I just recently picked up my old olympic bar handles that were in storage, seems rust is not its best friend. Only promblem is the silver or chrome is flaking off in small pieces, dangerous to cause splinters in hands and eyes . I want to try to save them , if anybody has a method to this please share, I could use the guidance to restore them . I will attach a photo of the chipping paint
That would be chrome. You could wire brush it and then steel wool the affected areas, or disassemble the bar and send some of the parts of to a place that does powdercoating. They’ll blast it clean and recoat, some of them even do cerakote. I don’t know what quality of bar we’re talking about here, so I’m not sure if it’s worth it or not.
Yea I am going to look into buying a wire brush, the olympic dumbells were cheap, so the material might be as well. I just dont want to get these chrome pieces in my skin or eyes, so definitely need goggles and gloves when trying to brush it and clean it. Maybe even spray with a rust en. paint.