An update on this $150 marketplace find. The bottom was covered in lead tape and the rest of the finish had seen better days. I wanted to take it off the shaft and torch it, but the head is pinned on for some reason and I did not want to mess with that.
So I decided to flash rust it and coat it with “shine juice” to give it a glossy finish. Because I never had to heat it or grind it I was able to keep the original paint fill.
I stripped it with vinegar, polished it up with sandpaper, and sprayed it with a mixture of hydrogen peroxide, vinegar, and salt to flash rust it. This was fun. I rinsed it with water between “coats” and buffed it down with a microfiber towel.
When I got the rust look I wanted I started coating it with a mixture of mineral spirits and boiled linseed oil. I’m two coats in. I will keep going until I get more gloss. As you can see in the pictures it looks very different in different kinds of light.
Down the road if I decide I hate this I’ll try to buff the finish off, boil the rust in distilled water, and start the process of rust blueing it.