Cleaning rust off of Stainless Steel

This is the place to post your ideas, thoughts, questions and comments as relates to general boatbuilding and reconstruction techniques and procedures (i.e. recoring, epoxy, fiberglass, wood, etc.)
Post Reply
svMira
Master Varnisher
Posts: 104
Joined: Wed Aug 08, 2018 10:16 pm
Boat Name: Mira
Boat Type: Pearson Wanderer 30
Contact:

Cleaning rust off of Stainless Steel

Post by svMira »

I had an anchor roller made for me in stainless. I had bought a new wirewheel to use to clean it that I understood was for stainless but obviously wasn't. Now it is rusting. I had tried to clean it up while it was on the boat and have now contaminated the edge of two adjacent stainless pieces. What's the best way to clean this up?

(Forum's been quiet for a bit, figured I would make it worth your while when you visited with my three questions. <grin>)
Marvin - s/v Mira - 1971 Pearson Wanderer #174
svmira.ca
User avatar
atomvoyager
Moderator | Revitalizer of Classics
Posts: 421
Joined: Thu Jul 12, 2018 7:48 am
Boat Name: Atom
Boat Type: Pearson Triton
Contact:

Re: Cleaning rust off of Stainless Steel

Post by atomvoyager »

If the new anchor roller had surface rust before you used the wire wheel than it may be that it was not the best grade of stainless or not mechanically polished enough. I'm not sure what the wire wheel was meant to accomplish on stainless or what grade of steel it was. If you could take the hardware to a buffing wheel for polishing that might get rid of it or bring a polisher tool to the installed fitting. There are several commercial polishes to try but maybe best to first try a home brew. Here's an article on it that looks good:
https://www.bobvila.com/articles/how-to ... ess-steel/
I have used phosphoric acid to remove rust. It works instantly and will probably get rid of the wire wheel contamination but it probably won't help long-term if the metal itself is a poor grade.
Post Reply