A Science Question For Bagoh20

Background: We're renovating a 1980's townhouse and I'd like to improve on or restore the original staircase banister:

The wooden rail comes off; I plan to sand and refinish it. The white vertical bars are metal and are in turn attached to a long wooden board beneath. I think that wood originally may have been stained as well. Anyways, it will be when I'm finished -- to match the top rail. My question for bags is about refinishing the metal uprights. I'd like to simulate wrought iron. How to do this? My thoughts are removing the framework and taking it someplace to be sandblasted and then electrolytically finished. Alternatively, I could laboriously sand off the paint and then prime and repaint in flat black. Or, there is my old friend methylene chloride.

There are two rails, actually so double the work/cost.

What would bags do?  Mechanical? chemical? electrochemical?

Others are welcome to comment. Sixty?
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added: Follow-up post here

This one is for Bag's!

World's Sexiest Drawf is a Social Media Star

New York Post, November 12, 2015 by Yaron Stienbuch

This 4-foot-3 Brazilian stunner doesn’t exactly keep a low profile.

Actress and pin-up model Karina Lemos is relishing the high praise of being dubbed the “world’s sexiest dwarf.”

Lemos set men’s hearts aflutter with her scandalous rendition of “Gangnam Style,” which she performed while clad in a skimpy outfit in a paddling pool — alongside a male dwarf who was, shall we say, happy to see her.

The diminutive dish has a legion of fans, including about 40,000 followers on Instagram, Central European News reported.

She’s not exactly short on confidence, saying she’s proud of who she is — particularly her stature.

“I don’t have hang-ups about my size, quite the opposite,” Lemos said. “I put in a lot of hard work to stay in shape.”

Men across the globe seem to agree that she’s succeeding.

“I know that people find me attractive, because they have told me many times,” she quipped.

One man didn’t mince words when he wrote about the busty belle: “Damn fine ass!”

Hidden Cash: There really is no agenda here - not political, not business, not religious - other than bringing people together in a positive way and bringing a smile to people's faces.

"One week ago tonight, on May 22, 2014, after a late dinner with a friend in San Francisco, I was telling him about my desire to give back to the community which I love and has given me so much, and to do it in a fun way. We rejected a few ideas I had as too complex, and decided that I would hide money in a few spots in San Francisco, and then tweet about it. We created the Twitter handle @hiddencash, and did just that, hiding envelopes of cash around midnight in SF, and tweeting clues. I contacted a local blog to tell them what we did. They asked me a few questions, and wrote about it, and it exploded from there."

What was originally meant to be a pay-it-forward scavenger hunt for San Francisco, has become much bigger than San Francisco and more than a scavenger hunt. The worldwide interest that has been spawned is tremendous, and though personally surprising, in some ways it is understandable.
I think we may have struck a chord with people for a few reasons:
1. Everyone likes free cash :)
2. Many people enjoy a real world scavenger hunt.
3. Many people who don't go on the hunt themselves, enjoy following the excitement and positive stories of people participating and so often paying it forward.
4. In many ways, we have become alienated from each other, and perhaps this is a fun way for people to come together.

We would like to keep this movement going, and we thank you for your support keeping it safe and positive. (read more)

Feel Good Story of the Day

With many government operations shuttered by the political standoff in Washington, [Chris] Cox took a lawn mower to the National Mall this week and began cutting grass areas between the Lincoln and World War II memorials.

""These are our memorials. Do they think that we're just going to let them go to hell?''

Cox carried a blue South Carolina state flag as he pushed a standard gasoline-powered mower. He is a native of Mount Pleasant, S.C., living just outside Washington in Alexandria, Va.

"If they shut down our memorials, we're still going to take the trash out, we're going to clean the windows, we're going to cut the grass, we're going to pull the weeds, we're going to do the tree work,'' he said.

"He bought a lawn mower, a blower and told me [Rep. Mark Sanford, R-S.C] he had spent the days and evenings since our visit picking up trash, cutting grass and blowing leaves to keep walkways clean,'' said Sanford, a former governor of the state.

Via James Wood's Tweet of USA Today