Spray it with Wattyl Incralac. Spray cans of it at most Wattyl stockists.

[RedShirtGuy]

Belated thanks Splinty

[Buzza]

I fear I may be too late with this because you have used the wire brushes etc.

You could have found (still try it) a food grade tub, and put the cast iron into that, then pour molasses completely over it submerging the item. Leave it untouched for a few weeks. This completely restores the item and removes all traces of rust and other unwanted gunge. Wire brushes can remove detail in such items or leave ugly marks. Molasses is real cheap and can be got at fodder stores. If you find old cast iron items tucked away and uncared for, and you think they are beyond repair, try this method, as it is real cheap, and usually does a very good job of de-scaling.

[RedShirtGuy]

That's a very interesting one Buzza. I love the simplicity and lack of effort required bar the clean up.

How would it go getting the last few small specks of stubborn paint off that the wire hasn't been able to move? And if I was doing, say, some cast iron camping/bush gear, which would require a fair bit of molasses to cover the largest pot, is it reusable?

[Buzza]

I have not done this myself, but I have heard. . . Therefore I cannot give my perfect answer. However, the molasses once used will pong somewhat, I'm led to believe.
I found this tip by looking up how to clean old camp ovens found in fowl sheds etc. The person who did that long lost web page, had lots of pictures to prove his point. Molasses is quite cheap, and you can get it in 2 litre containers. (Usually recycled plastic milk bottles). Lately, my son who has no interest in my camping gear or plans an ideas, came to me and said he had found a web page where a bloke had been restoring car panels, and his first step was to soak them in a tub of molasses, which cleaned up the panels surprisingly well. I think the item shown would cost in the vicinty of three or four dollars worth of molasses to try it out. That way, you will know after two or three weeks, if it will take off all of the old paint or not as well.

Here is a discussion on the use of molasses for such purposes
TECH: low budget molasses rust removal [Archive] - THE H.A.M.B.

Yes it pongs according to the discussion.

Another good read

http://antiqueautoranch.com/montana500/adrian/rust.html

[RedShirtGuy]

Bewdy. Thanks. I found an interesting page on it as well last night and the results looked pretty darn good.

I'll definitely be giving it a go on the lion head as well as the spare wing my table saw as it has a stripe of heavy rust on one edge where it was obviously sitting against a wall in a bit of a puddle.

The wife has horses so I'm familiar with the stench of brewed molasses and yeh, it's a good nose hair remover alright.

[Buzza]

If you have great success, then consider making a series of copies from aluminium. You can find a lot of web pages that show you how. That way you may be able to make a few dollars on the side.

[woodhunt]

I've used it for various projects- scooter parts, cast iron weights, a pair of cast horse heads (30kg each).

Yes, it works a treat, and yes it pongs like a cross between a home brewery/compost pile (esp with cast iron), so a lid with pinhole is a good idea- especially after you decide to put it next to the neighbours fence and load it up with to much iron to move

What makes it such a winner for me is the time factor with old and irreplaceable stuff- you only need to check on it every few days instead of worrying about your aluminium coming out pockmarked if you forget.

Anyone giving it a go for the first time make sure you remove any old enamel paint/coatings as it hampers getting it all off evenly. And seal/coat the damn stuff as soon as as possible after drying as it will surface rust at mad rate once out.

Very annoying trying to get cheap molasses onhand in the inner city- nothing but mostly small organic jars 'round here.... If anyone knows bulk suppliers that are not too far from Sydney environs it would be appreciated if you could post it on this thread!

With your camping gear if it's greasy/seasoned I'd hit it with some sort of detergent first to let the molasses do it's job best.

Cheer,
G

[RedShirtGuy]

Holy snapping duck cack Batman!!

I mixed up about 20lt at a roughly 1:10 ratio. Kept giving it a stir for a couple of days until all the molasses had dissolved properly then chucked some stuff in it.

The end of the table saw wing looks like it was stored leaning against a wall and standing in a permanent puddle. I'd already cleaned the wing up as best I could but couldn't budge the rust strip. So I stood it up in a bucket with just enough of the solution to cover the rusted areas and pretty much left it alone.

48 hours later and a little rub with a clean cloth showed just how much rust had been removed from the wing already. It's back in the solution to keep working its' dark magic.

The lion got a 48hr soak too and it is showing massive promise. The solution has revealed paint in areas that I thought were already clean and some parts are coming out silver shiny like it's eating the black away too!! The photos don't do it justice. (Hope I'm not wrecking it)

I've got some ancient steel garden tools that I'm going to hurl into the rest of the solution and see how they come up too. Much excitement.

The molasses has been an awesome tip Much better than all the faffing around I did with electrolysis to clean up an old saw.

[Buzza]

I am happy to be of some help here. Alas, there goes my multi million dollar rust removal services I was going to use to pay my electricity bills with.

The son and I have decided that we have a few small items that could go into a Molasses Bath. For those that want to remove the patina from brass items, it may also work on that as well. I know a lot of people will not rub brass items because each rub takes away some of the finer detail.