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Thread: Rust

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Aug 2020
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    58

    Default Rust

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    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.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2021
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    535

    Default

    Is it orange rust?

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Mar 2015
    Location
    Indianapolis, IN
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    2,266

    Default

    Are you brushing it out every workout? Why don't you just leave the chalk on the bar?
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  4. #4
    Join Date
    Sep 2019
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    765

    Default

    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....

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
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    North Texas
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    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.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Mar 2015
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by mpalios View Post
    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....
    Yeah, this was my point, you don't need to brush it out every workout. Chalk does absorb moisture. If the moisture is in the chalk, it's not on the steel. If it seems like the chalk is getting gross, then brush it out, but you really don't need to brush it often at all.
    Starting Strength Indianapolis is up and running. Sign up for a free 30-minute coaching session.
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  7. #7
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Posts
    87

    Default

    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,

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Sep 2019
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    765

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Rippetoe View Post
    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.
    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.....

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
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    North Texas
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    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.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    May 2019
    Posts
    668

    Default

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    If you're getting rust -- actual red rust -- in your knurl, continually exposing it to air by brushing it out is just going to make it worse. There are easy ways to convert it and retard that process but the easiest would probably be to just let the chalk build up in there.

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