Stainless 316 1x19 wire corrosion?

[WesHeald]

Hi all,

I went to start threading my new 3/8 1x19 wire through my furler, and I discovered this on the wire. Is it corrosion? Should I take it back to the distributor? Should I try to clean it? If so, how?

[JPA Cate]

You've just discovered Cate's first law of metallurgy: stainless steel isn't.

Wipe it off with a paper towel, or try a bit of scouring powder, or make up some mild oxalid acid solution from crystals, and wipe it with that. We used to know someone who waxed all his rigging with car wax/polish. Wichinox, made by Wichard, is a pretty good cleaner/polish for s/s, too. Although intended for boats, it's instructions are pretty hard to follow, like having the item in the shade. Works fine where the sun doesn't shine (underside of radar arch supporting solar panels, for instance.) Just ignore the shade part of their instructions, unless you have a really big shed for the boat.

Ann

[Captsteve53]

Surface rust on the wire is normal and will usually polish right off if you keep up with your suggested cleaning routine. Excessive rust or corrosion on wire and fittings generally comes from one of two common issues.

*Anaerobic Corrosion is caused by dirt, oil, or other surface
contaminates on the wire. Stainless steel does not like to be deprived of
oxygen as it cannot passivate itself. This leads to staining and corrosion
on the wire itself. Routinely cleaning the wire and fittings will keep this
problem at bay.
*Chloride Type Corrosion also happens in an oxygen free environment. Salt water activates the stainless steel and causes it to corrode. This is often seen where the fittings meet the wire, where water settles into the minute spaces between the terminal sleeve and the cable construction. Routine fresh water rinsing of stainless steel at the deck level will help alleviate this common issue.

DON’T… Use a steel wool or scrubbing pad to remove stubborn stains.They can leave minute particles of steel embedded in the rigging that will rust.

Use any of the marine stainless cleaners with a scouring pad or stainless wire brush if persistent, when done check and make sure the rusting has not caused pits in the surface of the SS, and remember the useful recognized life span of 316 rigging wire 1 x 19 is 10 -12 years,!!(I know I know but thats what they say?)

Cheers Steve

[daletournier]

I changed my rigging in January, I have the same sort of surface rust. Im assured by the rigger that it isnt a problem. Sent him below photo last week.

[boatpoker]

If that really is corrosion ( can't tell from the photos) it should not be there on new rigging unless it was stored in wet packing material.

[Copacabana]

Originally Posted by daletournier

I changed my rigging in January, I have the same sort of surface rust. Im assured by the rigger that it isnt a problem. Sent him below photo last week.Attachment 155355

I don't know ...

My Swedish standing rigging is now about 30 years old (I know, due for a change...), but there isn't a single spec of rust anywhere- all shiny and looks like new. What brand of wire did you use?

I also wonder if the quality of (Chinese?) SS today is as good as the old stuff.

[SaltyMetals]

At 13 years old I had all my standing rigging replaced by All spars, Swanwick, Hamble River, UK just before a 4,ooo Nm trip from UK to Adriatic. All spars told me they find that the SS wire from Korea is best. All looking good a year later.

[daletournier]

Interesting, I'd like to hear from others. I'm actually not sure of brand. Gary Saxby in Brisbane Australia is a reputable rigger, he supplied it. Its had alot of salt covering it the last 5mths.

[a64pilot]

It's not uncommon for new SS wire to corrode, sometimes looking barber poled. It's often from the tooling that the wire is drawn through, it can contaminate the wire with regular carbon steel, that rusts of course.
Scrub it off with barkeepers friend which has mild acid in it, and I have had luck lately passivating Stainless with citric acid, something I read here, maybe Guy told me?
Anyway after you clean it off, mix as strong a paste as possible with the citric acid, apply and leave it for a day or so. I left it on my railing and Radar mast etc. until rain washed it off.

[jmschmidt]

I don't know about the original poster's (Wesheald) wire, can't really tell from the photos, but poster Daletournies's wire is that new stuff which has the surface of the outer strands flatten by some sort of a machine, to reduce wind I guess. All I know is this crap is a mess. My friend recently did his 47' cat with it for $20,000 and it is all corroded just like Daletournies's photo. I think he told me it was from Korea. All the riggers and suppliers of this stuff should be in a panic. My friend's rigger told him "hey don't worry it's fine, it's just on the surface, clean it up with a little whatever." I don't want to insult Korea, they make a lot of really good stuff and maybe my friend's wire isn't Korean but it's not US or Swedish either.

[UNCIVILIZED]

Originally Posted by jmschmidt

I don't know about the original poster's (Wesheald) wire, can't really tell from the photos, but poster Daletournies's wire is that new stuff which has the surface of the outer strands flatten by some sort of a machine, to reduce wind I guess. All I know is this crap is a mess. My friend recently did his 47' cat with it for $20,000 and it is all corroded just like Daletournies's photo. I think he told me it was from Korea. All the riggers and suppliers of this stuff should be in a panic. My friend's rigger told him "hey don't worry it's fine, it's just on the surface, clean it up with a little whatever." I don't want to insult Korea, they make a lot of really good stuff and maybe my friend's wire isn't Korean but it's not US or Swedish either.

Most likely the above was/is Compacted Strand, the "new" version of Dyform.

My question on wire like this is that if there's that much rust on the surface, how much is there internally, where we can't see it? Especially as it's quite common to have corrosion on the inside of stainless wire when the outside looks pristine. And plenty of stays have failed because of such.

[Cheechako]

As said: SS is not corrosion or rust free. In fact much of the makeup is Iron. 316 is just slightly better than 304.
Daletournier: Fittings that come in contact with hard steel tools do rust some. There is micro transfer of steel onto the SS that encourages the rust. It appears your fittings are swaged, so that could be part of it.

[jmschmidt]

Back to my friend with the $20,000 corroded flattened wire job. Don't know if the original poster with the wire issue used this type of wire but my friend's, rigger, after telling him not to worry about the corrosion, said that it was surface corrosion from having been run through a machine like an rotary swaging machine to flatten it and the rust was actually imparted onto (into) the wire from that machine. When I first saw it I asked what about the internal strands and back sides of the external strands. I got no response. OK, so why when cleaned up it came back? I told my friend "In a couple of years from now don't go out in a big blow."

[Cheechako]

Originally Posted by jmschmidt

Back to my friend with the $20,000 corroded flattened wire job. Don't know if the original poster with the wire issue used this type of wire but my friend's, rigger, after telling him not to worry about the corrosion, said that it was surface corrosion from having been run through a machine like an rotary swaging machine to flatten it and the rust was actually imparted onto (into) the wire from that machine. When I first saw it I asked what about the internal strands and back sides of the external strands. I got no response. OK, so why when cleaned up it came back? I told my friend "In a couple of years from now don't go out in a big blow."

Yeah, my experience with cleaning anything but the lightest of rust on SS is it will return soon. Always seemed worse if I finally used acid to remove the rust. My theory being the acid attacks the grain boundary's in the metal, cleaning them but making them deeper/larger and suspect to immediate re rusting. Acid passivation or etching requires a very close control on what's being done. Acid washing doesnt have that control. It's the grain boundary's that are the highest cause of corrosion in the first place.... which is why if SS is welded, or cold worked to some extent, but not subsequently solution heat treated to readjust the grain orientation it rusts so fast.

[KadeyKrogen38]

All stainless will powder rust unless pasavated using a mild acid Once pasavated it will have a protective coating that will resist rust stains