Having done some outdoor maintainence I have the following notes:
Hammerite paint They make "smooth" and "Garage Door" variants. They dont't do the same colours in the two ranges. I wrote to customer services, who said that "The colours in our various ranges are not the same". Well, no, I spotted that. I suppose I am the only person in the universe who wants their gates the same colour as the garage door.
I used the smooth paint, and was very dissapointed. It is mixed like treacle and does what it is supposed to- it sticks to clean dry rust. But on areas of good surviving paint it covers very poorly, needing lots of coats. On the garage door If I brushed it out to avoid sags and runs it dried lost the gloss finish. In the end I had to thin it
30% to make it brushable, and I am still not happy with the results.I anticipate years of non-rusting service, but was not happy with the finish.
Hamerite kurust rust treatment. Fantastic. Watch red rust turn to black in front of your eyes. Does what it is supposed to and does it well. I remember the 'kurust' trade name from car-bodging in the 1960s. It wasn't this good then, it has improved markedly. I think back then it was phosphoric acid, now it is tannic acid (and a wetting agent, probably alchohol, smells ethanolish)
Polycell paint stripper I tried two versions. "Max strength" and "less mess". Useless. did not touch the old gloss at all, even when flaked and cracked. The less mess one was very dry and difficult to apply, the Max strength went on very easily but did nothing. Appear to consist of china clay and some active elements, the mess involved in washing off the china clay was horrible. Packed in stupid tubs with a ribbed lid but no ribs on the base, screwed up tight. Impossible to open till I put a rubber strap wrench round the base - which was so thin that it flexed alarmingly and I was frightened of it splitting before I got it undone. Wasted a day or two and achieved nothing with this stuff. The max strength one is alarmingly smelly and I am glad I was using it outdoors.
Mangers paint brush restorer brilliant. Works far better than other paint brush cleaners. Don't know how to dispose of it, reading the ominous warnings on the tin. Burn it in the bonfire I suppose.
Continental filling knives (as per
Polycell woodflex wood filler small screw-top tube. Absolutely brilliant. Sticks well, easy to sand, good finish. Dries relatively quickly. Superb.