Framebuilders - Paint/finish questions.

I have an old 4130 Giant road frame I've brushed raw. Thing is, I really like the raw look. I also like the part that I don't have to decide on a paint.

How would I go about preserving raw 4130? Most everyone I talk to (almost entirely auto body guys) are stymied, confused, and contradictory about which clear to use, urethane, enamel, lacquer, and if the clear will even stick given that it'll be going on bare metal.

Perhaps someone out there in BF land might know what to do?

If I were to paint it (I have access to a professional autobody shop, paint booth and all), what paints/clears would you recommend? What are some good rattlecan solutions as well? I've seen catalyzed clears in rattle cans, as in you crack some seal, let the stuff mix and then have x number of days to apply it. Can't for the life of me find that though.

Is there a reliable source of custom decals online?

If you want to see what this frame looks like, check my post history, It's a little insane looking in its current state and I don't want to derail this thread bickering about some of the [temporary] style decisions I've made.

It occurs to me that this info would be well served in a sticky.

You're right, the "clearcoat over bare steel" post should be a sitcky as this same question comes up at least once a month here and every other month in the ss/fg forum. Search it up, you'll see the answers are always the same.
To sum up, you can do it with powder or wet, it will look good for a while, then it will yellow and/or rust, a proper treatment of the steel to prevent rust will kill the shiny bare metal look.

I have seen a post from someone that says he has his frames media blasted, and then carefully hand polishes, cleaned with acetone and has it powder coated without issue. There were some Speedvagens that came bead blasted and clear coated, I don't know how they are holding up but they hardly have that "clear coated bare steel" look that everyone wants.

Decals are an issue in one-off quantities. I really doubt that clear coat and decals are going to be a workable combination

I have seen a post from someone that says he has his frames media blasted, and then carefully hand polishes, cleaned with acetone and has it powder coated without issue. There were some Speedvagens that came bead blasted and clear coated, I don't know how they are holding up but they hardly have that "clear coated bare steel" look that everyone wants.

Decals are an issue in one-off quantities. I really doubt that clear coat and decals are going to be a workable combination

Well, if he has the media blasted with soda, then that might explain it.

I suppose I could ask, but I hate the idea.

I asked him to post.

Further, there's some exciting (for a materials engineer) new conversion coating technologies finally coming about now that Helsinki has decided that chromates are as evil as Mitt Romney, or something.

Most of this stuff is big in automotive, but still very new, so it hasn't trickled down to autobody repair places, nor the aftermarket yet. Things like Chemetall's Oxsilan, or other sol-gel silane conversions that go on so thin they don't alter the finished look of polished metal that much but by dog, they stand up to ASTM B117-9 salt fog testing. GM's had Opel-Vauxhall approve some, Citroen and Peugeot cars have the whole car coated in this stuff under the E-Coat, Boeing started the ball rolling with their proprietary one on planes but it sucked, so it's been improved. But the good news is, most of the compositions can be figured out by a quick trip to the USPTO website. It's only patent infringement if you're doing it comerically. Although having said that, every day the DHS and DOJ seem to be coming up with new ideas of what commercial means.