When I did my fork legs, I removed them from the bike and did each one individually.
I stripped the old paint off with a wire wheel on my bench grinder (a bit of a messy job) then degreased, masked up, two coats of zinc primer and two coats of silver smoothrite. All done with rattle cans.
I was really pleased with the finish. I did think about a clear coat on top but the smoothrite looks great and seems to be lasting ok.