rust on weapon..

[kingfisher]

i found few rust spots on my foil. how do i get rid of 'em? and how do i keep it from coming back?

thanks..

[HilandDoug]

Clean your blade with steel wool and give it a thin coat of petroleum jelly. Don't do this with your sabre blade, though, or you might mess with the conductivity.

[floretje]

I always used Coca Cola. But don't do that with your electric foils.

[neevel]

Med./Fine Sandpaper, a sanding sponge or abrading block, a wire wheel on a bench grinder, Scotch Brite pads, etc... any of these will work fine for getting rust off.
As for avoiding rust in the future:

1. Keep your wet clothing separate from your weapons-- either get a two-compartment bag, or use a separate bag.

2. You can try a number of things to coat the blade, athough anything that's too goopy might displease your opponents and club mates when it gets on their clothing. Folks who need to take care of real carbon-steel sword blades often like gun oils (Breakfree CLP, Ballistol, RemOil), which are very thin and light. Personally, I'd just stick with keeping clothing separate and do a periodic sanding if a little rust does appear. The blades are going to be handled as part of their normal use (=skin oils = rust). None of the other armorers I know make a big deal about coating blades to prevent rust-- just keep them away from moisture and take a minute to clean them up when they need it.

3. Switch to maraging blades, which are fairly corrosion resistant.

-Dave Neevel

[fred]

Sandpaper then steel wool to take rust off. I got one of those drywall sanding sponges at the local hardware store, works well. I clean the blade with mineral spirits and then apply some LPS-3 corrosion inhibitor with a cloth, dries to a clear thin waxy layer. Seems to do the trick.

I've heard of people using everything from aircraft corrosion inhibitors like Boeshield T-9 or Corrosion-X to WD-40.

I keep the weapons away from moisture, but touching them is pretty hard to avoid. I wipe them off with a dry towel after use and reapply the LPS maybe once a month. Rust is the enemy of all ferrous metals, and when a good blade can cost $50+ US, it seems sensible to me to take a few precautions. Once corrosion starts it can migrate down the grain boundaries beneath the visible layer of surface rust and cause microcracks that weaken the blade. Maybe if I was a club armorer stocking 25 $10 Chinese foil blades I wouldn't care, but it's MY stuff :-)

[RC]

The worst things you can do to a blade is hide it away or leave it sheathed. When I get home from practise or tournament, I wipe each blade with a canvas rag soaked in aviation grade mineral oil. It might seem thick but it won't evaporate between sessions. Then I park them in plain slight. They might cause comments, but I've never met a fencer who had a problem talking about his blades.

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