Finished Product Keeps Rusting.... : (

[Drako11]

How do I keep finished products from rusting? Everything I make even with stainless after a day or so when it is produced it will start getting rust on it. Is there some kind of oil treatment or something I must do to it?

[easilyconfused]

Yes. For normal iron, oils such as vegetable or mineral oil and waxes such as canning paraffin and beeswax are good food safe choices. For non food uses, some use linseed oil as well. For a longer lasting finish, use a clear metal paint. You need to keep the air from the metal.

For stainless, you need to either do the above or passivate it back to stainless steel as it changes after heating to forging temperatures. Search for passivation of stainless steel. Others will know more about that part than I.

[Charlotte]

Stainless must be treated to keep it from rusting. It is called passivating.
Generally cleaning with a citric acid cleaner made for stainless will do the trick.
Some stainless needs stronger acids and heat treatment before it will not show rust.

Using steel wire brushes is a good way to make stainless rust. Even using used sand paper or belts can cause stainless to start rusting.

Steel that has been through the fire will rust unless it is treated.

Some coals seem to make steel rust more rapidly than others. This is just my experiece not a proven fact.

[CBrann]

This is covered well here, I would also suggest camalia oil too. The Japanese have used it for centuries, and they still have centuries old samurai swords with no rust... No not sure if it is food safe... but for non food, it works really well.

[David Einhorn]

If it is a eating utensil I humbly suggest "seasoning" it using traditional kitchen method of heating with vegetable oil. If it is an inexpensive non-cooking item then wiping off loose oxidation with a 3M pad followed by a spray of Krylon clear enamel from the local hardware store works pretty good. For expensive outdoor stuff, powder-coating or other industrial finishes are options.

Finishes really depend on the application of the finished product, target audience, *and* its price.:D

[Drako11]

So can I heat the item up in the forge evenly, brush it with a wire brush, then brush on a coat of vegetable oil or do I need to put vegetable oil on and bake it in an oven??

[easilyconfused]

Either works fine. I use the oven because my forge is 3 hours away but I can use the oven anytime so I want to maximize what I'm able to forge. The forge is quicker but dirtier if you're not careful. Also more prone to smoking and flash fires.

[pkrankow]

I have tried white shortening (Crisco) and find that 2 coats in a 300F or hotter oven (I used 450F while cooking dinner) give an nice black gloss to the few leaves I have made. I got that idea after reading about everybody that uses oil, and remembering how bad of a time I had using oil on my cast iron cookware (gets sticky sometimes). I was told by a chef friend to use shortening on my cookware. I might switch to another finish as I make more stuff, but I am pleased with my results so far.

Phil

[BlackSmithBear]

I have found that brushing , or wiping on some boiled linseed oil while the metal is still hot(not heat colored, but black) will give a nice black finish that helps keep it from rusting.
Bear

[horseshoe182]

I,m very shore that you have a cross contamination problem. And what that means is ;- When mild steel scarches, rubs against stainless it will comaminate it. Also using a steel wire brush or one that has been used on steel, using a grinding wheels, cutting wheels, linisher, polisher/buff that perviously been used on mild steel will contaminate the stainless, using (mild steel) contaminated abrasives impregnates the stainless with mild steel particles. And then starts the rusting. How does that happen? most poeple say, "its stainless it can,t rust" sombody has used a contaminated abrasive on it, or it,s just come in contact with steel.

In a industry fabrication workshop, it is always to best to speperate the mild steel workshop and the stainless workshop or take special percautions. That is because of cross contamintion. What the industry practise is to have dedicated abrasives and sometimes dedicated work areas. If your working on a big dollar stainless job, you don,t just pick up a grinder and use it on the stainless, you must know that the grinding wheel is a dedicated stainless wheel or containation may happen.

I don,t like your chances of reversing your problem, Maybe passivate and clean with a new scotchbrite pad, or a few new flap disks or a few new linishing belts. Don,t use a wire brush on it unless it is a "stainless wire brush". And then add a nice lite oil, there have been many good sugestions, I like WD40.

Good luck with it.

[Nakedanvil - Grant Sarver]

After forging 300 series stainless it is necessary to anneal it to restore the stainless properties due to carbides that form during high temperature work. 300 stainless is annealed by heating to 2000F and quenching in cold water.

[lillith]

for mild steel I learnt the hard way, before laquering or coating with wax,WIPE YOUR FINGER PRINTS OFF FIRST.use meths, as evaporates without leaving residue.wear latex gloves... the acid in your sweat reacts with the surface of the steel and causes rust. has worked for me so far....