Painting Outdoor furniture

I've had some pretty good luck with rustoleum in the past.

As for getting all of the rust and old paint off, you should try getting an electronic hand sander, or a dremel, or some other such tool that will do most of the work for you. Just stay up till 2 and watch the infomercials, you'll find something there pretty quickly

 

What I know about iron is that it rusts extremely quickly when exposed to even regular humidity (no rain). The process is basically to remove all rust that you can find and then wipe down with a dry cloth to remove whatever dust has settled on it during the rust removal process. You then really need a couple of coats of a primer paint with complete drying cycles in between. The you are looking at using some sort of rustoleum type of paint over the primer, again with complete drying cycles in between coats. It is a slow and labor intensive process.

Sandblasting is by far the quickest and easiest method to remove the rust but with some elbow grease and perseverence a dremmel, hand grinder, and steel wool will do the job. Just don't leave the bare metal exposed to the air for long as it begins the rusting process as soon as it is exposed. You may be able to find some tutorials on line through some selective google searches or take a trip to your local book store. Have fun.

 

I'm afraid the rust will keep returning.
To stop it, you would need to completely remove ANY and ALL rust, prime and paint with multiple coats, possibly even a clearcoat.

I would recommend you knock the easy rust off and keep spraying over it with rust oleum once a couple of times a year. It's far less work and far cheaper than trying to do a sandblast job or buying a dremel to grind it down for hours.

 

It sounds like it's going to be a tremendous amount of work just to remove the rust. And if you don't get it all off, the rest of what you do is wasted....

I had a similar problem with an iron bed I inherited that had a lot of intricate details. I called some antique shops and places that restored antiques and they all recommended that I take it to AAA Sign Shop -- the last place I would have called. The sign shop did a great job -- they sandblasted the whole thing and immediately coated it with rustoleum. Then I painted over that when I got it at home.

It wasn't expensive, they were fast, and it is an absolutely perfect job. Unless you have a lot of time on your hads, don't do the rust removal and prep work yourself. (Plus -- what's in that old paint you're taking off and breathing? The professionals know how to handle that part, too.)

 

I like your decision to keep the old art deco stuff. I've had great results with Tremco Tremclad rust paint. It seems to bond with the rust and keeps it from getting any worse. I used a wire brush to scrape off the flaking bits, and painted right over the rest. No need to go right to bare metal all over, which would take forever without a commercial sandblaster. It's not perfectly smooth like you'd want a car's finish to be, but it does the trick. If you work on a tarp, you'll be able to catch most of the old paint and keep the overspray or drips off your patio. Goggles are a good idea, too. If you give up and decide to junk the stuff, let me know. It would go great with my 1939 house, too.