Restoring My First York Deep Dish Weight Plates, How to Paint Old Rusty Weights
If you want to repaint old weights or equipment, this article will give you simple steps and advice along with the tale of my first pair of York deep dish weight plates. Although the focus of this project were weight plates, the advice contained within this project description can be applied to other weights and equipment. Also, just a gentle reminder that you can help support VintageWeightsPGH by using any of the product links to purchase your supplies.
York Deep Dish Background
The most iconic deep dish weight plates are vintage York deep dish plates. I love lots of different weights, but nothing really beats vintage Yorks in terms of classic appeal, wide recognition, and historical relevance. I acquired my first pair of York deep dish in the wild a couple years ago. After hunting and searching for a pair for years, a friend ended up giving me the heads up on a pair listed in Rochester, New York. I made the road trip from Pittsburgh, and the entire drive home I kept looking over at them - I always put a prized pickup in the passenger seat. I couldn’t believe I’d finally gotten a pair of York deep dish!
After the buzz of scoring a pair of York deep dish wore off, I started using them in my home gym and realized how many times this pair had been painted over the years. As they changed hands, new owners kept on painting them. Or maybe the same owner painted and repainted them. Where they were chipped in spots, I counted at least five layers of paint. The different degrees of wear along with varying severity of chipping and scratching created an uneven and aesthetically unappealing look to the paint since it had been layered on top of the previous paint numerous times.
The weight plates after rusting and being used in the 2024 HomeGymCon Grip Strength Championships.
The Restoration Begins
I stripped the weights to bare iron during the summer of 2023, become embroiled in some personal obligations, and never got around to repainting them. For the next year, they sat in my garage, which is much more humid than my basement gym. My lack of attention to oiling and maintaining the bare iron along with the environment in my garage resulted in rust forming. Making some lemonade out of lemons, I used the rusted York deep dish to learn how to hub lift. Hub lifting, when you grasp the center hub of a weight plate and lift it, has been around for at least 60 years. I’ve seen pictures of John Grimek and other York lifters doing so. Also, rust can hold chalk quite well and aid your grip strength pursuits such as hub lifting. I took one of the York deep dish plates to HomeGymCon for the first HGC Grip Strength Championships in the summer of 2024, and competitors had to attempt to hub lift the York deep dish Olympic plate as part of the medley event.
At the end of the summer of 2024, I finally got around to completely restoring the York deep dish. I wanted to revisit my painting methods and try out some new tools. When stripping them to bare iron, I used CitriStrip spray, which worked well. I also used a wire brush that has become possibly my favorite restoration tool, the Forney brass wire brush. This specific brand, Forney, makes a brass wire brush that has the perfect wire length and rigidity to clean weights. I’ve used it on barbells, weight plates, and dumbbells. The wires don’t fall out like cheaper brushes, and the brass wires are actually brass - which give them balanced rigidity.
Also, it’s always wise to wear proper safety gear when doing restoration projects. I like to wear safety glasses and long rubber gloves, and I make sure I’m in a well ventilated area or wear a mask.
Stripped to bare iron, the weight plates are ready to be painted.
Time to Paint
Once down to bare iron, I oiled with 3inONE, because I’d be waiting until the next day to paint. The following day, I wiped them down with microfiber clothes, and then applied a two-in-one spray paint. I really like paint and primer two-in-one spray paints, because it saves time and helps to build a durable coating of paint. People have different preferences in terms of the shade of black, and I’m unaware of any official shade used by York. I went with Farmhouse Matte Black. I’ve used Satin Black in the past as well.
The most important aspects of painting weights and equipment are:
Elevate the weight or equipment off of the drop cloth. I’ve seen some people hang their weights with wire or suspend them on a bar or dowel. I prefer to use painters triangles. These are affordable and durable. I’ve used them for many projects, and they have held very heavy weights and equipment. I’ve even put a bench up on them before!
Use slow even passes rather than focussed spot sprays. Don’t worry if a spot looks uneven. You’re going to do more than one coat.
Do multiple coats on each side and spray from different angles. I usually do a minimum of three coats.
Let them dry between coats! So many people are in a rush to finish a project, and they touch plates early causing blemishes in the paint or spray a second coat too early.
The weight plates have been painted with 3-4 coats of paint.
Final Touches
Lastly, I use my Forney wire brush to brush the inside of the center hole on weight plates. This removes any errant paint so it doesn’t end up coming off on your barbell sleeve the first time you load your freshly painted plates. You can also use paint pens to paint the letters and numbers on your plates or dumbbells. I didn’t do so with this pair of plates, but I have lettered weights in the past.
I hope this article helps you bring new life to your weights and equipment. If you enjoyed the article, please consider using my links to purchase the supplies for your next project or any of my affiliate links to purchase your gym equipment. The cost stays the same for you, and using the links earns a little money for my website and YouTube channel.
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