Timing of sandblasting/painting on a UDS to avoid rust

All depends on the humidity i wont wait more than 24 hrs

^^^^^^ I agree. ^^^^^

I used to sandblast and paint for a living. If you don't get paint on it asap it will flash rust. You could use a special chemical to "hold the blast" (no rust) but it is costly.

Don't know about drums, but I do a lot of builds (smokers & farm equipment) with carbon steel that I blast with sand or other media. If you have an enclosed dry area like a garage, you can hold for 2-3 weeks (and I'm in relatively high humidity in Florida) before even a hint if surface rust. Just before painting or curing, wipe down with a good cleaner (alcohol or a TSP solution). Even if it gets a little surface rust, the oil curring will still take care of the insides and you an hit the exterior (ONLY!) with Ospho.

BUT the best solution is to paint the exterior and cure the innards as soon as you can after blasting.

dwfisk said:

Don't know about drums, but I do a lot of builds (smokers & farm equipment) with carbon steel that I blast with sand or other media. If you have an enclosed dry area like a garage, you can hold for 2-3 weeks (and I'm in relatively high humidity in Florida) before even a hint if surface rust. Just before painting or curing, wipe down with a good cleaner (alcohol or a TSP solution). Even if it gets a little surface rust, the oil curring will still take care of the insides and you an hit the exterior (ONLY!) with Ospho.

BUT the best solution is to paint the exterior and cure the innards as soon as you can after blasting.

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Like he said. Leave the oil home and use it for the interior only. Vegetable oil
(Pam) is not compatable with paint.

A little rust on the inside will do no harm, as when you get around to curing the inside, the build up of grease from cooking will inhibit any rust growth. In fact, if you ever wash out the inside, you should re oil and cure it again.

As to the outside, I would paint it as soon as is practical. If there is some surface "flash" rust, then you can lightly sand and clean with some alcohol just before you paint. ??? They are called an "UGLY DRUM SMOKER" for a reason! Good luck on your build.

Blessings, ray:
Omar

Humidity definitely attacks freshly blasted steel, to what degree and to what end result is the question..... The profile (depth/roughness) of the blasted steel also plays a role because you can expose more (or less) surface area depending on the blast.

For the inside of the drum all you need is a "brush blast" or "commercial blast", this will remove the paint and scale build-up but won't give you a deep profile.

For the outside of the drum you might opt for a "near white" blast. This will clean the surface better than the brush blast, but more importantly it will give you a little more profile for the primer to anchor to. A good primer job is the important layer in any paint system.

As far as timing your oiling of the inside and curing of the primer... you might opt to reverse your plan. After blasting, and when you get your drum home... you could warm up the drum (with charcoal or with your weed burner from the inside) Just warm, not blazing hot. This would drive off any moisture you might think you have on the material, and it will help with the application of the primer (warm steel verses cold steel) as far as runs, sags etc. The heat will also give the primer a head start in curing. Apply a coat of primer to the warm drum,, let it sit for the recommended time, then warm the drum and apply your second coat of primer as needed for good coverage. Once the primer is dry, warm the drum again and oil the inside.

When you are ready for the top coat, do the same thing... warm the drum from the inside and paint away.

Seems like everythings already been answered but figured I'd chime in on mine since I'm in the process like you. I actually had mine sandblasted a while back (3-4 weeks) and left it in the garage. It was supposed to get painted the weekend after but due to some circumstances it's just sat there. I'm in Georgia with relatively high humidity and it didnt rust at all. This past weekend I actually hosed the whole thing off to get rid of any excess metal dust/shavings/sand from construction then sprayed with alcohol and wiped down then painted.I plan to do my seasoning burn tonight and hopefully get a cook cook in this weekend. Main thing is just dont leave it out in the rain or overnight for due to settle on it and you'll be fine.

Fire up the interior with 1 1/2 pallets or equivalent of hot wood,
get the exterior sandblasted if you must, then
paint the outside only. (Not inside).
One quart can of Rustoleum HiTemp with a brush ( not spray)
will do 3 drums easily, 2 coats.
Keep your brush in a can of water between coats, then shake it out.
No need to clean oil base brushes between coats.
It looks really good, too.

edited to say the oil, PAM, etc, OK, no oil paint on the interior.

I'm glad I came across this related thread..I've been looking around a while for some answers. I just finished resanding the interior and exterior of my UDS tonight due to some flash rust that appeared after a few days. After that I rubbed down with some mineral spirits and put the first coat of high heat paint. I had to call it a night after that and to prevent more sanding I went ahead and sprayed the inside with some cooking spray. Will I be OK letting it sit until tomorrow night when I officially season it with a charcoal burn? I have it sitting in my garage uncovered. Thanks!

Depends on the humidity level. I coated mine with crisco and waited a couple of days before I seasoned it, and that worked fine.

keano41 said:

I'm glad I came across this related thread..I've been looking around a while for some answers. I just finished resanding the interior and exterior of my UDS tonight due to some flash rust that appeared after a few days. After that I rubbed down with some mineral spirits and put the first coat of high heat paint. I had to call it a night after that and to prevent more sanding I went ahead and sprayed the inside with some cooking spray. Will I be OK letting it sit until tomorrow night when I officially season it with a charcoal burn? I have it sitting in my garage uncovered. Thanks!

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