Cleaning Stainless Steel

[LANDMAN4389]

I've probably asked this question in the past at some point but I'll ask again just to refresh my memory.

What do you use to clean stainless steel? I have a Marlin .22 mag that is in need of a serious cleaning. Light rust spots, no pitting from what I can tell. I do plan to polish it with Flitz after cleaning but I'm undecided on what to clean it with.

I have heard of the following being used with success but I have read just the opposite from other members that have had the finish on their guns monkeyed up.

Scotchbrite pad/oil
0000 steel wool/oil
copper wool/oil
pencil erasers
Copper Choreboy/oil
old copper penny/oil

What has worked for you?

I will try to add a picture of the rifle and the rust areas I am wanting to clean.

 

[Jesse Heywood]

Using copper is for blued steel guns. The nice thing about stainless is that you can clean an area with a mild abrasive and polish it to match the rest of the gun. My favorite cleaners are stainless steel drinking fountain sprays, I used to use them as a janitor. They will take a lot off, but won't attack rust. For that I would use some gun-brite on a cloth. It's not as abrasive as steel wool and it is easier to control.

 

[1SOW]

White rouge is a standard polishing/surface cleaning material for most stainless.

A "loose flap" cotton wheel is the mildest polishing using a medium speed -- won't 'remove' pits left by rust/corrosion.

If you use a spiral wrapped cloth wheel, it's more aggressive.

A dremel with the "loose flap" polishing wheel (available accessory) on medium or slower speeds also works for smaller areas---like feed ramps.

On an 'already level/smooth' surface a mirror finish can be reached.

http://www.eastwood.com/ew-buff-compound-white-rouge-14-oz-tube.html Other cleaners and compounds here too.

 

[Redd Orion]

Though it is unorthadox, I have used JB Bore paste to clean mild rust spots from the ejector port on my Browning High Power's barrel. Worked like a champ!

I also use M-Pro7 gun cleaning spray to clean my pieces, including a mirror finished stainless 1911. It's non-toxic, but you'd never know by how well it works.

Below is a link to one of my favorite candy stores that got me started on MPro7

http://www.glockmeister.com/M-Pro-7-Gun-Cleaner-32-oz-Spray-Bottle/productinfo/070-1008/

 

[triggerman770]

clean stainless steel

I use ballistol and 4-0 steel wool to remove rust. then to clean use the cleaner/polish for SS refrig's. no need for a flap wheel and rouge, especially if you have never used one before. Just ask the gunsmith I apprenticed for. I completely wrapped smith & Wesson anround the barrel of a model 64(in my other life)

 

[ColtPythonElite]

Stainless and rust? Must be some low grade stuff. Anyway, most any of the things you mentioned will do the job. The easiest is a little steel wool and oil then polish with Flitz or Mother's wheel polish. A good glass cleaner works great to get the polish residue off.

 

[Lee Roder]

I find Mother's aluminum polish works well.

 

[LANDMAN4389]

It's a Marlin 882 SS .22 mag. None of the rust is really bad but I'd like to get it cleaned up. I have a little copper wool and some oil that I will try first. I'll have a pic uploaded in a few minutes of exactly what I am wanting to clean.

Also anyone know of anything to clean up a synthetic stock?

 

[LANDMAN4389]

Appreciate all the advice that was given. I just spent a couple of hours going over the gun with a Copper Choreboy and some RemOil. It removed just about everything except some small hard to reach areas of rust.

The gun shines like new and will look even better with a polish job.

Now if I could find a nice walnut stock, I'd be done.

 

[brickeyee]

Stainless and rust? Must be some low grade stuff.

Or someone used steel wool on the surface.

You can leave enough steel behind from steel wool to cause surface rust.

And stainless steel is stainLESS, not stainNONE.

After machining stainless is pickled in acid to remove any tool steel that might have gotten smeared on the surface, and to remove exposed free iron leaving behind a layer of chrome to passivate the surface.

The process is even called 'passivation.'

 

[Varob]

Here's a few Youtube vids that may help.

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=cleaning+stainless+steel+gun&aq=5

 

[highlander 5]

Before I retired I worked in the aircraft industry for 30+ years worked on military and commercial jet engines and we used a lot of stainless and other exotic alloys and SS will rust you just have to work at it. Any truly stainless steel would be so brittle as to be useless.