Cleaning Stainless

[Vasco]

Anyone tried this yet??
Spotless Stainless Removes Rust, Protects Stainless Steel

[GordMay]

I'm suspicious of any manufacturer who doesn't provide an address & etc, and any product that doesn't provide an MSDS.

[barnakiel]

Used last year. Lasts two weeks and nearly impossible to rinse well. Used thing called Autosol. Wipe on, then polish up. Leaves a protective film and works wonders. b.

[cabo_sailor]

I'm rather fond of "Bar Keeper's Friend" in liquid form. To my mind it does an amazing job on stainless.

Rich

[scubasteve]

sheila shine seems to work well

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by scubasteve

sheila shine seems to work well

Yeah, she's good. Toothbrush is the best thing for her to use too. No fancy-nancy high priced crapola polish when any normal metal polish and a gentle toothbrush will do


Mark
PS Careful washing after polishing and she can use toothbrush for her teeth too!

[s/v Jedi]

Always remember that you need to do 3 things to be effective: clean, passivate and protect. The first two steps can normally be combined with one product and the best one is that absurdly expensive Wichard stuff. It combines chemical and mechanical cleaning and passivating. Another method is a felt polishing wheel with a fine compound stick. All the rest means more elbow grease to get the same result, but on a nasty weld or scratch the Wichard always wins. So we use that just for the nasty spots. Protection is the most difficult one. My best results were a Teflon wax from Starbright (normally used on fiberglass) and Boeshield T9 but that doesn't look very pretty. After all that, two good rinses with fresh water a week make a lot of difference. Just rub a finger over a stainless part and taste: when it's salt you are too late.

cheers,
Nick.

[bewitched]

Brasso

[s/v Jedi]

Brasso works fine on stainless that just needs preventive maintenance but it doesn't protect afterwards. It is also out-performed by every other stainless polish I tried, even by the $1.- polish I buy at the Rey supermarket here in Panama. We use Brasso to polish scratches out of DVD's though ;-)

I forgot to mention that a good wash before starting is very important. Just soapy water and one of those "bug cleaning" sponges with the plastic netting over them works great and cleans 90%.

We also tested the extra Teflon wax coat. Without it we needed polishing after 1 month and with it (we tested on stanchions with and without simultaneously) after 3 months. An earlier test in a different place showed 2 vs 6 months so that factor of 3 is stable across conditions. For us, this means it is well worth the money and effort for the extra wax coat.

cheers,
Nick.

[spotless]

Hi,

My name is Allen with Spotless Stainless. Spotless Stainless was just released to the market October 2009. The product that barnakiel used last year was not spotless stainless.

We and others who use Spotless Stainless have had good success. The product was developed by my wife and I after ~4 years of working with different methods/products to clean and protect stainless steel.

We get at least 3 - 6 months after cleaning stainless before seeing any rust spots return (we are in salt water). There is a customer testimonial on our site that discusses the process and protection time.

Spotless Stainless works on a different principle than polishes. Spotless Stainless is not a polish and not abrasive. It is like placing your stainless in a chemical bath. You brush it on (allows you to reach into very tight places will adhere to vertical surfaces) wait up to 30 minutes and then rinse.

Spotless Stainless removes the rust and and unlike other products removes the free iron that causes rust from the surface of Stainless Steel.Spotless Stainless enables a rich chromium layer on the surface of Stainless Steel which reacts with oxygen in the air to form a tough protective oxide layer. This oxide layer protects stainless and will extend the time between cleaning. We have an extended protection product in final testing. After cleaning if the stainless is exposed to air it may brighten even more for up to 24 hours. It is environmentally friendly and will not harm humans, marine life, fiberglass, wood, aluminum, most materials.

Sorry about lack of contact information other than email. We now have a phone number that is robo-dial resistant. There are many products that do not include a MSDS on their website including Wichinox mentioned above.

cheers
-allen

[barnakiel]

Agree with Jedi - avoid scratches, clean and passivate. The worst rusty spots we got ever were where the welder 'forgot' to polish and passivate some welding. Otherwise our SS is spotless or nearly so.

b.

[spotless]

Barnakiel,

This why spotless stainless exists. The chemical bath passivates (ie removes free iron and enables a rich chromium surface) which leads to cleaner and more rust resistant Stainless Steel. Most products just remove rust and not the "free iron". The techniques used by Spotless Stainless have been used in the food industry for years to clean Stainless Steel to avoid contamination with their product. Over a couple of years we adapted the process/chemistry to be safe and easily used in the marine environment. Welds are especially tough. Spotless Stainless gets into those tight places. The following are from a customer testimonial..

[GordMay]

The Spotless testamonial pics seen, to me, to be illustrating descaling, more than passivation.

According to ASTM A 380, passivation is:
“the removal of exogenous iron or iron compounds from the surface of a stainless steel by means of a chemical dissolution, most typically by a treatment with an acid solution that will remove the surface contamination but will not significantly affect the stainless steel itself.” In addition, it also describes passivation
as “the chemical treatment of a stainless steel with a mild oxidant, such as a nitric acid solution, for the purpose of enhancing the spontaneous formation of the protective passive film.”

[spotless]

Hi,

We use the process and definition of passivation as defined by the ASTM A 967 specification which refers to removing the surface iron with an acid solution. Other components of the alloy (primarily chromium, often nickel) are left behind as a surface layer over the steel, and exposure to air will react with oxygen to form an oxide layer that protects the rest of the steel from corrosion.

cheers
-allen

[s/v Jedi]

That spotless sounds exactly like Wichinox (the Wichard product). However, the photo's show a very dull result which will quickly rust again, within weeks. Any cruiser will recognize that ;-) The result from the photo's is easily obtained by using just Ospho.

But it is a good basis for the felt polishing wheel with finest grade hard compound. When you are not electro-polishing, you need a mechanical abrasive method to activate the chromium (the black stuff on the cloth).

cheers,
Nick.