So, finally, I've been a slug to update things since I got back. Thank you for your patience! A little Part I and Part II to this update.
Part I is the results post-paint removal. Using the Death Sponge (ok, it's a 3M paint and rust remover disc thing that attaches to your drill and looks like a thin hockey puck's worth of webbing) and a drill, I did a lot more work on nearly all the trouble places on the frame. I missed a few because they were by the headset, and it was not quite 40 degrees in the shop.
After my initial paint removal up here in Seattle, where "the worst of it" was found, there were no surprises in my extended Portland effort. Tons of pitting yes, and all of that pitting being very very shallow. Would a powder coating cover that up? Someone please let me know!
Also discovered and subsequently removed, to various degrees, was the multi-step chroming processes. I'll point that out in photos, but it can make things look a little worse, even if there'd be no difference without it. This will be something for media blasting to take care of, presumably, which I intend to do.
Here we have (circled) a pair of "snake bite" dents that humorously resemble an inner tube pinch flat. Which reminds me that I got a flat 2 miles and 400 feet in elevation from home today in service of the Medici (and,
maybe another project?.....).
Here, between the bottle cage bosses, we see one of the stages of the chrome plating process being removed, or at least picked at, by the Death Sponge. I didn't want to keep chasing it. I'll let it be handled by media blasting or just a dang primer coat and sanding.
More chroming removal on the chromed section of the drive side chain stay. There was some paint trouble on the BB shell (of course), but that seemed to go away with the paint removal. There is of course pitting elsewhere.
Underside of the top tube, which as we know, has borne the absolute brunt of paint and steel degradation. Since Medici dunked the whole flippin' rear triangle into the tanks for chroming, the down tube and top tube got in on the action, and you can see that towards the right side of the photo, intermixed, of course, with pitting. Seat lug/cluster didn't escape the rust gods' hunger either.
Underside of the top tube, more towards the front of the top tube, nearer the head lug.
This section of the non-drive side chain stay looked bad and I was unable to get the rust off of the chrome in my initial efforts. Death Sponge to the rescue. Plating processes removed in part, but overall not as bad as it looked. More pitting. Glad I didn't pay a million bucks for this! I have to be saving weight and creating a whippier ride here!
