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I Forge Iron

Rust Prevention


primtechsmith

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Funny thing happened yesterday while I was helping my wife clean the house. My job was the living room. I was dusting the room and found a couple of my "whimsical pieces" had some rust just creeping in on them. So I went back after dusting everything else and used the cloth and some furniture polish. It took the rust right off and left the piece looking pretty darn good! I am sure it won't last, but it worked.

This small thing made me start thinking of how to ward off the rust demons. How do you prevent rust?

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Place all newly forges pieces in an oven to ensure complete dryness.
Then place in some container and pressurize with an inert gas, argon, Nitrogen or some such. Even then I would not be hopefull about stopping rust.
Remeber iron's natural progression is rust to dust........

Ralph 8)

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I use boiled linseed oil on most of my indooor items, it holds up well and smells good. I also use this on all my stuff in the shop ( tools, leg vises, anvil, hammers) here in Missouri we have a bad humidity problem.In the spring when everything in the shop starts worming up I notice it the most. I also have beeswax but have not used it much. I don't like useing chemicals anymore than I have to but that may change when I get the shop all set up and start getting highend jobs over at the lake with ironwork that is outside. I would like to get some feedback on what others are useing on outside work, other than paint.

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I've been using Sherwin Williams OPEX clear metal laquer on a lot of stuff, including exterior work. The manager of your local store should be able to give you a sample if he has a bucket onsite. Thin with laquer thinner 50-50, spray on, load it up and install it 20 minutes later. The stuff is very shiny, The manager at my local store called the batch plant and had a bucket made up of low-sheen OPEX. The low sheen batch works very well for me, the iron looks like it has a light coat of oil. I've also brushed it on and had good results. I live in semi-arid country, don't know how long it would last in mostly humid areas..

Before I found OPEX, I was using catalyzed two part paint. It's nasty and uses cyanide as a catalyst. I found that mixing half black and half metallic chrome paint approximates the look of power wire-brushed steel pretty well, but touch-up painting with a brush on the jobsite doesn't lay in well with the sprayed rest of the work.

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  • 2 years later...

The simplest thing I have found that works well for inside stuff is future floor acrylic finish. It's thin enough to get down in the small places--dries quick and is easy to apply again if you want and you don't lose the forged look. Like all stuff used to finish or coat things you need to clean/degrease/de-scale before applying. Even over a light scaleing it holds up pretty good.

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  • 1 month later...
  • 2 months later...

My Dad used to coat his table saw platform (cast iron) with floor wax to keep it slick. we also discovered it prevented rust. I inherited his saw and still use floor wax, saw is over 40 years old and the platform still looks good, but once in awhile I have to take steel wool to remove rust when I get lazy or use the saw a lot in humid weather.

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  • 5 months later...

rust ??......here in northern Michigan we don't have rust, just high taxes which will eat it up before oxidation even thinks to start, but gloss Deft spray will hold at bay for a clear coat, or 2 coats of primer and 2 coats of Deft will seal most everything.

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As has been mentioned, the natural oxidation state of Iron is not Fe. It is FeO, Fe2O3 or Fe3O4. To prevent the oxididation of iron, you need to separate the iron from the oxygen. Wax, oil, varnish, lacquer, paint etc, will do it; the question is which lasts longer before you need to re-apply it. I think that depends on where you are. Here on the Gulf Coast, the iron starts to rust before the coating is dry. If you don't mind re-applying every few weeks, WD40 is OK. I prefer paste wax or black paint. If you really need protection, remove all scale (it is porous and will hold moisture), prime, and apply several coats of exterior paint.

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Yes that is the game on the Gulf Coast. I often use a LPS 3... I think it is still available in auto parts stores. Throws down a soft thick film that workes so so. A lot of people that do metal work just wipe with linseed oil and let the surfaces that are not cutting or reading go to a good plum brown.

A light film of rust holds the oil fairly well. Anvil surfaces, hammer surfaces need to be kept dry and away from night air. Except in west Texas you have dew 365 for any thing left out in an open shop. I've often gone to work and found the floor of the shop wet from one end to the other from dew every day for weeks at a time.

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There is a type of chemical called a Vapor Corrosion Inhibitor (VCI) that can be sprayed on a metal surface, allowed to dry and the surface will remain rust free for months or longer. One company that makes it is Corr Tech although I think you would probably need to buy industrial quantities from them. This stuff works great, leaves a very slight film, and no odor. It is easily removed with alkyline soap and water and is biodegradeable. I wonder why you can't buy small quantities in the stores.

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Watco Danish oil works for me for indoor stuff. Two thin coats just to ensure even coverage.

Any of you folks ever try Gibbs Brand penetrant? It's popular with the bare-metal school hot rodders. It's also pricey, which is why I haven't tried it yet.


Never heard of it but I am definately going to try it out. For a penetrant oil I have yet to find any thing that will beat Kroil, which is also very expensive but so are the parts that I am normaly trying to free up.
Even if Gibbs doesn't out perform Kroil as a penetrant it sounds like it might just be the best rust inhibitor on the market, I'm gonna find out any way.
Thanks for the link.

welder19
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LPS #1 works very well for rust preventative. Marvel mystery oil works well too. I burn olive oil on eating utensils after they are de-scaled and still get a pinch of rust after the winter in the trailer. A light rubbing and most rust is gone.

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