My gates and railings are very badly rusted. I've used several of the well known products I saw on the telly over the years with little success. It is a lot of hard work, and as I'm getting on I do not need the hard work. Have you any sound advice that I can depend on? (F Higgins). 


Let my old friend Owatrol Oil come to the rescue yet again for a superb job on rust. It is excellent for treating rust on gates, railings, fire escapes, and so on. I've used it on my own railings and I've got 5 years with little or no rust which I suppose is not too bad. I've found scores of great applications for this potion, but it's a pity it is not more readily available in the main DIY stores because I swear by it.


Lots of professional painters, decorators use this stuff all the time but it tends to be kept a secret for obvious reasons. Owatrol oil (O-WA-TROL) as it known, has many very useful applications, one of which has been found to be the treatment of rust.

(It also works great making oil based paint stick to sills, wall cappings, facia boards etc.) 

To sort out the rust all you have to do is, apply the Owatrol oil with a brush or whatever all over the metal surface (even seemingly good areas) with particular emphasis on the big lumps of rust.  Saturate those areas and leave for at least a few hours to soak in.  Owatrol works in a most unusual, but yet common sense way, i.e. it soaks right in through the rust into the base metal and forces out any hidden moisture and air, otherwise known as the food for rust.


Next, use a scraper to remove the heavy flakes of rust, brush away any loose particles, and you are ready to paint.  You'll be glad to hear there's no need for tedious wire brushing or sanding.  It does not matter if you don't paint right away, as the Owatrol will have sealed up all the rust pores.


All you need to do now is apply a coat (or two) of any good quality oil based primer with about 25% Owatrol added to it, (this helps the primer level and flow out properly) 


Finish by applying an oil based topcoat of any colour with about 10 to 15% Owatrol added for better flow and finish. This relatively simple exercise will result in a job that should outlast anything you've ever seen before.  I used it on a rusty aerial bracket 4 years ago and it still looks almost as good today. You should be able to pick up a tin in the more specialised paint outlets or hardware's or you could ask for details of your nearest stockist from the distributors: Tel 830 2226  / 830 2599 or 087 8123997