# Original Paint Recovery Breaking Bad!



## dougfisk (Feb 8, 2014)

_It is better to be lucky than good..._

I bought this frame because I saw the light aqua color peeking thru some chips and thought it was the original paint... and that a clever fellow like me might resurrect it.    Turns out... this frame had 4 layers of paint.  The aqua was layer 2.  The original paint was actually black with red trim.  The predominant medium blue was layer 3.  There was a navy blue that was layer 4.

I spent several hours up to my elbows in caustic, carcingenic chemicals and this is all I have to show for it.   The top navy layer (4) came off fairly readily leaving a mostly uniform layer 3.  But NOOOO.... I was greedy and wanted to recover the Aqua... So I kept at it and this is where I quit.  Layer 3, the medium blue is hard as nails, and does not want to release without taking everything with it, down to bare metal.


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## pedal_junky (Feb 8, 2014)

*Blue man*

If I could find that guy with blue paint! I feel your pain.


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## dougfisk (Feb 9, 2014)

So what is "plan B"?  I am old school and will proceed as if it was still 1972...   :eek: 

I moonlighted in body and paint, and auto restoration many years ago while in college.  The state of the art then (and I have not yet been convinced to the contrary) was the certainty that a sound original finish was the best possible substrate for a new finish.  This finish, all 3 remaining layers, is SOUND.  So... I will refinish over this after feathering out the chips, nicks and any other "variations in elevation".  The main risk I face is that the new finish may swell or "raise" one of the earlier layers.  Since pretty much everything old is better than everything new; I am betting against it.    After all; what have I got to lose?


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## ThegoodThebad&Therusty (Feb 10, 2014)

So, Mr. fisk, are you intending on channeling your inner booger eating pimple faced 12 yo to spray this project, or are you going with the the ol' college spirit and actually going to use a compressor and pro spray gun with automotive grade products ?

pap
.


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## SirMike1983 (Feb 10, 2014)

This is one of those jobs I have learned the hard way to avoid. Some people use Xylene, others acetone, others paint thinner, and still others Methyl Ethyl Ketone (MEK). I've heard of people using Goof Off. The ability to pull layers of paint cleanly is dependent on what type of paint was used. Every bike seems different. Sometimes the overpaint pulls the original with it, sometimes not. Moreover, pretty much everything you can try to use is going to be nasty. Acetone isn't all that good for you, and they get worse from there. Eventually you may end up with Xylene or MEK and wonder why you're doing it anymore. If you're in for a re-paint, I guess I'd just strip is down with Acetone to bare metal and re-paint. I have found screwing around with unknown, random overpaint layers is unreliable because it's hard to tell just what you're dealing with, how old it is, and how it interacts with the layers below it. But that's just my view.


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## fat tire trader (Feb 11, 2014)

I've used a lot of different chemical paint strippers. By far, the best stripper that I have used in made by Greens in Richmond California.

http://www.coppergreen.com/paint_removers.htm


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## FloridaRust (Feb 11, 2014)

For the best results for me are these steps:
With over spray everyone hates them.With me I take 00/000 wool with rubbing compound that is course to the touch but feels like course sand.Rub that a test area and see how far it goes to the different levels of oversray before you hit red primer.Once established than gradually determine the time it takes to the area if it hard than try taking a plain 00/000 or 1000 grit sandpaper and boiled lineseed oil and rubbing into the overspray to soften it.Let it set for a couple of days and than do another test with the 00/000 wool and compound and test to see if its easier.If so than gradually start the process of removing the overspray.The lineseed oil is a conditioner that helps refurbishes the life of the overspray due to the hardeners that is mixed can paints.Once down to the original paint go and rub in Lineseed oil so that the paint will not chip,flake or (burn off) by waxes and other thing.
Sorry bout the long essay it just my 17 years of messing around with bicycle I kinda tested everything and found this works best for me.


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## dougfisk (Feb 11, 2014)

ThegoodThebad&Therusty said:


> So, Mr. fisk, are you intending on channeling your inner booger eating pimple faced 12 yo to spray this project, or are you going with the the ol' college spirit and actually going to use a compressor and pro spray gun with automotive grade products ?
> 
> pap
> .




I haven't decided yet... it may depend on color selection...


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## dougfisk (Feb 11, 2014)

SirMike1983 said:


> This is one of those jobs I have learned the hard way to avoid.... I have found screwing around with unknown, random overpaint layers is unreliable because it's hard to tell just what you're dealing with, how old it is, and how it interacts with the layers below it. But that's just my view.




I have been spoiled by several successful results, including this one... *if* I had stopped at layer 3 which was nicely uniform... but I decided to go for it...

"_Discretion is the better part of valour"_


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## ThegoodThebad&Therusty (Feb 11, 2014)

dougfisk said:


> I haven't decided yet... it may depend on color selection...




I've got mad rattle can skills, heck, when I was a little shaver I made money going door to door stenciling addresses on the curb in front of peoples house (try and get away with that in Kalifornistan now) :eek: 

Now i've heard you can get the people at the automotive paint supply store to mix up a high quality catalyzed paint and primer and put them in an aerosol can for you. Rumor has it there's a shelf life issue if you go that route, gotta use it _wiki wiki_ ...

Do you have any experience with that or seen any discussion regarding that over on that _other_ site there Mr. fisk ?

pap
.


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## Momo (Feb 11, 2014)

These guys will mix up rattle cans full of automotive paint in any color you want:

http://www.apstowerpaint.com/

Not cheap for rattle cans but _way_ cheaper than cans of Deltron and catalyst.
Good quality product and their rattle cans spray better than any other I've ever used.


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## younggun'85 (Feb 11, 2014)

I just go to the local autobody supply. I got cans mixed to repaint the front clip on my crown victoria. It was a hard to find color they don't offer in spray cans normally.


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## ThegoodThebad&Therusty (Feb 11, 2014)

Momo said:


> These guys will mix up rattle cans full of automotive paint in any color you want:
> 
> http://www.apstowerpaint.com/
> 
> ...




Oh yeah, that's what i'm talking about, great link Momo.

Now if we can just get master fisk to do a beta test of the product so he can document it for the rest of us !!! 

pap

.


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## hcdsign (Mar 4, 2014)

*Sometimes you get lucky!!*

I picked up a 1941 Hawthorne to part out, when I noticed some good paint under the inner-tubes, when I peeled the tires off.  2 cans of oven cleaner later, the 73 year old paint was shining thru again.  Its hard to believe that much of the original 3 color paint was left after removing 3 other coats of house paint.  The top layer must have had iron or something in it to give the rusted look on the top layer.

Please check out the pics on the link here.  (I could not load the photos to this thread)

http://thecabe.com/vbulletin/showth...th-serial-ID-date-Saved-from-being-parted-out!


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