Any guidance for painting hangers

Does anyone have any helpful advice for painting stainless steel hangers?

Thus far my sense is......for in-place hangers, a small art brush and a small amount of paint (easily transportable up or down a route....say, in a chalkbag). Hand apply an appropriate color primer.

For hangers prior to use....the best advice I've seen is.......prior to painting place in dishwasher to thoroughly clean the metal surface. Apply a two part coating of 1) a prime coat for metal, 2) a flat finish coat compatible with the primer used

One question is.....is there any benefit to improving surface begins roughness prior to painting in the case of hangers not yet placed on a route?

Are there any best choices for two-part paint systems for hangers prior to being placed in use?

My feeling is that once the hanger is placed in use, the hand-apply approach is hit or miss.....and often it is only a matter of a little while before the coating begins to flake off.

I've experimented with a two-part, epoxy -like system......often spec'd for use with coating outdoor electrical grounding and bonding connections. That material seemed damned hardy but didn't seem to adhere to stainless very well.

Anybody have any experience with systems of materials spec'd for marine use.......or any powder coating systems developed for the dabbler (i.e., not industrial production/manufacturing)?

I have a home powder coat setup I use. Its a damn tough coating that can take a beating. I got the full setup for under $65 and went to our local powder coater and got a few tupperware containers of our local colors for $10 and got a used oven for $5 to bake them in. Best $80 I've spent.

THAT.....is exactly what I'm looking for. Can you tell me who makes the equipment?

Get on ebay and look up powder coat system and they have the WAI/Craftsman ones on there for just under 65 shipped. If you don't have a source for powder locally ebay has a lot of options for powder. i hang them under a piece of expanded metal with the ground clamp on it and semi enclose it to catch and reuse and excess powder. then just hang them in the oven and bake for 20-30 min at 400f unless your powder has different bake temps/times. clean them really well before hand with some paint thinner or other degreaser. If done right they won't need to be touched up for a few decades if ever.

Wasn't there some discussion in one of the bolt threads concerning painted hangers? I usually painted my stainless hangers in the past to camo them, but The hanger manufactures/ bolt guys recommended against that, if I remember right. Roughing up the surface was mentioned as particularly bad, since it destroyed the surface treatment.

Recently, while doing some cliff clean-up at Rumney I noticed some surprisingly rusted stainless hangers (they may have been plated stainless) that had been painted when originally installed. It was a bit of an eye opener for me. I would never have expected them to be in that condition after only 16 years. We plan on replacing them all with stainless glue-ins.

Personally, I would still probably use camo hangers in a very visible area out west where it is very dry, but it is something to be aware of. Actually, I would use stainless glue-ins unless the rock was very hard, like good granite or quartz.

M Sprague wrote:Wasn't there some discussion in one of the bolt threads concerning painted hangers?

very grateful for the link....and all of the info so far.........but OMG! i'm overwhelmed.

Wouldn't you know this would not be simple topic to consider.

Sometimes I use nail polish. Easy to transport and great for touch ups.

manuel rangel wrote:Sometimes I use nail polish. Easy to transport and great for touch ups.