I was re-finishing a bike I got for cheap off of Craigslist. It had about 8 layers of paint off of it. I thought it was aluminum, but after removing all the paint, sure enough, it's a steel frame. I took it into the LBS because I needed help removing the BB, and the owner gushed over the frame, told me although he didn't know the exact brand said it looked 1970's vintage and said I shouldn't paint it, should just detail the braze-ons, etc. and leave the steel bare. He suggested enamel clear coat.

It is a pretty frame, I'll get some pictures up after work.

Now, here's my question. I've scoured the forums and most of the threads re: clear coat and steel are not encouraging: people talk about rust appearing under the clear coat within months. I even saw pictures of professionally powdercoated clear coat gone bad within a year or two.

Two other options I saw while searching are waxing the frame regularly and using a hot oil. Waxing is self-explanatory but could someone explain the hot oil in a little more detail? There was little description accompanying the post.

I tried talking with an auto mechanic this weekend to no avail. Other than an underbody treatment which would discolor the frame he didn't really know what to tell me.

When all's said and done is having an unpainted steel frame viable at all or is it more trouble than it's worth? I'm a one bike guy so I use this bike for my commutes, exercise and tooling with the kids. I don't mind putting in some regular weekly or monthly work to keep up appearances but I really don't want to be scraping away steel and rust every month

I live in northern Alabama where there is relatively high humidity throughout the year. It'll sit outside on a bike rack while I'm working but in a garage at home.

Thanks for the advice.