Distressed Metal Techniques

[dcg4403]

I'm wanting to distress a mild steel coffee table that I'm fabricating & was hoping I might be a few pointers from people. I know how to do black & rust patinas but not vibrant colors such as red, blue or green. See pictures below. This is exactly the look I'm after, especially in the red.

I'm thinking they are painted & then wire brush and sanded? But maybe the red one is surface etched vs painted/coated? Someone needs to make a YouTube DIY video!!!

http://lh4.ggpht.com/-OdDP292Ry-I/T9...JPG?imgmax=800

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_dbId0NzzvmY/TI...jpg?imgmax=800

[dcg4403]

Sorry, images directly:

[Eliotmay@yahoo.com]

Here is a sign I did for my shop.

http://weldingweb.com/showthread.php?t=140631

I just put the painted metal on my concrete driveway and hit it with a bfh a few times then used sandpaper on it, especially the edges. Works for me!

[Jimmy_pop]

Red = raw metal + dark grey/black primer + red paint. complete dry/cure. 400/800/1500 grit sand paper + water. Drink lots of beer and dont over think it. once youre finished Fvcking it up, you could apply a gloss or satin clear powder coat. I would personally seal it with something. Not sure if shop.retro guy seals anything.

[Eliotmay@yahoo.com]

Nice ideas jimmy pop, ps yours is one of my favorite avatars / profile pix!

[DSW]

To me the red one looks like someone painted the item red, then went over it with a black " glaze" and either dry brushed it on or possibly sponged it on in some places. That's a fairly common faux finishing technique.

The rivets do look like someone came along and sanded the paint off of them to highlight them. I keep thinking maybe with a DA and foam backing pad since I don't see a lot of distortion to the rivets or a lot of signs of sanding on the base material.

[MetalMan23]

I've read where people will paint it red or some other color, then scuff it a little and put wax in a few places, then paint over everything with your final color. Wherever the wax was the paint won't stick to, and it'll look like the paint wore off.

[Bob]

You may want to google Gilders Paste. It's a great product.

[fredschrom]

The red piece was indeed painted red first the let dry. After that I agree it was daubed with black, I think the black had a lot of reducer in it say 25% paint to 75% reducer. Me I would have sprayed it think with an airbrush, and yep those rivets look to be Scoth brite padded before the black.