[cummings66]

Interesting. I don't care for the wire wheel stripping. You embed small metal particles in the cylinder which can cause rust spots down the road. Chemical stripping is easier and doesn't have that risk, for future reference.

From the look of things, did you measure those pits? Some of them look deep enough to be a problem? It could be the picture but it looks like a few of them might have been deep enough to warrant measuring. General corrosion limits are .02 inches, depending on brand of cylinder max isolated pit depth is .05 inches.

As to paint, I would not apply any. Paint on the ZRC might look nice but it sort of inhibits the purpose of applying the ZRC paint. I'd leave it like you have it. 2 rolled on coats is enough to provide rust resistance. Speaking of which, depending on how you got the rust off watch those areas that were rusted for re-rust. The initial stripped picture you showed had what looked like too much rust to cover without re-rust happening. Keep on top of the rust.

It took me 2 days to get my cylinders prepped where I was happy enough to roll the ZRC on. PS, I don't know what regulations you have there, but around here you might have an issue with a fill station or the inspector since you painted them. They sometimes wonder why you painted them and might require you to re-hydro them.

The final coat looks good though, much nicer I'm sure compared to how it started out.