GuyliSmithy Posted September 2, 2013 Share Posted September 2, 2013 Hello, I am new to this group and so far quite glad I found it ! Has anyone ever done the old motor oil finish like they used to back in the day ? I know it s un ecological and highly toxic, but so far it is the only most long lasting finish I can find. I need to know everything there is to know about it. We use this technique for small items like hinges, but i ve got a large sculpture i hope to seal with the motor oil. It s a little discusting, it consists of heating the metal then dipping the piece into a bucket of used motor oil. This makes the metal black and rust proof for decades if not more. Multiple dipping is a good way to extend the life of the finish. I do not want to use galvanize or painting because of the up keep and color. Any ideas and or info about old oil dipping ? Thanks ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaughnT Posted September 2, 2013 Share Posted September 2, 2013 I've dipped a lot of stuff in motor oil when it was at a black heat, but I never noticed it being a decades-long protection against corrosion. If the piece is small enough, I like to use liquid floor wax as a coating. Apply, let dry, buff... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GuyliSmithy Posted September 2, 2013 Author Share Posted September 2, 2013 Hello, I am new to this group and so far quite glad I found it ! Has anyone ever done the old motor oil finish like they used to back in the day ? I know it s un ecological and highly toxic, but so far it is the only most long lasting finish I can find. I need to know everything there is to know about it. We use this technique for small items like hinges, but i ve got a large sculpture i hope to seal with the motor oil. It s a little discusting, it consists of heating the metal then dipping the piece into a bucket of used motor oil. This makes the metal black and rust proof for decades if not more. Multiple dipping is a good way to extend the life of the finish. I do not want to use galvanize or painting because of the up keep and color. Any ideas and or info about old oil dipping ? Thanks ! I must add the piece is going outside.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Hale Posted September 2, 2013 Share Posted September 2, 2013 The piece dipped in motor oil and outside will need periodic maintenance to remain rust free. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted September 3, 2013 Share Posted September 3, 2013 Just think of all those millions of dollars wasted on research into weatherproof finishes when nasty old motor oil would have worked! If you want an outside item with no maintenance required you probably need to use stainless or monel or corten steel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigfootnampa Posted September 3, 2013 Share Posted September 3, 2013 Ummm cross out Cor-ten steel on that list! Monel is the KING of stainless! Inconel and several other similar alloys also have great rust resistance! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodge Posted September 3, 2013 Share Posted September 3, 2013 Ummm cross out Cor-ten steel on that list! Monel is the KING of stainless! Inconel and several other similar alloys also have great rust resistance! Why? No, its not stainless (actually a high copper content a36ish alloy), but it rusts to a beautiful patina and then no more. No blistering or scaling like normal carbon steel. Just a fine orange matte color. The company I used to work for used it routinely on high mast poles that light the interstate in many states. If you see a high mast pole or power transmission structure that isn't galvanized or painted, and is a brown to dark orange color, its weathering steel, most likely. I made a bbq smoker from it a good 15 years ago and I only painted a thin coat of hi temp on the lid. It sits out in the weather and only gets used a couple times a year now. Same brownish orange on the unpainted areas as it was after the first rain. Its why they call it weathering steel. ;) Right side got the paint. left side may have but burned off years ago... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Sells Posted September 3, 2013 Share Posted September 3, 2013 Ummm cross out Cor-ten steel on that list! Monel is the KING of stainless! Inconel and several other similar alloys also have great rust resistance! stainless steel?? they must have changed the alloy then, last I looked its classified as a Nickel alloy: for one to be a steel at all needs some carbon :) second, to be stainless needs at least12 % free chromium. third neither is in this alloy at all Monel contains 28% copper, 67% nickel, and smaller quantities of iron, manganese, and aluminium Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigfootnampa Posted September 4, 2013 Share Posted September 4, 2013 stainless steel?? they must have changed the alloy then, last I looked its classified as a Nickel alloy: for one to be a steel at all needs some carbon :) second, to be stainless needs at least12 % free chromium. third neither is in this alloy at all Monel contains 28% copper, 67% nickel, and smaller quantities of iron, manganese, and aluminium YES! I never said it was steel! The king of stainless was what I said! It is that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigfootnampa Posted September 4, 2013 Share Posted September 4, 2013 COR-TEN is sold as a weathering steel. IMO it's incredibly expensive properties are pretty well non existent! It has been on the market and in wide use for enough years that it's real performance is beginning to leak out.... turns out that it has it's vaunted (and... did I mention? INCREDIBLY EXPENSIVE!) properties of controlled weathering ONLY under very narrow (pretty unlikely... really) conditions! Under any other (and FAR more likely) conditions the COR-TEN steel is likely to rust away FASTER THAN MILD STEEL! In the hope of using this steel I have done quite a lot of research on it... and some discoveries were quite disheartening! Boxcars and shipping containers are commonly made of it. In many cases these products have experienced much shorter life spans than if they had been made of, FAR CHEAPER, mild steel! It does not like to be painted! Welds are a serious problem! Drainage needs to be very precise! It does poorly in many common climates! This list of sad shortcomings is LONG! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Sells Posted September 4, 2013 Share Posted September 4, 2013 ok thats cleared things up, because I thought what I have seen of your past posts that you would have known better, so I figured a typo or something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodge Posted September 4, 2013 Share Posted September 4, 2013 Well I hope those traffic poles and signal arms that millions of motorist drive under daily and high mast poles and that line interstates and such across the country that have been up for more than 25 years don't start falling down due to rust :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Turley Posted September 4, 2013 Share Posted September 4, 2013 I got a T-shirt at Penland School one time that had printed in front, "RUST NEVER SLEEPS". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Sells Posted September 5, 2013 Share Posted September 5, 2013 natural rust brown has been used for centuries and with good reason, but there is a modern method to protect metals from weathering. Its called paint. and it comes in a variety of colors, and can last longer that the oil finish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoCal Dave Posted September 6, 2013 Share Posted September 6, 2013 I agree with Mr Sells. The alternative I found for outside pieces was to use a good primer and paint, but it is never totally carefree. I found that even when I clear coated everything that rust found its way and slowly but surely it spread across the clear coat. Give rust and inch and it will take the world one day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted September 6, 2013 Share Posted September 6, 2013 Ayup, sand blast, acid etch epoxy primer and two coats of 2 part epoxy paint, clear epoxy top coat armor. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ironwolfforgeca Posted September 13, 2013 Share Posted September 13, 2013 Rusty you missed the Zinc coat pre primer :wacko: LOL sub primer then red oxide then epoxy :rolleyes: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evfreek Posted September 13, 2013 Share Posted September 13, 2013 Uh oh. I am preparing an outdoor piece, and I picked up a piece of scrap sheet at the yard. It was cheap :) Later on, I noticed that it was marked Corten. Maybe that's why I had some trouble shearing it. Anyway, this part should not be painted? Good thing it was marked. As I was working on it, some of my sweat got on it and stained it pretty heavily. Odd. I plan to paint the rest in high quality red oxide primer and black. This has worked well in the past for my outdoor ornamental/architectural work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yahoo2 Posted September 17, 2013 Share Posted September 17, 2013 I guess you could try some stand oil, it is linseed that has been heated without oxygen to start the polymerization process (not boiled oil). I have been playing around with some high iodine value oils and baking 3-4 really thin layers on in an oven, gives me a nice smoky finish and a rock hard layer. At this stage I couldn't say how long it will last or if it will yellow. A meat cleaver I coated last week come up with a beautiful finish with grape-seed oil, I had the temp a bit high for the first layer and the layer was too thick, luckily I was watching it and pulled it out and give it a wipe with another clean paper towel and saved it from flaking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragonorb13 Posted September 23, 2013 Share Posted September 23, 2013 Personally, I just use vegetable oil... the kind you use for cooking. It works great for my high-carbon machete. The only draw-back is that you have to renew the finish about every week to two weeks. If you're doing heavy use of the blade, such as (in my case) actually clearing weeds with it as part of your job or something, you'll need to renew every two days or so. Motor oil won't last any longer than a week or two, assuming defensive usage, given that it has similar viscousity to veggy oil. Don't know about floor wax, but it might last a little longer, since it's a solid protectant. Then again, since it's fairly soft, it might wear down faster. As to the linseed oil, I doubt it will last any longer than cheap floor wax or veggy oil for someone "taking it out side". Sure, if you're using it for a display item, the stand oil is great, but I'm assuming he's putting to at least a light workout. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yahoo2 Posted September 24, 2013 Share Posted September 24, 2013 Hi Dragonorb, Welcome to the forum. As with most things the devil is in the detail, perhaps I should have been more specific. With my meat cleaver I removed the handle so I didn't burn it to a crisp and BAKED 4 microscopic layers of oil onto the metal at a very high heat, for about 45 - 70 minutes bake time per coat. Not the same thing as slopping it around like salad dressing, the result is similar to seasoning cast iron cookware. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ironwolfforgeca Posted September 25, 2013 Share Posted September 25, 2013 Look up corten steel it will surface then stop more or less its not ! mild steel ! ALL steel is NOT the same LOL Steve's Welding Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charliechitlins Posted October 11, 2013 Share Posted October 11, 2013 Back in my antique motorcycle days, we would Parkerize. It's a mild acid etch, then dunked in oil, or better, Cosmoline. Very weather resistant. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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