PLEASE DO NOT CLEAR-COAT YOUR ORIGINAL PAINT VINTAGE BIKES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Grateful Dave]

Home made Waxoyl!
I learned it from the Wheelmen. Beeswax turpentine and light machine oil. I leave it on the stovetop not on, but next to the pilot light and shake it occasionally to allow the beeswax to fully dissolve.

When I washed my Century Marathon for the first time it still had some thick dust in places like it hadn’t been washed in decades. The water still beaded up like it was freshly waxed.
I’m not certain that was waxoyl on it but it definitely does now!

I just made some leather conditioner the same way. I didn't want to spend a bunch of money on prooride for an old ssddle. Tallow and beeswax and I added a little canuba which needed a bit of turpentine to dissolve.

 

[OldSkipTooth]

The beauty of wax, or better yet, boiled linseed oil is that it’s reversible! If you decide you don’t like it you can go back in time, nearly impossible to do that with something out of a can. It’s true that wax or boiled linseed is not a permanent coating, you have to redo either to maintain a semi wet look, but it’s worth it, and it gets you back in touch with your bike by cleaning it prior to the coating. Just my 2 cents.

 

[OldSkipTooth]

Use shellac instead right?

View attachment 766719

Interesting enough, shellac is an amazing natural product that is good for many things besides a super shiny top coat on antiques. It's great for sealing old paints, wall paper, plaster, mold, etc. Once sealed with shellac, you can then apply the finish you want and what you sealed underneath can't bleed through, hence Zinsser makes a shellac based white primer. Not sure if this technique can be used on bikes or metal in any way. If you ever do use shellac, its best made from scratch with raw lac and denatured alcohol.

 

[harpon]

Clear coat is not going to prevent further corrosion lol... you paint or clear over rust it’s still gonna be slowly still doing what rust does lol... then when it chips and bubbles and falls off, it will look like crap even more so... just wax the damn things.. [emoji848]


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Poppycock, generally. Although I'm not really talking about clear coating rust- rust - generally- needs to be sanded down (no sometimes it is in the metal and cant be totally eliminated)- but any matched touch up color over it- and best brushed on to insure that it DOES penetrate the three dimensions in what remains- will seal that portion to varying degrees. Rust diminished and sealed will not progress at nearly the same rate then- the portions of rust left un-sanded only spur more rust- it's like a cancer- the oxidized elements decay the rest sooner- it has to be surgically removed. It's internet gauche to lol everything away without much though or substance behind it!

 

[harpon]

That old orangy bike would look better after a good old can of Ford '50-'60's valve cover enamel - and last longer too.

 

[SKPC]

Howards' Feed-N-Wax from the Home Despot is a great product for use on old paint or metals. No solvents. I use it as a final wipe-on wax base for all my furniture refinish projects, and also find it useful for old bike finishes. And of course there is always linseed (flax) oil. I have fond memories of riding in the J.Deere Combine bin as a kid when my uncle was threshing Flax on our Minnesota farm. We would sit in the bin and let the seeds cover us up as he drove down the windrow....

 

[fordmike65]

Bump....for the newbies

 

[frampton]

Works great on old paint, bare metal and penetrating and freeing stuck parts.

 

[bikecrazy]

I favor the good old 10W40 treatment. A little shiney at first, but dulls down to what I think is a nice finish

 

[OhioJones]

Many years ago I came to the conclusion that if I can't put it on my genitals, then it doesn't belong on my guitars. Same goes for my bikes. Now, you may find this to sound a bit absurd. Maybe even a little amusing. But try walking around with burns and the smell of WD40 on your applebag.
I digress.