Steel wool effects on stainless steel

Embed ?NO but if left on the surface it can rust and that rust continue through the oxide layer and continue into the stainless steel.
 
It's not possible to "embed" steel wool in gun stainless- no matter how hard you rub.
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I retired as an engineer from a multi-billion dollar world wide corporation. When I was working, I supervised two large, state of the art, metrology labs. I can assure you that you can embed steel into stainless steel and cause discoloration of the stainless. All materials have a "textured" finish to some degree. This is easily seen under magnification and it varies with the surface finish and material being observed. When two surfaces are rubbed together, they exchange material with each other. There are also different types of stainless and different types of steel. Depending on the interaction taking place, enough steel wool particulates can be "embedded" in the stainless to leave discoloration. Many, many gun owners have observed discoloration on their stainless steel guns and don't know what is causing it. In many cases, it's something "embedded" in the surface. That's just the way it is.
Example: http://nanovea.com/App-Notes/steel-surface-characterization.pdf
Note 1 Cause: http://www.sperkoengineering.com/html/Rust.pdf
 
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If you're worried about steel wool don't use it. Having been around boats forever I've learned you don't use steel wool, you use bronze wool. Which you can get in a boat store.

When I refurbished an old .22 rf a few years ago I used bronze wool on it, no ill effects after about 5 years, but it was blued steel.
 
Agree with bronze wool. I mentioned it in post # 12 above. Nice to know it can be found in boat supply stores.
 
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