crannk-arm finishes.. what's practical, what looks cool?

all paint rubs off of crank arms, its irritating but you'll get used to it
the stock paint that comes on bikes is almost always powdercoat, which is baked onto the surface for extra durability
after time, as you can see, wears off
spray paint and most other diy painting solutions are significantly less durable than what is already on it
therefore I wouldn't recommend repainting or refinishing cranks specifically, because they deal with constant friction that is hard for paint to resist
if you wan't cranks that resist this wear, chrome finished cranks are probably the best way to go

if you do want to refinish them, i recommend using a chemical paint stripper followed by wet sanding as it turns out better with significantly less labor
also mask off the interfaces where the bolts go as well as the spindle and pedal threads

shameless plug, but i did an extensive write up on refinishing steel frames specifically but works for just about any steel parts
http://deviantbmxer.blogspot.com/2014/09/how-to-paint.html
any other questions, just ask

^good writeup (and i love the idea of using rusted, old bb bearings like that very smart)

I think i'm just gonna go for clear-coating them, since any colors will wear out i guess :\ If i just wet-sand, then clear-coat them properly, i'll occasionally wear that out and get thin rust lines, but it'll be easy to get them out and just re-clear it as-needed w/o much worry about color-matching!

thnx again!