stainess, safe dehumidifier, rust?

[jryoung]

Opened my safe this morning and saw this...WTF? My safe is in the garage (high humidity), but I have a dehumidifier and this is a stainless rifle. My thought is that the floor plate is lower quality metal coupled with salt from my hands. There is no other rust on the rifle. What are your thoughts, do I need a bigger dehumidifier?

 

[have gun will travel]

Wow you can almost see your finger prints

 

[Bambistew]

Little naval jelly and good as new. All stainless will rust eventually. I had a stainless bolt rust in a rifle. That was a bit exciting.

 

[schmalts]

Do you have a heater in your safe? I use a golden rod. As long as the inside temp is higher than the outside the humidty will be lower. And every gun, stainless or not gets wiped with oil at least once a year.

 

[jryoung]

Yep, I've got a goldenrod. I think this is a salty had issue since nowhere else on the gun is rusted nor are any others.

 

[Elkmagnet]

Is the floor plate magnetic? It must have some iron if it rusted. I don't think they can use true SS on guns because it doesn't do many things well that a gun needs to do.

Use this as an excuse to get that safe inside a temp controlled room. They are easier to steal out of a garage anyway.

 

[jakesdad]

ive got a goldenrod and my safe is in my unheated garage........zero problems. I took a galvanized nail and took it to the grinding wheel,down to bare metal. I figured if problems of rust started to show the bare metal of the nail would show signs first. I also keep a old cloth diaper laying on the top shelf that I use if I need to touch any type of metal to remove/replace a gun in the safe.

 

[Corax]

After a quick look through the internet:

Stainless steel is basically steel (i.e. iron plus carbon) with varying amounts of chromium and nickel added. Other trace components may also be added. The Chromium provides the corrosion resistance, and the nickel helps to stabilize the alloy and provide various other properties.

The stainless steels used in rifles (at least my Tikka) has 12 - 14% chromium and only a couple percent of nickel. Compare this to the 18 Cr, 8 Ni commonly used in table knives and forks. The SS used in rifles will rust faster but will be tougher and will machine better. It will also attract a magnet, where your table knives will probably not.

 

[MinnesotaHunter]

It looks like blood. It will rust SS pretty easily.

 

[katqanna]

I have done alot of fiber dyeing, some of which require salts (a mordant) for the dye uptake. I cant use stainless steel pots with those dye baths that have chloride, because chloride (table salt - sodium chloride) will pit my stainless steel. Found that out the obstinate way when I used a particular stainless steel pot that I kept the dye bath in for months to keep reusing it.

I have a passion for ancient and old skills, especially using basic materials more commonly available. When researching sodium chloride years ago (it used to be a currency at times) metal etching was one of its many uses. Came as no surprise to me after the bloody dye pot incident.

So your mentioning salt on your fingers, my best guess would be that it is the chloride.

 

[oldillini]

Did the floor plate ever get brushed with some emery cloth or steel wool after using the cloth on some carbon steel?

A good stainless fab shop never uses the same grinding wheels, cloth, etc. on carbon steel and then stainless. It can transfer small CS particles into the SS. I have seen some one work hours buffing and polishing a nice stainless piece only to have it rust because it was cross contaminated.

 

[VAspeedgoat]

I agree that it had to be something on your hand especially after looking at the picture. The goldenrod should be adequate so that seems unlikely. I did have a friend that put an actual dehumidifier in his storage room for double protection. I don't know if it was overkill or not. Had a guncase of my grandfathers that I found out too late had something in it that rusted guns after a day or two. It only took me two guns to figure it out. Just saying I know how this kind of surprise feels. Good luck!

 

[bighouse]

Make sure if the safe is in your garage it is not sitting on the cement floor. Put some 2x4 under it

 

[Southwind]

I know they make a 24" goldenrod I would get as large as you can since you are in the garage. I would probably put a rechargeable can of silica gel as well.

I have a metal fab shop and specialize in stainless steel. That is from your fingers I'm sure, that floor plate was probably media or bead blasted which is perfect for collecting rust. Make sure you have a nice thin coat of break free clp or equivalent.

You will see a lot of brushed stainless just because it is so much easier to maintain and service. A little elbow grease and a scotch-brite pad will produce that satin finish. you can try a little breakfree clp and nylon bristle brush to clean up what you have.