Remove Paint from Stainless Steel Pot

[FlashPan]

Hi all,

I need a little advice here please.

I've been given a couple of old Bulldog pots Previous to the previous owner for some reason hand painted (not rattle can) these black.

I've not idea what the paint is but have been working away using brasso to white spirit to remove with a green scourer.

Have made some headway but it's quite stubborn and still plenty to remove. So now I am thinking to up the ante and use some proper paint remover from the DIY shop.

Will the pots be ok eg still usable to cook, boil etc if I go a bit more industrial on them?

Thanks and cheers

 

[snappingturtle]

Yep will be fine, should just flake right off. just be careful with those having a heavy caustic soda content don't leave it on too long can be aggressive to steel but I think stainless its not a big problem with.

 

[crosslandkelly]

Have you tried boiling the pots in a large tub of water? Should loosen the paint without the need for chemicals. I use this method to clean overpainted door and window furniture.

 

[Nice65]

Use any paint stripper. Some will discolour the metal, but the stainless isn’t going to soak any chemicals into it.

Bead blasting is another option, but I’d go the Nitromors route.

 

[ozzy1977]

You sure it's stainless steel and not aluminium,

 

[C_Claycomb]

Nitromors. won't hurt the metal, will clean off with water and soap.
I like the idea of soaking in hot water, but I imagine that if the guy used paint suitable for the outside of a cooking pot, say BBQ paint, 100degC water might not make the impression it does on decorator's gloss.

 

[Janne]

Yes, paint stripper is the way to go.
If Nitrom. does not touch it a wire wheel could.

 

[Trotsky]

Put them in the fire, paint burns off pretty readily. Once it's blistered up it will scrape off easily and then its just a clean up operation with abrasives. It's very much like burning paint off of doors, frames, skirtings etc. You won't shift dried paint with white spirits as most paints are a none reversible coating, meaning they cannot be returned to their original liquid form using solvent. The particles in the paint coalesce and bond together irreversibly.

 

[Janne]

But does not the heat discolour the steel?

 

[santaman2000]

If it's a heat resistant paint (BBQ or engine paint) boiling it won't do a thing. Neither will burning it in a fire unless the fire's hot enough to smelt the metal as well. Stripper should work but I'd bead blast it.

 

[Billy-o]

Nitromors is fierce stuff and I try to use it as a last resort. Usually, faced with something I identified, I try thinners then acetone then nitromors.

 

[Robson Valley]

I don't know the value of an old, used Bulldog pot. Which metal is it? No guessing.
I can't see the advantage to spend $50.00 on stripper stuff to fix a $5.00 pot.
Is the paint on the inside of the pot or the outside of the pot or both? I have missed that description.
If it is steel and the steel gets cooked, will that spoil your eggs?
Too much data is missing.

I'd be happy to use it in a smoker BBQ for the wood and see if I can boil the tar out of it.
Old cast iron fry pans seem to slowly cook up to red-hot for several hours and that fixes everything that ails them.
Give them 10 cycles then season!

 

[Damascus]

Why not try to heat the paint first, find out if it blisters and take it from there, too much speculation, use a process of illumination!

 

[Mesquite]

Why not just stick them i

use a process of illumination!

What, use something like a torch to throw light on the subject?

I thought of suggesting that then thought if the previous owner intended to use them over a camp fire or a gas stove it's more than likely he used a heat resitant paint so heating it wouldn't make much difference

 

[Janne]

I googled ‘Bulldog pot’ to see what kind of pot it was, but the first entry was for a marihuana strain ( Pre-98 Bubba Kush) which is a hybrid and has a very high user satisfaction.

The power of Internet...

Further search showed those pots were Aluminium?

 

[FlashPan]

Sorry all for not replying sooner, I did not see any notifications. Thanks for all the responses and also glad I started a good conversation. The I believed were Stainless Steel so now that is a doubt in my mind. I've not tried to boil up water inside to loosed the paint (never thought of that). The paint is just on the outside. Hmm may have to do the apple sauce test on them now to discover if A: Alu and B: safe to use.

Cheers

 

[Janne]

If Aluminium, acid can etch it. Not much, but still.
I would not do that.
Do a scratch test on the outside. Al is soft.
Test it with a magnet. If magnetic - S/s, as some of those steels are magnetic.
If not, can still be S/s, or Al.

It maybe not be an economic thing to fix them up, but then not many restorations are!

It is fun, and that counts for more!

Check online if they also made them in Al. Living across the Atlantic my searches are somewhat limited for UK!
Good luck !

 

[santaman2000]

If Aluminium, acid can etch it. Not much, but still.
I would not do that.
Do a scratch test on the outside. Al is soft.
Test it with a magnet. If magnetic - S/s, as some of those steels are magnetic.
If not, can still be S/s, or Al.

It maybe not be an economic thing to fix them up, but then not many restorations are!

It is fun, and that counts for more!

Check online if they also made them in Al. Living across the Atlantic my searches are somewhat limited for UK!
Good luck !

301 stainless is not magnetic but pretty much everything else is. 301 is generally only used in aircraft fuselages.

 

[C_Claycomb]

301 stainless is not magnetic but pretty much everything else is. 301 is generally only used in aircraft fuselages.

...except for the rest of the 300 series stainless steels, of which 304 is the one most often used for cookware. Some cookware uses 400 series, which is magnetic, but one should not have to go that far to figure out whether something is aluminium or steel. The weight, feel, look and sound should be enough of a guide.

The suggestion of boiling was to boil the outside, where the paint is, not the inside. I think that will be a waste of time, but it is free, so you can try it.

What exactly was the problem with the paint that precipitated all the effort to remove it? Was it flaking, peeling, smoking, or making cleaning soot off difficult?

 

[santaman2000]

...... Some cookware uses 400 series, which is magnetic, but one should not have to go that far to figure out whether something is aluminium or steel. The weight, feel, look and sound should be enough of a guide.....

^^What he said^^ Except for "the look of it." If the paint is aluminum paint (we used that a lot) it'll still look like aluminum. (in this case the aluminum in the name of the paint referred to the color)