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Old 06-05-2010, 19:36   #1
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'Spotless Stainless Steel' Reviews ?

"Spotless stainless steel" reviews?

Any direct or first-hand friends' (you saw it personally) experience with
"Spotless Stainless Steel" (Home - Spotless Stainless Removes Rust, Protects Stainless Steel) here?

Wrestling with passivation issues and rust removal-and-protection for our
on-board stainless, we examined all the usual options; citric acid (the
active component here) seems to be the most envrionmentally friendly, least
dangerous, and perhaps the most effective.

Phosporic acid, recommended by a friend who'd had all his new stainless work
done where that was the pickler, seems to only take off surface rust, and
actually promotes rust in the end on stainless; worse, it attacks chromium,
not a good thing for making stainless stay bright. Worse still, it's nasty
for the marine environment, making phospates. It's actually usually used in
paint prep for non-stainless steel applications.

Nitric acid, while effective, is very user-unfriendly and not so great to
the environment.

So, if it actually works as the company-sponsored reviews state, it looks
like it would be good for us to use on, in particular, the bow roller welds
mentioned in the St. Augustine log, as they look perfectly awful.

L8R

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Old 06-05-2010, 21:20   #2
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Couldn't you simply buy citric acid and use that?
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Old 06-05-2010, 23:26   #3
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I tried some "spotless".The manufacturer says its as easy as brush it on and hose it off and they imply that the stainless will be spotless.Well it aint so.You brush it on and wait half an hour.During that half hour you must not let it dry.So you have at least half an hours work rebrushing it or misting it with water.And when you finally hose it off it wont be spotless,as advertised.But it may look to be dramatically cleaner than an area you did not work on.My guess is that with more labour,perhaps scrubbing it instead of brushing,you might get a really good result.
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Old 07-05-2010, 04:45   #4
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It's stain "LESS" not stain "FREE".

Make sure you have 316, remove it from the boat, bring it to a shop that will do a high polish, have it passivated and electro polished.

Some of the 18-8 SS architectural hardware I sell ends up on buildings near the coast. Without a doubt I'll get a call from someone complaining that the SS is rusting.
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Old 07-05-2010, 05:06   #5
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I use citric in the form of a product called Steel Kleen on our cat and it seems to do a good job, first clean down with fresh water then a rub over and it comes up well. A little bit seems to go a long way, and it's available in most supermarkets.
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Old 07-05-2010, 21:58   #6
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Quote:
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I use citric in the form of a product called Steel Kleen on our cat and it seems to do a good job, first clean down with fresh water then a rub over and it comes up well. A little bit seems to go a long way, and it's available in most supermarkets.
Isn't there an animal cruelty officer where you live??!
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Old 08-05-2010, 00:17   #7
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I tried it & it works well.Do need to keep it moist so in the future will pick cloudy day.If dried a bit of pita to remove.Like it,little pricey,took pint to do entire boat.Will use again.marc
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Old 08-05-2010, 13:49   #8
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I also tried a product called CLR.It promised to remove calcium,lime and rust easily.So far I have only used it on rust stains on stainless steel and it did absolutely NOTHING.
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Old 08-05-2010, 16:07   #9
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Barkeepers Friend.

Some kind of acid but works well.
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Old 08-05-2010, 16:14   #10
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Barkeeper's friend has oxalic acid in it. Works great and doesn't require any elbow exercise to clean off rust. You can buy Oxalic in dry form at commerical chemical suppliers though may not be able to get it in small quantities. Oxalic Acid is a great cleaner for rust stains on anything and also is a good woodbleach. Suspect most of the Teak cleaners use Oxalic acid as their active ingredient.
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Old 08-05-2010, 17:17   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by roverhi View Post
Barkeeper's friend has oxalic acid in it. Works great and doesn't require any elbow exercise to clean off rust. You can buy Oxalic in dry form at commerical chemical suppliers though may not be able to get it in small quantities. Oxalic Acid is a great cleaner for rust stains on anything and also is a good woodbleach. Suspect most of the Teak cleaners use Oxalic acid as their active ingredient.
Right you are for teak cleaners. Not so good for metals, though, as it takes off the oxide layer which stainless needs.

We tried straight Oxalic acid recently, and while it made it look brilliant, rust was back with a vengeance, including areas which had never been rusty before. It may have destroyed our anchor leash, SS wire, and I'm concerned for the turning block shackle for our spinnaker and bosun's chair (using the capstan on the windlass in both cases), as it was never spotty rusty, but is sure as heck is now.

Use with extreme caution on stainless, and dilute the heck out of it. Barkeeper's Friend is a very fine abrasive with SOME oxalic acid in it; you also polish as you take advantage of the oxalic to remove surface rust.

Meanwhile, OT to this thread, having been in the cookware biz for many years in my youth, similar products are ZUD, Copperglo, and, likely, others. Great for cookware and the sink, which you'd do often enough that rust won't be an issue. Not so hot for areas you can't get to readily, or don't want to repeat the exercise very often, on a boat.

Of course, if you'e a nut about brightwork, you know that varnish is the same way - reapply often, and constant work. So, if you don't mind doing the stainless often with one of those, it will stay bright...

L8R

Skip, just finished with cleaning the bottom, finally!
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Old 08-05-2010, 17:23   #12
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Originally Posted by skipgundlach View Post

We tried straight Oxalic acid recently, and while it made it look brilliant, rust was back with a vengeance, including areas which had never been rusty before. It may have destroyed our anchor leash, SS wire, and I'm concerned for the turning block shackle for our spinnaker and bosun's chair (using the capstan on the windlass in both cases), as it was never spotty rusty, but is sure as heck is now.

Use with extreme caution on stainless, and dilute the heck out of it. Barkeeper's Friend is a very fine abrasive with SOME oxalic acid in it; you also polish as you take advantage of the oxalic to remove surface rust.

Well crap.

I guess I will find out.

Someone sell spray on oxide layer?
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Old 08-05-2010, 19:20   #13
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If your parts are rusting it's because you have steel embedded in the metal either from poor manufacturing not completely mixing the alloys together, corrosion prone SS alloy like 304, heating during welding, or added by an external source like brushing with a steel wire brush or the rollers when the steel was milled. In any case, this plain steel will eventually rust away. Hopefully it isn't so much metal that it weakens the part.

You are right that Stainless is not stainless as it does oxidize to provide a protective layer on the metal. For most SS, this oxide layer is colorless so looks like bare metal. Unlike regular steel, SS does not exfoliate continuing to expose fresh metal to rust away. Since Oxalic Acid is removing the oxide on stainless, the SS has to reoxidize. If it's a good alloy like 316 and hasn't been contaminated by plain steel, it will look bright and shiny afterwards when it reoxidizes

I've used a mixture of Oxalic acid crystals and water to remove tarnish and rust from just about everything on my boats for over 40 years. Some parts will continue to tarnish but most will eventually maintain their bright appearance. I don't do this on a very regular basis, maybe once or even less a year on the stainless and flush well with water afterwards. I use oxalic acid mostly to take rust and other stains out of the fiberglass gel coat. My old Westsail used to develop stains from the external chainplates and other fittings on the topsides. Oxalic acid would wipe these out just by rubbing it on letting it set for a few minutes. No amount of polishing, buffing, or other mechanical means would touch the stains.
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Old 08-05-2010, 19:26   #14
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Thanks roverhi.
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Old 10-05-2010, 07:42   #15
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I ordered a pint of it late last year, and finally got around to using it a few weeks ago. Observations:

1) 1 pint won't possibly do our entire boat. A quart, MAYBE. This makes it kind of expensive.

2) It is excellent for use in hard to reach areas.

3) Yes, you must keep it wet for 30 minutes

4) It is PERFECT for where stainless contacts your deck -AND it removes any rust stains you might have around the fitting.

5) You have to be diligent about washing it off - it can take a little rubbing with your fingers to remove it all.

I will still use Miracle Cloth for long runs of stainless tubing. But, I bought 2 more quarts of Spotless Stainless last week.
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