Bare Iron Plate Oxidation

[Detrus]

The repainting advice usually leaves out VOC. To see any improvement I'd have to use a low VOC paint. Rustoleum's VOC isn't listed where I looked, it's not marketed as low VOC. Krylon has some that are lower but barely.

[ICEcap2]

Low VOC paints are made to address EPA regs or other pollution concerns. They don't work any better as paints and can be worst in many cases.

As for the smell, I recently painted some weights with Rustoleum and if I put my nose up to the plates even 2 weeks after painting, I can smell the paint. It doesn't bother me though. If I painted them on a sunny day and let them bake off most of the solvents before adding the 2nd coat, they probably wouldn't smell. I painted them on a cold winter day.

[Detrus]

Worse in terms of color, rust protection or VOC and smell?

[ICEcap2]

Worse in terms of color, rust protection or VOC and smell?

I would say low VOC paints are either equal or worst in areas of all of the above except for VOC and add to that finish and durability.

[jaredrobison]

anything that is heavy!

[morebarbell]

I suggest taking ONE 5lbs plate and painting it with Stops Rust primer/paint. Leave it in the garage for a couple of months. Then bring it inside. If the smell doesn't bother you, then paint the rest of your plates. If it does bother you, repeat the test with another 5lbs plate and a different paint.

I took a look and VOC (volatile organic compounds) is listed on their technical data for each product. I think that I used Stops Rust primer/paint which is 0.24 lbs/gal.

http://www.rustoleumibg.com/images/t..._5092790_2.pdf

It's in compliance with California's regulation of 2.08 lbs./gal.

http://www.rustoleum.com/voc.asp?SBL=2

[Detrus]

I suggest taking ONE 5lbs plate and painting it with Stops Rust primer/paint. Leave it in the garage for a couple of months. Then bring it inside. If the smell doesn't bother you, then paint the rest of your plates. If it does bother you, repeat the test with another 5lbs plate and a different paint.

The smell is not what bothers me with Ivanko plates. I can barely smell them with my face in them. It's the VOC aspect that creates the fresh new office experience which causes dizziness or headaches with prolonged exposure.

So it will be very difficult to tell from a 5lb plate if the VOC level will bother me.

And it's weird. I thought they out-gassed by now, I rarely touched them when I was here, didn't get dizzy or anything. Started using them twice a week and disturbed something. Hard to tell wtf is really wrong. Sometimes I stay in this room 72 hrs, sleeping and working. No better way to feel VOC effects, that's very prolonged exposure.

Frankly I can just strip the plates of all paint and tape them to control rust. I taped one with paint but it doesn't contain the smell because it's paper tape. It will be easy to strip paper tape if I ever want to paint. It's just going to be a pain to strip the paint.

[morebarbell]

The exposure time may be long but I would think it is really low levels. If it's causing you headaches and dizziness, take the plates outside. It's not worth feeling sick. I've worked with some very concentrated solvents but don't know much about paint or plating. I wonder if chrome plating might work for you. Although not desirable, those old cement plates might be a back up.

[Detrus]

Chrome olympic plates? Ivanko discontinued theirs, who else makes them? Stupid expensive anyway.

[morebarbell]

Chrome olympic plates? Ivanko discontinued theirs, who else makes them? Stupid expensive anyway.

Ivanko has 2.5#, 35# and 100# on their clearance page: http://ivankobarbell.com/products/omc/

Much more expensive and I doubt they are as good as Ivanko but Kamway also sells some: http://www.kamway.com/index.php?disp...oduct_id=30441

But I think the front of the plates is painted on both.

Chrome standard plates are much easier to find without any paint.

[Detrus]

Well I have a big paint free spot test on one of the plates that rusted from direct moisture exposure.

It has been almost two months. I left this plate out of any bags. I can't tell if there has been any discoloration and certainly no dusty rust. Maybe it got darker, but it's gray. At one point I rubbed the plate with olive oil. The oil layer is was thin I could handle it without problems. Oiled it has a soft feel, reminds me of how patina plates at my gym feel. Maybe those get the same treatment. The oil dissipated in three weeks. Seems like a great option for climate controlled use. It is winter though so humidity is low.

When using these plates every week again I disturbed something and got dizzy being in the room. I started cleaning the bar sleeves after each workout and it largely solved the problem. The bar sleeves have a lot of paint residue on them because the plate holes are painted and the paint gets scraped off. Cleaning both sleeves blackens 10% of a bounty napkin, another 30% is lighter gray.

So if I keep these plates I'll at least strip the paint from the holes. Or do most people oil that? I'd have to use a lot of nasty oil to prevent the paint from scraping off, olive oil probably won't cut it.