rmanning Posted February 17, 2013 Share Posted February 17, 2013 a friend of mine brought me some scrap 3/4" round about 18" long steel he said was used to make ladder steps for fire escape type ladders and a couple other pieces of flat. i noticed it looked like it was coated with something. it is blueish color and i can see where it looks to have flaked off in small places . is this possibly a harmful coating most everything i have used up till now has had red rust on it and this is new stuff, but it is not grey like the stock you see at the stores. thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Posted February 17, 2013 Share Posted February 17, 2013 Hi, could be anything from paint to galvanizing (Zinc coating) so be very careful with it. Burning of simple paint releases some nasty stuff but burning off zinc in a confined space can be fatal. If you do want to burn the coating off do it outside and stay upwind of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan P. Posted February 17, 2013 Share Posted February 17, 2013 I don't think there is or has been anything used to coat iron/steel that is not in some way toxic when burned off. Whether it's toxic in the sense of causing black snot, or causing instant death, that is the question! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmanning Posted February 17, 2013 Author Share Posted February 17, 2013 im pretty sure its not galvanizing but im not going to fool with it if there is much chance it could be pretty bad stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcornell Posted February 18, 2013 Share Posted February 18, 2013 5 gallon pail and a gallon of muratic acid - pour some water in the pail, add the acid, put in the piece of mystery metal. Muratic eats of galvanized coating quite nicely - it might eat off your mystery coating as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shinestar Posted February 22, 2013 Share Posted February 22, 2013 firstly, it need to be rust and then polishing. in fact, if there is rust, coating also is a way to antirust. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woody Posted February 24, 2013 Share Posted February 24, 2013 if it is some sort of plastic coating heating it or burning it off could produce vynal chloride gas, putting an unknown into hydrochloric acid could produce hydrogen chloride gas, acid reacting with metal can produce hydrogen gas. If it is not too much trouble could all you scratch and sniff chemists out there take out large life insurance policies in my name. Thanks in advance. :rolleyes: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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