okay, ive decided to paint my frame.

i started sanding most of it to get a lot of the rust off, but there is rust on the weldings (in the creases) and i'm not sure if sandpaper will really do it. what are my other options?

also, the braze ons for brake cables and things of the like, can those be sanded off? i'm never going to use this frame with brakes and they're sitting right on top of the top tube and get hooked onto my pants and are an annoyance.

I used a can of that chemical stripper, and it worked AMAZINGLY well. it left some weird yellow discoloration on the steel, which I sanded off, but you'll probably have to do that anyway. Be forewarned, however; the stuffed melted my plastic gloves off, and when I got back from washing my hands, the top of the portable CD player I had been using was all melted and warped.

It's like $5 at home depot.

Chemicals are fun! Chemical strippers shouldn't be used if you don't know what you're doing and don't have the right facilities, this is how you get chemical burns and cancer.

Is the rust you're talking about in the cottage cheese of a TIG weld, or at the edges of a lug? If it's a lug, get somebody who knows bikes to look at it for you and see if the rust is bad. Rust tunneling into a lug is bad, and probably means the lug was never brazed right in the first place. If it's just rust in the valleys of a TIG weld, get a wire brush from the hardware store, they're like a dollar. Wire wheel on a drill or dremel works too.

You've already started, but you're going to find out that sanding the tubes is way easy, but doing all the other stuff is going to make you want to kill yourself.

Braze ons come off very easily with cutting tools (big cutting pliers, dremel, whatever) and a file to smooth things down. With sandpaper, you might get it done in time to start collecting social security.

What is the best sand paper weight to use when sanding a frame? I am using 60 right now.

Dremel or drill w/tiny wire wheel or brush.

Oxalic acid - rust will disappear. It's in deck cleaner.

This only works on some braze ons: heat em up with a blow torch, and pop em off with pliers. Easy as pie; takes about 20 seconds a braze on.

I was thinking of painting my frame too...I think there's a local place that will sand-blast it for me....I wonder what that costs, and if it can be done without making any part of the frame too thin...