Rust Removal : How to Remove Surface Rust From Stainless Steel

Removing surface rust from stainless steel can have your item good as new in no time at all. Remove surface rust from stainless steel with help from a maintenance technician in this free video clip.

Expert: Joshua Clement
Bio: Joshua Clement has been a foreman for Lighty Contractors for the past eight years.
Filmmaker: Nathanael Rittichier

Series Description: Rust is the enemy of all metals, including the appliances in your home and the tools that you own. Learn about rust removal with help from a maintenance technician in this free video series.

[nathancampbell]

never ever ever and again never use steel wool on stainless do not do this ever, ever hear of metal contamination, this will only make your problems worse

[Davparra]

Hey dude, but the stainless steel should not be sand with other metal instead stainless steel cause it can be contaminated and reduce its stainless life.
is this process redituable for removing rust from machines?

[heidic]

Stainless steel does rust. It depends on the amount of impurities (Or carbon) in the metal. It resists rust very well compared to regular steel. I did a little research on this topic after finding a small spot of surface rust on my $2500 Sako stainless rifle. Never use steel wool on a rifle because it leave small particles of "Rustable" flakes behind that can cause and spread rust. If you have brushed stainless, you can use synthetic "green pads" like the ones you use for dishes. The "green pads" are also sold by body shops and come in different colors for different grits. Grey is preferred for brushed stainless steel revolvers because it is a finer grit.

RUST OFF Heres a little recipe that seems to do the job very well on all types of stainless. (Polished, brushed or bead blasted).

Materials:

1) Armorall brake dust remover or aluminum rim cleaner. This has a very light acid in it that eats away rust (Rusted brake dust). It is safe on all stainless as long as you neutralize it by cleaning it off with soapy water after 10 minutes or so. Apply to entire surface area because you dont want a sparkly clean spot where you applied the cleaner.
Note: If you are leary of using this, you can buy citric acid powder from a pharmacy and mix it with water ----or--- use lemon juice and vinegar (PH of 2-3). The lemon and vinegar will not work as quick as the Armorall, but it will work on very light rust. Ive also heard that you can use oven cleaner, but I would be careful with that and neutralize it with-in 30 seconds or so.

2) Mother aluminum rim polish (White paste). This stuff is awesome.

3) A normal pencil eraser (Dont forget to remove the eraser so you dont scratch your surface with the metal around the end of the pencil. Dont use a "Pen eraser" because they are abrasive. Use the normal orange eraser.

4) Mineral spirits ---or---- Diesel fuel. Both are safe for stainless.

Directions: Clean and degrease surface with rubbing alcohol and dry.

Apply the acid (Brake dust remover, citric acid or lemon juice). Let it sit for a while (5-10 min) and leave it on for now.

Apply a small amount of mothers rim polish mixed with diesel fuel.

Take the eraser and rub the spot until it is gone. Also, apply the mixture to the entire area to make sure the whole surface shines evenly. Letting it sit for 5 min or so; it will not hurt the steel.

After you are done, clean the surface with soap/water and dry.

If you want to protect the surface from further rust, I recommend using (WD-40 "The specialist") DONT USE NORMAL WD-40. The Specialist is used as a rust preventative on high end firearms and it great for all metals. It doesn't smell bad either. You can buy it at a local parts store (Eg. Autozone).

If your rust is very bad and not just surface rust, you should consider using the grey pads sold at body shops (Walmart auto section by automotive sandpaper and 3M rubbing compound). You can take the grey pads and evenly resurface the entire surface area.

If it is polished SS, just use a Dremel tool with Mother rim polish. Use a soft cloth rotary bit and polish the surface with the rim polish at about 10k RPM until the rust is gone and the surface shows the desired shine. For scratches, you can start with 2500 grit wet/dry sand paper and finish it off by dremel polishing with the rim polish. (Dont attempt this unless you are confident in your dremel abilities.. This method would require some time, experience and effort.

If it is bead blasted, have it re-finished by a bead blaster. Make sure he uses beads and not sand (Sand can contain carbon and impurities / It also turns your SS a whitish color instead of grey). Also, make sure they use new beads that have not been contaminated with other ferrous metals, because it could cause rust.

Good luck.

[andrenurse]

Thanks, your videos have been a big help.

[heidic]

Almost forgot; all stainless steel can rust. The higher quality of the stainless, the more rust resistant it is. Some good "Virgin" German stainless steel from 60 years ago may still be rust free today if it was kept dry and away from salt. Newer stainless is "Most of the time" not virgin SS. It is mostly recycled and contains impurities. Old school stainless is the best.

Even if SS does have enough carbon in it to rust, that doesnt mean that you will feel its presence with a magnet. The amount of carbon present would be non-appreciable.

For instance, on a model 70 Winchester Extreme Weather rifle, the barrel is made of pretty good quality stainless and will not rust easy. Now the magazine floorplate is made of cheap SS with impurities and will rust easily. There are several people on the internet complaining about this.

[australiancustommetalworkd]

Don’t use steel wool on stainless as it embeds iron particles that make it rust more.

[Whitevaliant]

I use Steelo pads on our sink and have done for years. No marks, no rust, just leaves a gleaming sink.

[brettkuntze]

I use #1000 or finer sandpaper to sand anything stainless.. to remove food sticks  like oil burns not rust.  I probably use liquid wrench to remove rust, haven't tried it..   New Liquid Wrench is less toxic than the old one.. it smells sweet, sort of.. It works  with rust tools, etc.. I will try LW on my rusty stainless range.. soon

[bars]

so you basically sand everything off and scratch the material.

[touchomagic]

Definitely not on an appliance. If you wan to scrub, use Scotch-Brite. But better yet, don't scrub. Abrasive scrubbing further destroys the finish. Look up Muriatic acid/borax/lemon juice or phosphoric acid/ammonia .

[candisbrendel]

dude stainless steel is not supposed to rust in the first place. that is why the deloreans were made from it in a dull finish. now rust resistant steel will rust not real bad rust and it takes a long time for it to rust. stainless steel will not hold a magnet, rust resistant steel will stick to a magnet big time!! stainless steel is made with (no carbon) and plenty of oxygen to push all the carbon out. just thought you would want to know that. check everything with a magnet they never lie

[michaelw]

Well, the 2 worst things you could ever allow to contact stainless steel this guy happily cleans stainless steel with. Besides, if it RUSTS then it's NOT FOOD GRADE COOKWARE... Cast Iron is the ONLY exception as long as water never touches it and always well maintained. Stainless Steel however shouldn't rust ever unless it's walmart bought crap which not even cheap fast food chains would even cook with.

Regardless... If it's just surface rust then save the time and effort. Just spray 50/50 Water/Ammonia on it and literally watch the rust disappear. High or Low Grade Stainless Steel should only be cleaned with Ammonia/Water mix.

[raymclennan]

Rust on stainless steel is caused mostly by production methods of cheap Chinese stainless steel. This stainless rust because they use a steel wire brush during finishing which leaves sliver of non stainless steel embedded which rusts. Using steel wool will only make it worse!!

[jeanmichelboudreau]

dont ever used steel on stainless steel the steel will scratch and will penetrate in the stainless steel then way bigger rust problem

[markbatch]

i thought stainless didn't rust?

thats y its called stainless?