WageSlave Posted January 16, 2009 Posted January 16, 2009 I was wondering if any of you folks have secrets to share about how you deal with your gear rusting up. I've been using steel wool when I can, but is there anything preventative that works well on crampons and picks? Quote
fern Posted January 16, 2009 Posted January 16, 2009 stop using the steel wool. The alloys that your tools and crampons are made of are probably more inherently rust-resistant that the steel wool. All you are doing is rubbing little fibres of rust-prone steel into the roughnesses on your tools and then they stay there, get rusty, and encourage the rust to spread into the good metal you paid lots of money for. Just rinse your tools and crampons off with fresh water at the end of the day (especially if you have walked on salted roads or in snowplow piles with salt etc.) and put them somewhere warm to dry fairly quickly. Spritz them with WD40 or rub them with some oil if you are packing them for storage. Especially spritz into any screw or bolt threads, and the holes where the bails enter the frame (dissimilar metals + moisture = galvanic corrosion). Cooking oil or spray would work fine if you are a greeny but might go rancid. Quote
John Frieh Posted January 16, 2009 Posted January 16, 2009 Stainless steel crampons Or what Fern said! Quote
billcoe Posted January 16, 2009 Posted January 16, 2009 DA SCHIZZ It is possible that the steel wool is leaving a residue. It is also possible that you just have a common high alloy steel, which rusts. You can paint them if you want to be a little more preventative, or wipe them with Eezox, which is significantly more effective than WD40. Click Da Schizz link above for Eezox. Check out the metals tested here: http://www.6mmbr.com/corrosiontest.html Quote
scheissami Posted January 16, 2009 Posted January 16, 2009 Do you guys use the same stuff for your ski edges between seasons? Or does it not really matter (it seems to come off after a few runs)? Quote
denalidave Posted January 16, 2009 Posted January 16, 2009 Do you guys use the same stuff for your ski edges between seasons? Or does it not really matter (it seems to come off after a few runs)? I've never bothered doing it, but I've seen some folks who, after cleaning up the skis at the end of the season, then coat the entire bottom & edges with a thick coat of wax and leave them that way till the next season. Supposed to protect the metal, seems to make sense, as it would let less oxygen from rusting the metal. Quote
kublaicon Posted January 16, 2009 Posted January 16, 2009 a thick coating of wax also keeps moisture on the wax you want and you give a good scraping before the season to remove the stuff thats dried out. in theory. Quote
tradhead Posted January 17, 2009 Posted January 17, 2009 The materials that are used to make many ice tool picks and crampon frontpoints (AISI 4000 series chrome-moly or chrome-moly-vanadium steel) are pretty prone to rusting if not dried well after use. Oil or WD-40 might help but are messy. Best to make sure that your gear is completely dry before you put it away and is stored in a low ambient humidity enviroment. Quote
jmo Posted January 17, 2009 Posted January 17, 2009 Would some rust preventing spray paint work? Quote
Guest Anonymous Posted January 17, 2009 Posted January 17, 2009 The materials that are used to make many ice tool picks and crampon frontpoints (AISI 4000 series chrome-moly or chrome-moly-vanadium steel) are pretty prone to rusting if not dried well after use. Oil or WD-40 might help but are messy. Best to make sure that your gear is completely dry before you put it away and is stored in a low ambient humidity enviroment. I think my problem has been not drying it out completely before stashing it. Thanks to you all for the advice. Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.