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 Finishes for Indoor and Outdoor UseI use various finishes depending on where the piece is to be displayed or utilized. Indoor pieces are less worrisome in terms of rust so the options of a choice of finish are many. Steel outdoors will rust eventually regardless of the finish. Powder coating is perhaps the most durable as are certain enamel paints. Those two options, and especially powder coating, limits the color choices. For outdoor pieces I have adopted what I call a rust patina. I sand blast the piece and then apply an acid based patina which includes a color pigment. A beautiful rust is almost immediately induced on the surface along with the colored pigment. That can be the end of it topped with several coats of clear coat and a couple layers of specially formulated wax for iron and steel. Or additional colored oxides can be layered on before the clear coat and wax. The possibilities are endless. Even with these methods the outdoor piece will continue to change over time with interesting new effects.
I talk so much about finishes because so often I will have someone see an indoor piece that they love but they want to use it outdoors. I tell them that I cannot guarantee that it will not rust. But as you can see, rust is not necessarily a bad word when you are talking about outdoor pieces. It is just that you must expect outdoor work look different in terms of the finish.
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