Quick question of rust

W

Wallabing

New member
If I spray oil on a light film of rust, will the rust continue to eat awayattack at the metal?

Or should I remove it immediately?
 
rust needs iron and oxygen to form. applying oil prevents oxygen from reacting with the iron, but any area not coated with oil will continue to rust. if the metal has another substanve containing oxygen then that molecule can give up its oxygen instead to continue the reaction. so the answer is, under the right circumstances yes.
 
Wallabing,
It would be best to remove the rust when you get the time. If your getting rust on guns your not using frequently you could consider preservation bags like our ZCORR bags which use military tested and approved anti corrosion materials & chemistry. The bags release a molecule that essentially creates a shield around all the metal inner and outer parts of a gun so that no corrosive element like oxygen or moisture can come in contact with the metal.
 
Hello, Wallabing. You need to remove the rust right down to the bottom of any pits that might have formed. The advice that oil on the surface of rust is enough to stop it is erroneous. A good example is a bore that has been subjected to corrosive primed ammo. Oil all you want..that bore will continue to rust.
 
I received some sound advice from my local store regarding the removal of surface rust.

Soak the affected area with Kroil, then rub lightly with steel wool pads.

The steel wool pads are stainless steel, and the fibers are similar to confetti - 1/16" or so wide and flat. There is a brand name for them, but I purchased them at my local GS. (Others have recommended copper wool pads, but I am not familiar with that.)

The wide, flat fibers of the steel wool, if rubbed gently over the rusted area, seems to scrape away the surface rust without harming the bluing. However, do be careful on edges or corners, because the bluing can be removed if one is not gentle.

Monty
 
What is "browning" that used to be done on some flintlock military muskets? Is that basically a controlled rust? Judging from what I've read in very old military manuals, it was something that had to be done every few years and by the armorer. Really a question for the black powder section.
 
"Bluing" is actually a process that creates "rust", or iron oxide.

The pores in the "rust" allow oil to be retained, and the oil prevents further rusting.

From Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluing_(steel)

"Bluing is a passivation process in which steel is partially protected against rust, and is named after the blue-black appearance of the resulting protective finish. True gun bluing is an electrochemical conversion coating resulting from an oxidizing chemical reaction with iron on the surface selectively forming magnetite (Fe3O4), the black oxide of iron. Black oxide provides minimal protection against corrosion, unless also treated with a water-displacing oil to reduce wetting and galvanic action."

"In comparison, rust, the red oxide of iron (Fe2O3), undergoes an extremely large volume change upon hydration; as a result, the oxide easily flakes off causing the typical reddish rusting away of iron. "Cold", "Hot", "Rust Blue" and "Fume Blue" are oxidizing processes simply referred to as bluing."

"Bluing is most commonly used by gun manufacturers, gunsmiths and gun owners to improve the cosmetic appearance of, and provide a measure of corrosion resistance to, their firearms."


Monty
 
The article actually mentions browning but I suppose it's just one of several methods of surface treatment of iron and steel, all mentioned in the article.
 
Before you start rubbing your gun down with steel wool you need to understand that steel wool well alter the finish. If this is a blued gun it well remove the bluing if not extremely careful. If it's a antique it well remove the patina and destroy collector value.:mad:

Eezox and some tight weave cotton material, like from a pair of Levi's well remove rust and not change the patina or alter a blued surface. It leaves a non oily film that is dry to the touch and prevents any further rust.
 
the Field & Stream Rifle Maintenance Handbook has a section that discusses rusting and how to properly clean it. good book to have for this type of thing
 
A good example is a bore that has been subjected to corrosive primed ammo. Oil all you want..that bore will continue to rust.
Click to expand...

Not true. Corrosive priming requires ambient moisture to cause rust. In theory, you could shoot all the corrosive ammo you wanted in a place with absolute zero humidity and no rust would form. Likewise, if you coated your bore heavily and completely with oil, moisture would be barred from the potassium chloride salts left in the bore from corrosive priming, preventing the formation of iron oxide (rust). However, upon removal of the oil, the salts would once again have access to ambient moisture and the rusting process would start again until the salts were removed from the bore.
 
madcrate -

If you haven't attempted it yourself, you might be surprised by how the finish is not altered using steel wool and oil (at least using the steel wool which I described).

I initially was EXTREMELY reluctant to follow this course of action, but I was very surprised how the bluing was not removed over the smooth surfaces of the firearms. Again, the edges and corners are very susceptible to the removal of bluing, and I did learn a lesson there. But the problem areas were flat metal, and I was surprised how the intact bluing was unaffected.

And I performed this on firearms of real value to me.

Of course, this is just a suggestion, so feel free to follow it or not.

Best to all -

Monty
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top