Is it orange rust?
Rip,
I have a bare steel bar. Iv been using a stiff nylon brush to brush the chalk out, and it gets most of it out but not all of it. Its been rusting and the rust is getting worse and iv only had it for 2 months. I live in a fairly humid climate.
Should i use a steel wire brush instead? I didnt know if this would damage the knurling over time.
Thanks.
Is it orange rust?
Are you brushing it out every workout? Why don't you just leave the chalk on the bar?
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Andrew, in a humid environment, doesn't chalk retain/absorb moisture? I brush my stainless steel bar with a nylon brush after every workout. I also have no idea what I am doing, so please (original poster) don't take what I typed as advice....
What do you guys think happens to a bar that gets some rust in the knurl? Does it have to be thrown away? I have three bars in this gym that have been in commercial use since 1980, and they have been brushed maybe 3 times in those 41 years.
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I live in a very humid area and keep my bars in my garage. I’ve found that a steel brush works the best on bare bars. I’ve also noticed that maintenance requirements (brushing) to keep the bar from rusting are much higher when the bar is new before the patina has formed. I’ve got a b&r bar that is several years old that I rarely have to brush.
hope this helps,
I've never owned a stainless steel bar, so I have no clue what to expect. I've owned bikes with some steel components and they rust and aren't (safely) usable. Of course, this is not the function of a barbell. I'm not nearly as concerned with the rust looking stuff in the knurling now that I've got the bar then I was when I was deciding what to buy. but I'm also not in a climate controlled space, I'm in a hot/humid garage that has drier exhaust that goes into said garage.
That being said, I paid ~$400 for the bar. My preference is to not have it rust, to be best of my ability.
There's a lot of garbage on the google....hell, the Rogue folks use 3-in-1 to keep bar shafts from rusting. thanks to THIS post, I know to use naphtha. I've heard of fells naphtha to get deep stains out of clothes, but not 'plain' naphtha for barbell 'maintenance'.
Idiots like me assume they (google -> Rogue) have the best info, until we hear, kindly and gently, from you that they don't know jack. For someone like me (an idiot when it comes to this stuff), that spurs more questions. I'd rather post them here and get good answers then trust "G" to guide me to the right place, which they almost never will.
AND, I'd have about zero patience as you do after answering the same questions for 20 years, over and over and over and over.
Count me one who's extremely appreciative.....
I did not say that naphtha prevents rust. I said to use it as a cleaning solvent. Maybe you should ask your wife if it's okay to bring your bar into your climate-controlled house.