On Thu, 6 May 2010 22:09:34 -0400, "Flying Pig"
wrote:

"Spotless stainless steel" reviews?


Any direct or first-hand friends' (you saw it personally) experience with
"Spotless Stainless Steel" (http://www.spotlessstainless.com/) here?

Wrestling with passivation issues and rust removal-and-protection for our
on-board stainless, we examined all the usual options; citric acid (the
active component here) seems to be the most envrionmentally friendly, least
dangerous, and perhaps the most effective.

Phosporic acid, recommended by a friend who'd had all his new stainless work
done where that was the pickler, seems to only take off surface rust, and
actually promotes rust in the end on stainless; worse, it attacks chromium,
not a good thing for making stainless stay bright. Worse still, it's nasty
for the marine environment, making phospates. It's actually usually used in
paint prep for non-stainless steel applications.

Nitric acid, while effective, is very user-unfriendly and not so great to
the environment.

So, if it actually works as the company-sponsored reviews state, it looks
like it would be good for us to use on, in particular, the bow roller welds
mentioned in the St. Augustine log, as they look perfectly awful.

L8R

Skip


I visited the site you mention above and frankly the description they
provide is confusing, at best.

I suggest that you try looking at professional sites and learn
something about industrial stainless treatment as your problems seem
improbable, to say the least.
Try http://www.outokumpu.com/application..._113142858.pdf as an
example.

There are many, many sites that provide very exact instructions for
the various methods of treating stainless and are not trying to sell
you a "wonder product".

For example, your comment on a pickling compound attacking
chromium...,. The pickling action is, in a sense, an "attack" on
chromium as the stainless protection is primarily chromium oxide...

I find it humorous that you talk about the effect of nitric acid on
the environment when you have a sufficient concentration of acid in
your stomach to etch metal.....


Cheers,

Bruce
(bruceinbangkokatgmaildotcom)