Rust on DIES

[MrRobot]

Hello all,

I was going over some load notes and notice some rust starting to form on some of my gages / dies and my Forster press I bought a couple months back.

What the heck is going on. Before it gets worse is there a certain spray I can use to keep the rust off and keep them lub at the same time.

Any feedback would be awesome...

Thanks,

 

[Eastexasrick]

Steel in the white + humidity+ O2 = iron oxide.
Simple solution, keep them in an environmental controlled location.
Real world, wipe them with gun oil, or any quality light oil before you put them up.
Assuming you have an air conditioner, keep them in the house, especially if you live in an area of Texas where high humidity is the norm. Also there are moisture absorbing packs you can keep in the die case with them. If your obsessive compulsive you can make a hermetically sealed container, and pack them in there with a desiccant, or hygroscopic compound.

 

[usmcpmi]

Silicone spray displaces moisture and leaves a protective film.

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[Txhillbilly]

Soak them in Vinegar, it will make them look like new.
Then dry them off good, and put a lubricant on them.

 

[MrRobot]

Thank you all for the good feedback. I moved all my reloading stuff inside since the garage was SOOO HOT this year I felt like I was going to pass out reloading. I think tonight I will head out to the store and get me some Vinegar and WD-40 silicone spray.

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I was researching last night and thought about purchasing Hornady One Shot Gun Cleaner. Since It just started to rust I guess the one shot does not remove it just protects, and lubs it.

 

[benenglish]

Vinegar is a great rust remover but be aware that rust prevention measures must follow immediately after.

And I mean immediately.

I've removed rust from a part using vinegar, lifted it out of the vinegar, and set it on the bed of my truck while I retrieved paper towels and oil. Literally less than 10 minutes later, I returned to find the part covered in a nice, even coat of very light but very obvious oxidation.

I guess "Don't work outside in the humidity" is good advice, too.

 

[andre3k]

I'm facing the same issue as you. I went from an air conditioned loading room to a bench in my shop. I keep my dies and toolheads in ammo cans with desiccant packs when I'm not using them. That has helped but I still have to hit the press handles and rams with 0000 steel wool and oil.

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[MrRobot]

Well I tried the vinegar for 24hr like I read, and watch some videos on it. My dies are no longer shinny they are dark now... I know theres a vinegar smell but it also smell like metal burn... weird smell it has.

Right after I took them out of the vinegar I dried them and put "Hornady One Shot Gun Cleaner with Dyna Glide" I sprayed enough to cover the whole die, and let them air dry. Did I screw up my dies since they are sorta dark now?

 

[General Zod]

Well I tried the vinegar for 24hr like I read, and watch some videos on it. My dies are no longer shinny they are dark now... I know theres a vinegar smell but it also smell like metal burn... weird smell it has.

Right after I took them out of the vinegar I dried them and put "Hornady One Shot Gun Cleaner with Dyna Glide" I sprayed enough to cover the whole die, and let them air dry. Did I screw up my dies since they are sorta dark now?


View attachment 412048

No. As long as the vinegar is completely off of them they're good to go, as long as you keep them oiled and dry. They're just not as pretty as before. Everything you're seeing (including the shiny finish they had) is just on the surface, a couple of molecules thick. The steel is still in fine shape and they should be useable with no problems.

If you really wanted to you could shine them back up with a buffing wheel or some good metal polish, but it's not necessary.

 

[Eastexasrick]

Black iron "rust", black oxide or magnetite, is a layer of oxidization, it provides some or partial protection from further oxidation. Fe3 O4

 

[General Zod]

Your dies now have the "Tactical Lo-Viz Finish". And as Rick mentioned above, they'll actually be somewhat less susceptible to rust now. But you'll still want to keep them out of moisture and oil them.

 

[G O B]

The FE4 finish will hold oil a lot better than a shiny one.

 

[popper]

Gee, my dies are stored in garage for 15 plus yrs, smidge of rust on the gauges now.

 

[General Zod]

The FE4 finish will hold oil a lot better than a shiny one.

The dies were probably plated for a more appealing appearance. The vinegar removed that finish.

 

[andre3k]

What is that paper that is sometimes included with new dies thats used to prevent rust?

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[Eastexasrick]

It is magical, do not eat it.

 

[Maverick44]

Well I tried the vinegar for 24hr like I read, and watch some videos on it. My dies are no longer shinny they are dark now... I know theres a vinegar smell but it also smell like metal burn... weird smell it has.

Right after I took them out of the vinegar I dried them and put "Hornady One Shot Gun Cleaner with Dyna Glide" I sprayed enough to cover the whole die, and let them air dry. Did I screw up my dies since they are sorta dark now?


View attachment 412048

I don't think your brass will care what color your dies are.

 

[Maverick44]

Gee, my dies are stored in garage for 15 plus yrs, smidge of rust on the gauges now.

Funny how that works. Mine have been stored in unheated garages and shops for years. Never even a smidge of rust. One year, some of them decided to turn solid brown just out of the blue.

A soak in evaporust fixed that.

 

[Eastexasrick]

That piece of card paper is impregnated with a volatile anticorrosion mixture. It offgases fumes or vapor that displaces the oxidative ( oxidation reduction) mixture of O2 and H2O on the surface of metal, do not ingest, it tastes like……

 

[Drivinfast Ammo]

Soak them in Vinegar, it will make them look like new.
Then dry them off good, and put a lubricant on them.

+ on the vinegar,,,,,,it even takes out rust on old files that were in garage with thick layer of rust