Rusted Cast Iron: Smart Finishing Options for Statues

I purchased two cast iron French garden statues from a dealer. He promised to send info on how to turn the rust a green color and inhibit future rust but he has gone out of business with no forwarding address. Can anyone please help with any possible treatments for the statues? They are about 5′ high.

Stuart Hanford
– Lebanon, Pennsylvania, USA

 

Sorry I can’t help you but if you find the answer to your question I would love to know.

Thanks,

Nicholas Subryan
– Bridgetown

You can colour it black. Here is recipe!

20 gm tannic acid

⇦ on

eBay

or

Amazon [affil link]

15 gm phosphoric acid

1 lit. H2O

Spray or paint on thoroughly degreased object! Lacquer it if you want !

Goran Budija
– Cerovski vrh Croatia

2007

You can paint Cast iron in any color you like.
It is best to paint it with a paint called
Hammerite Rust Cap
[affil link]
since it can be used directly on rusted surface. You only need to brush the loose iron off.

You can also use two colors of lacquer to get an antique look on the surface.

First apply the darker color on all the surface and then spray the lighter color onto a cloth and apply the color with gentle strokes
(not to much)

Try using black and gold or Black and Bronze.

Good luck!

Thorsteinn Jonsson
– Keflavik, Iceland

Multiple threads merged: please forgive chronology errors and repetition  🙂

Q. I have some 19th century containers made of cast iron. Now that the old paint and rust have been taken care of, and liking the look and color of the cast iron, I thought about using a transparent finish instead of re-painting. Since rust prevention usually includes a primer coat of paint followed by the finish coat paint layers… what about varnishing?

William O’Neill
surgeon. – Stavelot, Belgium
February 12, 2009