A few years back I did some corrosion testing on several different gun oils and greases. This was strictly a corrosion test. The pics below show the samples after three weeks of outside exposure combined with a salt spry misting. Since that time I’ve been using Eezox and Boeshield for storing my guns with excellent results.
Today I was looking at all the products on my cleaning bench that I’ve picked up over the past few years. So just for grins I’m going to do a new set of tests. More to follow…
Okay here’s the contenders for this round of testing. Keep in mind that this is totally un-scientific. It’s being done more for my own personal curiosity more than anything else.
All in all 30 different products that I have acquired over the years. I’m sure I’m probably leaving some thing out. I’m going to stop at the gun shop and see if there’s anything else. Suggestions are welcome.
My test metal will be carbon steel fender washers, which will be cleaned and media blasted. Then each product will be applied per the manufacturers directions.
This test will include salt spray and inclement weather. My goal is to see which products hold up the best against rust.
Based on past experience I expect Boeshield T-9, Corrosion X and Eezox to be the top three. But we’ll see…
Finally a topic I have some relevant knowledge about. I spend quite a bit of time doing coating evaluations using various international test standards. One of my classes at school we conducted a similar experiment to observe long term corrosion outdoors. There is an ASTM test standard which covers the setup of this style of test. If you are interested I can dig the standard out when I get home tonight. It may help with the consistency of you results.
I like this kind of experimentation too! Many years ago I worked in metal proccessing. We always used the salt sray and humidity chamber to check our coatings and platings. Looks like some of your lubes actually speeded up corrosion. Thanks for sharing.
Interesting. The wd40 will actually cause the metal to dry out. It’s actually poor at rust protection which really surprises me. We used some on our padlocks for our lots and after a couple months they were rusted up real badly. I am really liking the slip 2000 stuff and can say it works for hard use weapons, so I’m glad to see it did well on rust as well.
So here’s my test samples. Carbon steel fender washers with no protective coating. The one on the left is how they came and the one on the right is fresh from the blast cabinet. They all got wiped down with acetone before I put each product on. Each product had it’s own paper towel. I cleaned my hands between each application to prevent cross contamination.
Here’s the sample board with each product being tested. It will spend the night outside tonight. In the morning I give them a mist of salt spray to expedite things.
Is that some fruity hand sanitizer there in the top right corner? lol.
I’m looking forward to see how the Frog Lube comes out. Larry sent us some Frog Lube a while back so we could do a T & E for hard weapons use, like rapid fire, high round count, friction inhibitory properties, maintaining lubrication properties after a soak in a tub of water, environmental extremes etc… It did VERY good in the T&E. We never tested it so much for corrosion inhibitory properties.
I too was surprised about how the WD-40 turned out the first time, I seen another test like this, I think on youtube, and it was horrific.
I also like the idea that someone stated about testing regular ol motro oil… I know a lot of Lead chunkers that use that.
Looking forward to seeing all the results… Keep it up bro.
Ive always wanted to see/do one of these but add heat in the mix. for those of us that usually store a weapon after its been fired until we get a chance to clean it.
Okay Day number 1. This morning I brought the board in from outside. there was no moisture observed on the samples nor any signs of corrosion. I figured there’d be some morning dew but nope, nothing.
So to start things rolling I mixed up 6 ounces of warm water and mixed in a table spoon of regular table salt. I laid the board flat and lightly misted the samples. I let them dry in direct sun light and then stood the board back up. As you can see from the picture that’s all it took to get the unprotected Control sample to start corroding. None of the others show any signs of corrosion. From spray to corrosion was four hours. Based on past experience some of the other samples will start showing corrosion within the next day.
At the suggestion of several members I did add a sample protected by regular motor oil, 5W-30. It’s the bottom right sample.
Yes, I’m keeping fairly detailed records on this test. They will all be documented here also.
At the request of a member I added a sample protected by Armalube. It’s not in the original picture but it and the motor oil protected sample were both on the board before I put it outside.
I knew I’ve seen that before, I have some around here some where. It looked funny setting around with all those Lubes & stuff.
My gf said “I bet his wife or gf makes him use that so he doesn’t smell like his chemicals”… Shes been there obviously…If I try working on anything in the house instead of the shop…she freaks on me :suicide:
Gotta giv’em what they want. :big_boss:
