New pipe fence - paint or leave rusty?

[rawhide]

No time to get to Harbour Freight before this weekend. A $6 3M stripper on a cordless drill did a great job on some 4.5" pipe with light rust. It'll be the overhead gate.

Didn't get much done tonight because I spent most of the evening trying to find why my tractor will start but not accelerate. Behind the dash i found that a mouse chewed through injector wires. I'm sure John Deere won't charge much to repair that. Or hopefully I van replace the harness myself. Either way it's gonna hurt. Stinking rodents.

 

[El Pablo]

I’d paint it rust colored.

 

[Bocephus123]

Red Oxide paint like bridges.

 

[Cowcatcher]

Some of the cross country high lines now have nothing on the poles. They are supposed to last longer is my understanding.
Mine is 2 3/8 upset tubing and was painted but I won’t paint it again.
Drill pipe is hard to build with, it’s almost always magnetized.

So I say no paint.

Yessir I hear ya. A couple things I’ve learned working with it:

Don’t skid the top rail in the saddles. Set it in place

Wrap stinger lead around the pipe a few times and then go to welding.

 

[dennishoddy]

I use the most coarse one. It’s actually the only one I use for everything. I’m not doing body work on a car or trying to get a smooth as glass finish. But even that coarse one (40 grit I think but might be 60) leaves a finish that’s smooth to the touch.

I'll bet that removes the mill scale from the steel pretty well?

 

[Cowcatcher]

I'll bet that removes the mill scale from the steel pretty well?

Yessir! It doesn’t throw the rust dust in the air like a wire wheel does either.

 

[John6185]

I guess it would depend on how tired you are and if you really want to do any more work. Even without paint, it will last longer than you or me.

 

[rawhide]

Began this morning with the same tool I used earlier this week. Worked well ob light rust, but the heavy rust ate it up quickly.

Took @Cowcatcher 's advice and drove to Tulsa and picked up the surface conditioning tool. Far better than a wire brush and file. Cleaned 31' joint of 2 7/8 in about 10 minutes. Finished all of the overhead gate pipe and started on the entrance. Working horizontal at waist high is much easier than vertical post. That tool is heavy. Good thing I got an extra 40 gri drum, the original is only

good now for curved surfaces. First pic is after about 15 seconds of work.

 

[jakeman]

Red Oxide paint like bridges.

That's not what they paint bridges with.

 

[Bocephus123]

That's not what they paint bridges with.

not any more