Thread: Steel/Copper wool for rust

Whats the go for steel or copper wool for scrubbing rust (i don't believe any pitting). Ive got a 1500 Howa stainless steel and 2 greasy paws that didn't oil the barrel (lesson learned ). Wondering on size and where to get it? cheers.

decorating aisle at miter 10, i got "sifa" brand and it comes in varying wire thicknesses. i used it to matt down an oil finished wood stock

Copper on stain less would be worse,any fragments left behind will form a chemical cell which causes electrolysis.

Originally Posted by mimms2

#0000, available at painter supply. Degreased if necessary.

I don't know how many people need to learn this the hard way. Stainless does not mean you never have to clean it.

Yeah the howa stainless is less stainless than other stainless too, has a fairly aggressive BB type finish that like to develop spots.

0000 and a bit of crc/wd40 will get any surface spotting gone without changing the surface finish.

Originally Posted by Marty Henry

Copper on stain less would be worse,any fragments left behind will form a chemical cell which causes electrolysis.

No not really... copper on aluminium is a problem, especially in the presence of an electrolyte... sea water, lemon juice, salts, bleaches and perspiration etc

Copper on stainless will cause the copper to corrode not the stainless, but only just and over a long time.... there are some copper alloys, bronzes or copper nickel alloys that could cause corrosion marks on stainless in time.... and also as some one pointed out ... there is a huge range of stainless grades, some less noble than others.

On the chart above, the further apart the metals (Left and right) the more likely you will have galvanic corrosion if they are in contact... and a metal to the right (less noble) will always sacrifice to a metal to the left. (more noble)

For a nice matt finish on stainless... I just use green scotch brite pads,... bit of CRC.... I am not sure what scotch brite will do to blueing.

An interesting aside for the Nautical minded, Galvanized steel bolts cause less corrosion to Aluminium than a stainless bolt will (There are compounds to help... no not copper coat) .... and this principal is the reason you never leave lead sinkers in the bilge of your tinny.

CRC is a shit gun oil anyway. WD40 would be the minimum of the mainstream industrial spray can lubricants.

Ive always just used a bit of kitchen Jiff on stainless. Rub it with my fingers or a soft cloth.

Originally Posted by mimms2

WD= Water Displacement, that's all it's designed for.
Gun oil, is the only oil I'd recommend for guns.

Yup I agree-like I said-MINIMUM of the main stream lubricants. Nowhere near ideal

Originally Posted by mimms2

...
Gun oil, is the only oil I'd recommend for guns.

Not necessarily:

Anti-Corrosion Products Test — Video Reveals Best Rust Blockers « Daily Bulletin

Personally I rate Corrosion X. Not even a hint of rusting on any of my toys after I shifted to using it

Originally Posted by mimms2

WD= Water Displacement, that's all it's designed for.
Gun oil, is the only oil I'd recommend for guns.

BREAKFREE SPF is my ‘go to’ for gun protection, I had a gun stored in a location with dampness and it was all good - except where I hadn’t actually wiped it with Breakfree, a rusty surface in those areas resulted.

Yea I'm using whatever gun oil came with my cleaning kit. I went out before lockdown and then didn't oil barrel when I stored it

Originally Posted by muzza

This is the stuff to use - https://www.workshopinnovation.co.nz...erMetalCleaner

CRC is useless for anything except loosening seized parts - use a good gun oil that wont evaporate in 5 minutes

Out of stock and have been for a while. Anyone else stock it?

Originally Posted by csmiffy

CRC is a shit gun oil anyway. WD40 would be the minimum of the mainstream industrial spray can lubricants.

Yeah agreed. Not using it to protect the firearm in this case tho just as a cutting lubricant to remove rust.

Wet screwed up tin foil takes it straight off did it on a friends howa ,only stainless though would make a mess of blueing.

none of the above...

The link below shows you how to boil your gun.

Looks like the business, this guy has some really informative videos.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arcosYVsfCM&t=1334s

He has a video somewhere which goes into detail about the "carding wheel" he uses to polish the scum off of the blued steel after boiling.
I cant find that video, I suspect he has restricted the video to his Patreon subscribers, I think Ill sign up as his videos are bloody good.