Project by Kaizen DIY
Hey everyone, this week we’re doing weight restoration. I picked up these weights a few weeks ago for around $.50 – $.60 a pound and have been dying to restore them.
This project took around 2 hours total and costs less than $20 in materials.
| Materials | Link #1 | Link #2 |
| Rustoleum Hammered Black Spray Paint | Amazon | Home Depot |
| Silver Leafing Paint Pen | Amazon | Home Depot |
| Tools | Link #1 | Link #2 |
| Dewalt Cordless Angle Grinder | Amazon | Home Depot |
| Dewalt Cordless Drill | Amazon | Home Depot |
| Nylon Brush Attachment Set | Amazon | |
| Wire Brush Attachment Set | Amazon | |
| Wire Brush Attathment for Angle Grinder | Amazon |
*Or, if you’re just looking for cheap iron plates, these are the lowest price you’ll likely find.
Before I can even think about cleaning off the rust, I need to remove the dust. There are plenty of ways to do this but I prefer using a nylon brush and my cordless drill. Man, this process kicks up a lot of dust!
This dust is extremely dangerous. Make sure you’re wearing a properly fitting dust mask before starting this project.
Ok, back to the dust. These nylon brush heads are great because they’re firm enough to get in there and break this stuff up.
After going over all of the plates with the nylon brush head, I use my leaf blower to remove the loose dust. The plates are already starting to look better.
These plates had a lot of dust on them but there’s also a good amount of rust. I use an angle grinder with a wire brush head to get the rust off the clear flat areas.
The goal is to remove as much rust as possible. When the weights are this rusty, sometimes the rust will get under the paint or cause the paint to chip off. I’m not really interested in removing all of the paint, just anything that is loose or removable.
What we’re really trying to do is give the new paint a nice clean surface to adhere to.
On the front side, I go over the flat areas with the large wire brush head and get into the smaller crevices with the small brush head.
Once I’ve cleaned off as much as I can, I use an alcohol wipe to clean any remaining dust off.
I repeat this process on the rest of the plates.
Once I’ve gotten them as clean as I can, it is time for spray paint. For these, I am going with black because that was the original color of this set. I prefer to use the hammered finish because it has a nice textured look. As a bonus, the texture also helps to cover any blemishes on the plates.
When spraying, it is important to spray in short bursts while moving back and forth. This will help to avoid pooling and dripping. It’s also a good idea to go around and spray from multiple angles.
I usually let them dry for 8 – 10 hours before flipping them over and painting the other side, otherwise they’ll be tacky and can stick to the cardboard.
The backsides go a bit quicker. I only need to let these dry for a couple hours before using the paint pen.
The last step is completely optional but it doesn’t take long and really makes the weights pop. I go over all of the letters and numbers with a Rustoleum leafing pen. There are lots of color options available but I like using silver to go along with the black spray paint.
This process probably takes 10-15 minutes. If you’ve never used one of these pens, it’s kind of a cross between spray paint and a sharpie. You need to shake it up before use then just use it like any other marker.
Once that dries, they’re done. I think they look amazing.
