Metal has long been one of the most necessary materials, both in production and in everyday life. At the same time, despite the strength, reliability and a fairly long service life, even structures made of metal material can be exposed to negative environmental factors.

A forged product is a various metal structure that is assembled in any way from individual elements. These include various types of fences, gates, gates, railings on balconies and stairs, as well as many other products. Before painting, their surface must be primed. In addition, you can apply paint and primer in pairs.

Thanks to artistic forging, metal things can be made not only practical, but also aesthetic. All this makes artistic forging an ideal option for decoration in the exterior and interior. But in modern conditions, it is the painting of forged products that is the best way to prevent corrosion, thereby extending their service life.

Special preparation of metal products before painting

Initially, the primary processing of metal surfaces is carried out, and only then the paintwork material is applied. If forged products have been under the direct influence of environmental factors for a long time, then due attention will have to be paid to their pre-treatment. Thus, it will be necessary to remove the paint that has already peeled off, as well as get rid of the loose layer of rust. All this can be done with coarse sandpaper, a wire brush or a grinder. In the case when there are a lot of metal products or elements, a sandblasting machine is used.

Degreasing

The next step is degreasing. When cleaning new forged elements, certain rules must be followed. So black metal products directly from the factory may have stains of an oily or fatty nature. Also, various lubricants may remain on their surface. Under such circumstances, all this can be eliminated by using any solvent or a 5% solution of synthetic detergent for flushing. Metal products that have a smooth and shiny surface require sanding P-40 or higher to remove dust.

At the same time, zinc surfaces are washed off under high water pressure, while aluminum surfaces are not cleaned at all, they are only degreased.

Forged products coloring

In order to achieve an aesthetic, reliable and wear-resistant painting, it is necessary to carry out all finishing work in dry and calm weather. The air temperature should be in the range from + 20 ° to + 36 °, and the composition should not be lower than + 16 °. Humidity parameters - from 40 to 85%. You also need to ensure that the direct rays of the sun do not fall on the coating, which has not yet dried. The final coat of paint for forging is applied two hours after painting, although the time depends directly on the composition used. Corners and edges are most diligently painted, as they are most susceptible to corrosion.

There are several stages of painting forged products:

Thanks to modern technologies, it became possible to combine the properties of all layers. For example, rust-transforming substances can be added to the primer layer, and components with anti-corrosion action can be added to the paintwork material.

Thus, the combined paint for forging makes forged products spectacular for decades and at the same time increases their service life, protecting them from the negative effects of corrosion.

Special compositions for forged products

Forging Paints for Forged Coatings

After painting metal surfaces with a special composition, artistic forging acquires the color and shade necessary for this interior, and the composition protects the coating from corrosion. There are several types of special German-made WS-Plast, which are among the highest quality. Since they are made from acrylic binders, their service life reaches 8 years. This paint and varnish material is applied to various surfaces, even to those already painted. But at the same time it is necessary to do a trial painting. In this case, the paint consumption is 125 grams per 1 m2.

Among blacksmith paints, another WS-Patina composition with a patina effect should be highlighted, which creates the effect of gold, copper or silver. Also interesting is the Zinga coating, which is a ready-made solvent-based composition. Such a coating will contribute to the effective protection of the metal surface from physical and electrochemical factors, as well as from corrosion. Due to this, the wear resistance of the coating is more than 40 years, it all depends on the thickness of the applied composition. In addition, some companies offer the same alkyd-based primer and paint, which are ideal for forgings.

Three-component paints

Recently, such special three-component paints have been developed, when a rust transformer, a primer and a decorative coating are contained in one container. This allows you to apply the composition immediately to the rust, not forgetting to clean off its loose layer. Currently, such compositions are produced by both foreign and domestic manufacturers. The highest quality are the compositions of the company Hammerite. As a result of the fact that solvents evaporate very quickly from painted surfaces, artistic forged products dry in 60-90 minutes. Of the domestic manufacturers, the most popular can be considered paints from the manufacturer NOVA.

The composition of this paint includes enamel with Novax anti-corrosion properties on an alkyd basis and a two-component composition designed specifically for use in aggressive environmental conditions.

Thus, today the market offers a wide range of paints and varnishes for wrought iron gates or fences, as well as for other similar products. When properly applied, these compounds will provide long-term protection of the metal from corrosion.

After the choice of a forged product is made, its future color and type of paint should be considered, on which not only the appearance of the forging, but also the service life will depend. In addition, it is extremely important to follow the painting technology, as this affects the final result even more than the type of paintwork material itself. To help perform this procedure as efficiently as possible, then we will consider how and with what to paint forged products.

Paint selection

Painting forged products, in fact, like any other metal surfaces, is needed to protect the metal from corrosion. In addition, it allows you to give artistic forging a certain color in order to successfully fit it into a particular interior.

Today, there are many types of paint and several ways to apply it.

Therefore, before painting forged products, you should familiarize yourself with the basic requirements for paint, which are as follows:

First of all, the paint should be intended for application to metal and have anti-corrosion properties that prevent the formation of rust. Anti-corrosion properties are especially important if the product will be exposed to atmospheric phenomena.
Mechanical resistance.
Environmental friendliness- the paintwork must be non-toxic, especially if the product will be located indoors.
Plastic- the paint should be easy to apply with your own hands and evenly lay down on an uneven surface.

Advice! To give the product an original look, it is often applied over the main color, which gives the surface the effect of antiquity.

As for the paint and varnish coatings themselves, which are suitable for the designated purpose, they can be divided into two types:

liquid;
Powder.

Do-it-yourself painting of forged products involves the use of liquid paints, which include:

Alkyd enamels;
Acrylic compositions;
Nitro enamels, etc.

Before giving preference to one or another composition, it is necessary to familiarize yourself with its characteristics in order to make sure that the material is suitable for painting forged products in one case or another.

Painting forged products with liquid paints

Foundation preparation

Before you paint forged products, you need to perform some preparatory work. It depends on them how much forging will be protected from corrosion and how long it will last.

Surface preparation is carried out in the following order:

If the product is not new, and has already been painted, then first of all you need to remove the old layer of paint. To do this, you can use sandpaper, a building hair dryer, or a special chemical composition called a wash. The last option is the simplest and fastest, but at the same time, the most toxic.
After the old coating is removed, the metal must be cleaned of rust. Ideally, the surface should be sandblasted. At home, you can use a metal brush or sandpaper.
Then the cleaned metal must be degreased, to do this, wipe the surface with a rag soaked in white spirit or other suitable composition.
The final stage of preparation is the application of a layer of soil to the surface. In fact, this procedure is practically no different from painting. It can be done with a spray or brush.

You need to mix well with a stick. It is applied in an even thin layer. Depending on the type of composition, it may be necessary to perform the procedure in two passes.

Note! The primer for forging must have good anti-corrosion properties. Often, cold galvanizing is used for these purposes.

Painting

You can start further work after the primer dries.

Painting instruction consists of several stages:

It is necessary to start work with the preparation of paint. First of all, you need to mix it thoroughly and, if necessary, dilute it to obtain the desired consistency. The type of thinner depends on the type of paint.
Then the composition is applied to the prepared surface. Good paint for forged products will not leave streaks on its own, however, you need to make sure that it lays down in a uniform thin layer, without streaks. For painting hard-to-reach places, you can use a thin brush with a curved handle.
To achieve the best effect of painting, after drying the first layer, this operation must be repeated.
To ensure the greatest durability of the coating and protection against mechanical damage, a layer of protective varnish can be applied to the paint.

In the photo - powder-coated forged product

Powder coating

This painting technology has many advantages, in particular - the price of the coating is lower, it is possible to achieve various decorative effects, etc. However, special equipment is required to perform powder coating.

In addition, this method of finishing is allowed only if the product will not be further welded. Otherwise, the coating will burn, and it will not be possible to restore it.

The meaning of this method lies in the fact that a powder dye is applied to the surface, which is subsequently baked under the influence of high temperature, thus forming a monolithic layer.

Conclusion

Painting forged products is practically no different from applying paint to any other metal surface, except that forging often has complex shapes, so the process of its processing is more painstaking.

Otherwise, the result depends on the choice of paint, surface preparation and adherence to the painting technology that we discussed above. For more information on this topic, see the video in this article.

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Paint used in artistic forging

Since artistic forging products are made of steel profile, which tends to rust quickly, it becomes necessary to apply a protective coating on it.

Forged products have certain features, namely:

- they are made of ordinary steel, which does not form an oxide film and therefore rusts;
- they are used and mounted both outdoors and indoors;
- they have a large number of connecting joints between parts;
- they are often made from a metal bar that does not have a smooth surface.

These features impose their own requirements on the choice of paint.

1. The paint must contain anti-corrosion agents to prevent rust. If interior forging is practically not affected by atmospheric phenomena, then various visors, weathervanes, gates, fences and other exterior forging experience all the delights of the weather.

2. The paint must be sufficiently resistant to physical impact - i.e. do not peel off, wear out or scratch at the slightest touch.

3. For outdoor products, the paint must be resistant to a wide range of temperatures - not cracking at temperatures below -40 and not spreading at temperatures above +40.

4. The paint must be UV resistant and retain its color in any case.

5. The paint must be non-toxic both during drying and when dry. If for outdoor products, this parameter is not very important, then for forged products located at home, this is extremely important. The smell of paint in many causes an allergic reaction, dizziness and nausea. In addition, the painting of products most often takes place indoors, therefore, for the safety of workers, it must have minimal toxicity in the liquid state. a

6. The paint should have good plasticity and be easy to apply. Many joints and welds should be well painted to avoid rust.

7. The paint should evenly lay down on an uneven surface.
To give originality to an artistic forging product, “patina” is often applied over the main color - a special coloring matter to give the forged products the effect of antiquity. When applying a "patina", the base paint should not change its properties and lose color.

The process of coloring artistic metal products comes down to several intermediate steps:

cleaning (the best is sandblasting),
degreasing,
applying a protective film (phosphating, zinc or nickel plating)
soil application,
application of the main paint and varnish composition of the desired color.

Now many people reduce the process of painting products to two stages - cleaning and applying paint. This has become possible thanks to new dyeing technologies and new paint formulations. Some compositions allow paint to be applied even to a rusty surface, these include Hammerite paints based on alkyd-styrene.

As for the types of painting, they can be figuratively divided into 2 types:
- powder coating, which requires special chambers;
- painting with liquid paints, which are applied with ordinary rollers, brushes or spray guns.

Powder coating requires polymer baking in special ovens at a high temperature in the range of 148-180 degrees Celsius. And since the furnace has a limited space, the spraying of bulky and voluminous forged gratings with a polymer becomes problematic. But at the same time, a strong, even polymer layer is created on the forged product. It is good to use this coloring on large surfaces with a small number of joints and openwork elements, since otherwise the granules do not quite densely fill multi-joints, and the polymer film there will be thin and not very strong, which can lead to rolling of the protective coating in these places when installation.

liquid paints suitable for any surface, but their consumption is much higher, especially when painting large openwork through products (for example, a fence or an “open” gate). In addition, liquid paints are more toxic. But at the same time, there is a guarantee that all joints and elements will be completely painted over. In addition, some liquid paints, when cured, also form a durable polymer film that is not inferior in quality to powder coating.

Conventionally, paints can be divided into the following:

1.Emulsion paints. This group includes all oil and alkyd paints.
Alkyd paints are paints based on organic solvents. The most common solvent for such paints is white spirit (purified kerosene). Alkyd paints withstand wet cleaning with conventional detergents. They also protect metal surfaces well from corrosion and wear both indoors and outdoors. If you need to get a glossy finish, then again choose these paints. The use of alkyd paints is also justified when it is necessary to transfer the full saturation of the selected color to the forged product. The colors of this group also have disadvantages. They take longer to dry than acrylics and are more toxic.
The best representatives of this family of paints is the Finnish Tikkurila paint.
Our company regularly uses a wide range of paints from this Finnish company.

2.Water-dispersed paints. Including acrylic paints.
The main advantage of such paints is low toxicity and fire safety.

WS-Plast acrylic paint was specially developed by a German company for painting metal surfaces. The resulting paint composition has excellent adhesion to many metal surfaces and solid polymers, due to which the service life of such coatings can reach 6-8 years or more. Most blacksmith companies that produce premium forged products use this brand of paint to color these products. If you need to get a matte surface, then it is better not to find acrylic paints. About WS-Plast acrylic paints they say that they emphasize the skill of a blacksmith.

3.Nitroenamels.The main advantage of such paints is the speed of drying. But the disadvantages are also very significant - high toxicity and the need for perfect preparation of the metal surface before painting, which is very problematic for forging.

Many companies have appeared on the Russian market offering blacksmith paint with different properties, therefore, knowing what criteria paint for artistic forging should have, choosing the right one will not be difficult.

Why is it necessary to paint metal products and why do it at all? After all, it is a strong and hard-wearing material, and, for example, new metal garage doors are already painted. Is it just for beauty? Answering these questions is required to understand the actions to preserve metal products from corrosion.

Identification of the need for staining

Metal gates of a country house, both garage and entrance, are used daily, which is necessarily reflected in their canvas. However, they are installed outdoors. And the metal structure, located in the open air, is affected by temperature and humidity, eventually leading to corrosion of the product.

Rusted canvas gives the gate an unaesthetic appearance. This indicates not only the influence of natural factors, but also the improper preparation of the surface for painting. Therefore, it is necessary to pay attention to the process of preparing and painting metal products.

The need for painting is determined visually. This is not only clearly visible rust, but also the presence of internal corrosion, which leads to the appearance of small bubbles on the surface and further flaking, as well as peeling of the paint. If the preparatory work is done with high quality, then the next painting will not be required soon. It will only be necessary to periodically tint, or rather, refresh.

Paint selection

When choosing a material for outdoor work, certain requirements should be followed. They are dictated by the need for a long period of preservation of the surface from external factors. Here are the properties that the selected paint and varnish products should have:

good adhesion to the surface (adhesion);
sufficient elasticity, since expansion and contraction are the response of metal products to temperature effects;
the presence of water-repellent properties;
possibility of use in a wide range of temperatures;
resistance to chemically active substances;
strength under mechanical stress.

When choosing a paint and varnish product, it is necessary to take into account all the points of this list. After all, iron gates are used in various conditions. They may be affected not only by temperature and moisture, but also by mechanical stress or accidental ingress of oils and other chemicals.

Knowing the requirements for paints for outdoor work, you can proceed directly to the choice. On sale there is a wide variety of paints and varnishes, the cost of which varies widely.

The most used types are as follows:

Nitro paint is quick-drying, which makes it easy to use. However, it peels off, and then, within six months, it peels off. Not recommended for use over other types of paints and varnishes.
Oil. Allows you to cover the product with a thick layer, but dries for a long time. Depending on the company that produces the goods, the drying process can last from a day to a week. For such a long time, small particles stick to the canvas, which reduces the attractiveness of this type of paint.
Alkyd enamel - universal, has good resistance to abrasion. There is a wide range of colors and a choice of textures - the usual glossy or matte. The durability of the painted surface is from 3 to 7 years. Drying time - within a day.
Acrylic enamel - well withstands sudden temperature changes and exposure to moisture, as well as aggressive substances, is elastic. Has been widely used.
Silicone enamel - has good adhesion, is durable and elastic. Particularly distinguished by heat resistance, anti-corrosion properties and low consumption during painting.

Choosing a coloring tool

This is an important moment in the production of paint work. The right approach is needed, both for the preparatory work and for painting the gate. Which tool to choose is an independent process, depending on specific conditions and circumstances. An important factor here is the professional level of the worker.

Roller, brush and spray gun - the tool you need to do the job. Paint only with a brush, ineffective due to the appearance of streaks on the working surface. The work will have to be done again. It is impossible to paint with a roller in corners and narrow places. Therefore, their combined use is recommended.

The spray gun can only be used by a person who has the skills to work with it. It requires not only a timely change in spray pressure, but also the knowledge of what viscosity the paint must have in order to paint the gate. Lack of skills will lead to strong streaks over the entire painted area.

Preparatory work

Preparation for painting the gate must be carried out in strict sequence. It is necessary to perform the following work steps:

Washing or cleaning from dirt. The removal of contaminants is carried out, as well as the washing off of other substances adhering to the canvas. The most thorough work can be done using a hose. Pay special attention to corners and hard-to-reach places.
Surface cleaning. At this stage, it is necessary to remove peeling paint from the canvas. If the layer of the previous coating is large, then it is necessary to remove the entire thickness of the old stains. Works can be carried out both with a brush for metal and with a building hair dryer. It is possible to use a grinder or a drill with a special nozzle - a “brush”.
Grinding. It is produced with fine-grained sandpaper, regardless of the way the work is done - manually or using a drill that has a special nozzle. The mechanized method speeds up the work. However, without the use of manual grinding is indispensable in hard-to-reach places.
Degreasing. It is carried out with a solvent after cleaning and grinding. It is important to process the entire surface without gaps, not forgetting about hard-to-reach areas. The quality of the coupling of further coatings with metal depends on this.

Of course, changes and additions to the order of work are possible. Some gate owners wash after stripping and grinding, using detergents. This allows you to save on degreasing agents. But it should be remembered that these works must be carried out very carefully, and detergents cannot replace the solvent.

Carrying out painting work

You can paint the most evenly with a spray gun. The work is done quickly and efficiently, with coloring of all hard-to-reach places. You should be careful not to get into the respiratory tract small drops of paint, which fly in the form of a suspension in the surrounding space when working with such a tool.

The most common way to paint is to use a roller for large areas and a brush for hard to reach areas. It is necessary to carry out painting work from above, gradually falling down. Apply paint in parallel lines that overlap by a few centimeters.

After painting is completed, it is required to evaluate the integrity of the work. To do this, move back a few meters to identify gaps and other defects. Paint over the found areas with a brush.

If the color of the paint after drying turned out to be dull, then a second layer is required. Work is performed in the same sequence - from top to bottom. It is possible to apply several layers to achieve a bright color of the painted surface.