Come quick! Joonya's been shot! (blasted)

 Like I said in the last post, I've been wanting to do Joonya up; he's served me well as a tourer for the last year, so he deserves a little tarting up. Not only that, he looks like he could lose a few pounds (this is all starting to sound a bit Gok Wan... maybe I'll hold Joonya up to a mirror when all this is done, so he can gasp and then burst into tears at how amazing mirrors are). 

 The paint job on the frame was in pretty bad shape (this being a bike from the 70's), so I figured that had to go. Replacing it however would mean a new coat of paint (or rather powder), and I couldn't pick a colour I know I'd be happy with for ever and ever. So how about no colour? Strip the paint off, but then leave it. Bare, steel tubing. Industrial; mean looking; and let's be fair; shiny and nice. Add to that all-black componentry, and you're somewhere near the bike that's in my head right now.   

 So I looked it up, and various forums showed people had either tried, or enquired about, a similar thing. One obvious pitfall brought up was that steel rusts. The main solution seemed to be a clear lacquer or powder coat over the bare metal; that seemed feasible enough, until I rang Armourtex and I was told that they'd spray the bike with some sort of (can't remember exactly what he said) primer first, so I wouldn't get the desired effect. Plus the more I looked into it, the more I read that it was highly likely the clear layer would eventually be compromised (by a chip or a crack), and the water would get in, letting rust spread under the clear coat. Any attempts to wire-wool or brillo pad this rust off, would mean compromising even more clear coat; I'd be back to where I started. 

 This one guy then explained how he'd used Ankor-Wax though. Ankor-Wax is a thick "Rust-proofing and protection system" (it's a wax, then), that seems to be mainly used on old VW's, to maintain their rustbucket patina without letting it go too far. Basically the big pro of using a wax is, although the bike will be fairly well protected for the time it spends outdoors (which is only usually once a week), if when rust does appear, I can just wire-wool it off, and reapply more wax. 
 

I could only find the Ankor-Wax in a 5 litre tub, so I'm pretty much set for life

 The main con with Ankor-Wax is apparently that it can dry thick and gets tacky in the sun; my ego is putting this down to them doing it wrong, and that I'll be able to put it on thin enough to buff it up nice. If it all goes horribly wrong, I'll be sure to post a picture of my greasy knees. 

 Anyway, I started taking the paint off with a wire wheel on my angle grinder, and it started to look pretty lovely and shiny.

The head tube/top tube lug after a spot of wire wheeling; came out pretty tasty

 The problem was, Although I could strip the main tubes, I couldn't get the grinder into the smaller corners, like up into where the seat stays join the seat tube. I could have spent a bit on getting the right tools, but after asking around I decided to go get it shotblasted at Elgamec near Aldershot.
Today was the day I picked it up, and even though I knew what to expect, I still found it pretty impressive.

Taken at the train station this morning on the way back from Elgamec. Unwrapping it on the platform like a kid at Christmas

 The funny thing was to see the brazing of the lugs and tubes in all its glory. Well, I say glory; clearly this was a braze that was meant to be hidden away from the world. I know it's a box-standard Viscount and we're not talking about Reynolds/Columbus tubing, put together by a master builder but Jesus; this ain't a pretty bike up close!

No the prettiest brazing I've ever seen, but on a dented, bent old frame like Joonya, it's sort of fitting

 The frame also has a matte sheen to it from the blasting, which leaves the surface lightly roughed up. I've no idea how matte or shiny it will be once the wax goes on, but I've decided to try polish it up a little. I'm not putting all my time and effort in to get some mirror finish, because I do think the wax will dull it a little, so I figure I'll just lightly sand it down (with very fine sandpaper and wire-wool) enough that it reflects a bit. I experimented a little today on the forks, and it doesn't take too much to bring out enough of a shine that it reflects colour.

Hard to show in a picture, but a quick polish with 600 grit sanpdpaper and steel wool on the right fork blade gave it a nice shine

 This polishing will still take time, especially in the crevices, but I figure it will be worth it, and I've definitely got time as I need to spread out the all-black parts I'm buying!