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Stripping and clear-coating old steel furniture

1998

I'm trying to strip an old steel piece of furniture of its paint and finish it in a clear (powder coat?) coating to reveal the burnished surface of the metal.

I stripped the paint easily enough with chemical stripper (3M), and took off almost all of the rust spots with naval jelly ⇦this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] and a finishing pad. However, I have two problems. First, some of the rust spots are pitted and little black spots remain. And second, there's a milky white wash on the surface from the naval jelly I think, that doesn't rub out.

Any suggestions?

Terry McMahon

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1998

I'm also in the process of stripping and sanding an old steel cabinet and have run into the same problems you describe. I've found that using #2 steel wool [affil link on Amazon] w/ naval jelly and lots of elbow grease removes the majority of the black spots. Where the pitting was extremely bad, I used the steel wool first, followed by sanding with an electric sander using 150 or 180-grit- sandpaper [affil links].

To get rid of the white residue that remains after using the naval jelly I found that using wet/dry sandpaper (180 grit) dipped in soapy water and again, elbow grease removes the residue.

I too, am now looking for a clear finish I can apply that will protect the metal from rust/corrosion yet let the burnished finish show through. Any ideas?

Sariah Gearheart