If your bar is rusting where you put your hands, maybe you're not lifting often enough :-) I work in an unheated, dirt floored shop. The tools I use most, are polished and shiny where I hold them, the tools I seldom use are covered in rust.
If your bar is rusting where you put your hands, maybe you're not lifting often enough :-) I work in an unheated, dirt floored shop. The tools I use most, are polished and shiny where I hold them, the tools I seldom use are covered in rust.
My ductile iron hand planes have the opposite problem. Where ever my hands contact the metal and particularly where sweat drips, if I don't clean and oil after every session, I get rust. (I don't use my tools every single day, mind you). Maybe it is my particular formulation of sweat. Same on my bare steel bar, (Though I don't oil that, just wipe it down very thoroughly and I try really hard not to drip on it).
PS. Gerald Boggs as in the blacksmith?
Last edited by Erich Weidner; 01-17-2022 at 06:59 PM. Reason: spelling
That's him.
If you just sweat on it, of course it will rust. It's the constant handling/gripping of the steel the keeps it from rusting. Here's a photo of several pairs of tongs: The tongs on the left haven't been used since the summer of 2018, the next four are in the order of how often I use them. As you can see, the handle of the first is covered with rust, the next looks like I polished parts of the handles. I've been using the second pair almost every workday for 20 years, first pair I ever made that actually did what I wanted them to do.
Picture 3499 1500x2000.jpg
Mmll,
I have a bare steel bar in my uninsulated garage and the moisture level out there gave it some rust, but it came off with a wire brush. I also wipe it down with 3 in 1 oil every few weeks to keep the steel protected.
If you want to really shed the rust you can create a bath of 1/2 water, 1/2 white vinegar by properly lining a long thin cardboard box with clear plastic. (I saw them do this to an ancient bar on garagegymreviews on youtube. Reviewing this video may be helpful)
Leave the bar in there 2-3 days and then remove it and brush it down. Wipe on some 3 in 1 to keep a thin layer of oil on the steel and that should help keep the rust out.
Hope that helps.
Vinegar works well for removing rust. But vinegar is an acid and even as diluted to 2.5%, still needs to be neutralized. The complete steps for using acid are, clean off any oil and grease, soak in acid, neutralize, cover surface to prevent new rust.
If someone lives in a dry climate, they might get away without neutralizing the diluted vinegar. However, what's happening on the inside of the bar?, because you just filled it with acid.
I have no idea. It sounds like neutralization is needed.
You would probably want to take off the sleeves and clean everything. I haven't done this, but the instructions from the garagegymreviews video are more thorough than what I mentioned.
It was a pretty impressive restoration of a bar that looked to be completely covered in rust.
Dryer exhaust into your garage is a health hazard. Google can tell you as much as I can. The first thing you should do is to vent your garage to the outside of your house. Really it's worth the effort even if you don't have a $400 barbell. You can get a small dehumidifier for $20-$30. They use almost no electricity. Keep it in your garage running constantly. Empty it whenever you finish lifting.
If you can't do that and your wife won't let you bring it into the house, maybe you can invest in some cute pink gloves to wear and then you don't have to use chalk. (For the humor impaired don't actually try this at home)