How to Finish Stainless Steel - Kevin Caron
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 26 ส.ค. 2024
- #MetalFabricationTips #MetalFabTips #KevinCaronArt
From www.kevincaron.com - Artist Kevin Caron explains and demonstrates the final, crucial step when working with stainless steel ....
Stainless steel is a lot of fun to work with and beautiful when it's all done.
But there's one little step that you have to do before you're done before you send it out the door....
What is stainless steel? What makes it stainless? What makes it rust resistant? It's actually steel, but it has a high chromium content - that's where the shine comes from.
When you are working with stainless steel - grinding, cutting, shaping it - you scratch off the chrome and expose the steel underneath it. Now it has a chance to rust.
So when you're all done working with your stainless steel piece, you have to passivate it. You've got to clean it. That's what passivation is. You have to get any little steel molecules, grinder dust, whatever happens to be on there, get all that off.
Now the chromium is exposed to the oxygen again in the air. That will help form a protective surface over the top of it again, and that'll help make it more rust-resistant - not rustproof, just rust-resistant.
Kevin Caron shows a product he's had pretty good results with, CitriSurf 77 from from Stellar Solutions. It's for passivation and cleaning of brass, bronze, stainless, chrome and aluminum. It's a mildly acidic solution that helps remove contaminants from the steel.
But you don't have to buy that product. There is another way, and it is probably right in your kitchen with your cleaning supplies for your pots and pans. It's called Barkeep's Friend.
Of course, Barkeep's Friend isn't the only product for this use. Any oxalic acid cleaning products can help passivate stainless steel, whether you spray it on, pour it on, soak it - whatever the product calls for.
Kevin Caron brushes the CitriSurf 77 onto the center of a piece of stainless steel. He lets it sit about 5 minutes, then washes off the solution.
He shows the outline and the center where the metal is nice and clean. He can see the reflection of the end of the application brush. The outside edge of the piece of metal is a lot duller where he didn't apply the cleaning solution.
"It definitely works," says Kevin Caron. It helps clean the metal, helps make it look better and last longer.
If you've been thinking about working with stainless steel, this is just one more step you've got to keep in mind after all your fabrication. After everything's put together and you love the way it looks, you've got to passivate it.
Kevin Caron thanks viewers for watching and suggests "liking" this free how to video. And it's a great time to visit www.kevincaron.com to see his amazing sculpture.
Well, you might want to stick around another moment to see Kevin get it upside down and backwards ....
"Inspired sculpture for public & private places."
Artist Kevin Caron has been sculpting full time since 2006. See - and hear - his amazing metal and large format 3D-printed sculptures, which are found in public and private places coast-to-coast and online at www.kevincaron.com.
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Hi Kevin, what you forget to mention is that you have to use different tools for stainless and mild steel. If you cut with your disc first mild steel and then go over with the same disc on stainless you are rubbing mild steel particles into the stainless. So for stainless you always need seperate cutting discs, flapper wheels, wire brushes (stainless) and don't intermix them.
Greetings from Germany.
My bad!! Forgot that part! Thanks for watching and posting!
UT You read my mind!
You're the best
Thank you for watching and posting.
Thank you Kevin. I definitely need to do this extra step.
Thanks for watching and posting!
I'll have to look into these products. I use stainless in marine environments and the usual approach is to polish to a near mirror finish and then passivate with a nitric acid solution (available at welding suppliers). It's important to smooth out the metal and its welds to avoid leaving pits and crevices. These pits are where deterioration can start because they can't be easily cleaned out and new chrome isn't exposed to form a protective oxide. Once started, rots out like tooth decay -- from the inside out.
This video sure will come in handy for me. I want to do some stainless work with my powertig welder.
Thanks for watching and posting!
Good advise
Nice video Kevin! I have a project coming up in stainless and this was very helpful
Thanks for watching and posting!
Always good.
Hi Kevin, I was hoping that you were addressing a question I asked regarding the discoloration of stainless due to the lack of back-purge shielding gas. It was helpful though, as always. I need to look into the chemicals - I thought that the passivation layer occurred immediately after cutting or grinding. Regarding rust, I've only had my stainless rust when I used a non-dedicated grinding disc (i.e. I contaminated it with carbon steel). I'll add that I don't have a metal shop - so my stuff gets rained on regularly. Thanks for the video.
Thanks for watching and posting Dave! I don't get much call for any back purging of stainless. Have to practice on this one first.
Have a look at Solar B flux solarflux.wordpress.com/product-information/
Kevin, can you reticulate stainless steel as in silver or copper? Thank you I do appreciate it
I am not sure what you are trying to do. Any more information?
Big fan of your work and videos!
But one thing, you talk about the chromium as if it is a coating like paint, and like it can be scratched off and then you loose the stainless values. I have a feeling that might have been a mistake?
Not the chromium itself but the layer of it that helps keep it from rusting. Any steel contamination on the surface of the metal and you will get rust.
Not disagreeing here ... from what I understand, the chromium (>10%) is alloyed with the iron and carbon. When stainless steel is cut, the chromium oxidizes immediately, creating a passivation layer that prevents the iron from oxidizing. From Wikipedia: "stainless steels contain sufficient chromium to undergo passivation, spontaneously forming a microscopically thin inert surface film of chromium oxide by reaction with the oxygen in air and even the small amount of dissolved oxygen in water. This passive film prevents further corrosion by blocking oxygen diffusion to the steel surface and thus prevents corrosion from spreading into the bulk of the metal."
Interesting, so what really goes on is the oxide layer provoked by the chromium is what protects stainless? I didnt know that.
Damn, learn something new today! Thanks for posting!
Thank you, yes rust resistant!
good
Thanks
Oxalic acid neat!
Are there any tricks to get a matte finish on a textured surface?
I use 000 stainless steel wool and lots of elbow grease.
@@KevincaronSculpture I'm SOO thankful I came across your vid! I was planning on doing an all matte finish on my revolver, and had no idea that removing the surface chromium will make it prone to rust...? That's what you were saying right?
I have been using electropolishing, Easyclean plus brush a very expensive beast.
I have looked at those and yes, I agree, very expensive!
Hi Donald, I'm investigating the concept of using flux, specifically on the back side of a weld during welding, to prevent the need for tedious cleaning or electro-polishing. For example, some of my pieces are easy to clean on the welded side, but very difficult to clean on the back side. Do you know of this? Thanks. (I'm talking about stainless here.)
Dave M The flux is Type B Solar Flux, usually a one pound can made by Golden Empire Corporation, www.solarflux.com. Prevents oxide inclusions, prevents the backside from oxidization provides support for molten weld metal, prevents burn through, AIDS controlled penetration and illuminates porosity.
One only draw back it takes effort to remove the crust formed by flux, however there is a shiny reward underneath.
Thanks a ton, Donald. I think that that'll help a lot.