On Mon, 27 Oct 2014 12:26:05 -0700, Gunner Asch
wrote:
On Mon, 27 Oct 2014 14:20:24 -0400, "Carl Ijames"
wrote:
Unfortunately, citric acid doesn't remove rust. It would be a great last
step to repassivate everything after whatever else you do. Bead blasting
with glass beads will definitely leave a matte finish. Never done it, but
soda blasting may not hurt the finish and should remove the rust. You could
try wiping in an out of sight area with BarKeepers Friend, which is supposed
to remove rust, or maybe a dab of Naval Jelly or other phosphoric acid
product, to see what the effect on the finish will be before doing the
entire outside.
Hit the area with a fine ScotsBrite pad to knock off the rust...
Real Scotchbrite contains silicon cabide abrasive. It will leave the
gun with a brushed look.
If it already has such a finish, no problem. If not, it will be
noticeable, and he may not like the result.
THEN
if you want... pickle it with citric acid. Most...most..most boat
hardware is made of 316 so it seldom rusts, even in salt water..but it
certainly will discolor. But frankly..Id persoally just wipe it down
with a good gun "oil" after scrubbing off the rust and leave her be.
Ruger tends to use 416 and 410 stainless steels in their weapons.
-----
Regards,
Carl Ijames
"Leon Fisk" wrote in message ...
Hi,
I took note of the recent discussion concerning stainless steel and
removing rust. Kept several good posts (thank you Ed, Carl...) for
future reference.
A friend of mine kind of neglected his stainless revolver a bit too
long and it has developed little rust spots here and there. Here are a
few links to images that illustrate the problem:
http://www.iserv.net/~lfisk/rust_overall-1.jpeg
http://www.iserv.net/~lfisk/rust_detail-0.jpeg
http://www.iserv.net/~lfisk/rust_detail-1.jpeg
http://www.iserv.net/~lfisk/rust_detail-2.jpeg
http://www.iserv.net/~lfisk/rust_detail-3.jpeg
http://www.iserv.net/~lfisk/rust_detail-4.jpeg
A gunsmith friend thought bead-blasting it would be the best cure but
the citric acid treatment sounded interesting to me. Neither of us
care to try messing around with nitric acid. Mechanical means, buffing
and such would probably be quite noticeable I think compared to the rest
of the finish.
Any suggestions? Or would the best course be to just leave it alone,
chalk it up as a lesson that stainless steel isn't necessarily
carefree 
I also wondered it electrolytic derusting works on stainless too. I
remember people discussing the use of stainless for an electrode and
toxic gas it would generate but not trying to derust the stainless
piece itself. And how would that affect what was passivized? I've used
electrolytic before on a few items with impressive results but
nothing stainless. Messy as heck but it doesn't really generate any
dangerous byproducts to dispose of.
"At the core of liberalism is the spoiled child,
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demanding, ill-disciplined, despotic and useless.
Liberalism is a philosophy of sniveling brats."
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