I am doing a little experiment. I want to see if any one product that claims to protect steel will out perform the others. Perhaps not real scientific, but here is my experiment:
I took a 1/8" piece of steel about 6"x12". (No, I do not know what kind it is). It had surface rust and a couple deep rust patches. I first chemically removed the rust, then washed it with water. I then sanded it down to get it nice and smooth/shiny. Rubbed it well with steelwool, and finally "cleaned" it with fresh mineral spirits and wiped it dry with paper towels. I then divided the steel into 6 equal areas and scribed lines to seperate them. Once again I used mineral spirits and dry towels to remove all fingerprint/oils.
I treated each section with the following:
1) Tuf-Cloth
2) Silicone rag (generic. Came with a gun cleaning kit)
3) Renaissance Wax
4) Johnson's Paste Wax (Plain paste wax)
5) WD-40
6) Left untreated
I took a digital picture of the steel now, and plan to take one at a later time. I set the steel outside to weather. If anyone is curious as to the outcome, I will post it here later, or perhaps even whip up a quick web page with the pics later. Bets on the winner??
I took a 1/8" piece of steel about 6"x12". (No, I do not know what kind it is). It had surface rust and a couple deep rust patches. I first chemically removed the rust, then washed it with water. I then sanded it down to get it nice and smooth/shiny. Rubbed it well with steelwool, and finally "cleaned" it with fresh mineral spirits and wiped it dry with paper towels. I then divided the steel into 6 equal areas and scribed lines to seperate them. Once again I used mineral spirits and dry towels to remove all fingerprint/oils.
I treated each section with the following:
1) Tuf-Cloth
2) Silicone rag (generic. Came with a gun cleaning kit)
3) Renaissance Wax
4) Johnson's Paste Wax (Plain paste wax)
5) WD-40
6) Left untreated
I took a digital picture of the steel now, and plan to take one at a later time. I set the steel outside to weather. If anyone is curious as to the outcome, I will post it here later, or perhaps even whip up a quick web page with the pics later. Bets on the winner??
