| Search our quarter-million Q&As |
Home of the finishing HOTLINE since 1989
-----How to make stainless steel rust
Q. What if I want to rust stainless steel in a hurry, what can I use on it?
Caryn BrestelProduction engineer - Mesa, Arizona
March 28, 2012
March 29, 2012
Hi Caryn.
"Stainless steel" is not a single type of metal; it's a generic name for any steel alloy that tends to resist rust. Some of these alloys are carefully designed for use in chemical plants to not rust even when immersed in very powerful corrosives, so there are no promises that you can make an unknown stainless steel alloy rust :-)
But spritzing stainless steel with muriatic acid and allowing it to dry three or four times should work, or spritzing with bleach ⇦ in bulk on eBay or Amazon [affil link] (never mix bleach and acid), or with ferric chloride ⇦ on eBay or Amazon [affil link] . Even scrubbing with 00 steel wool ⇦ on eBay or Amazon [affil link] will hasten the rusting. Good luck, and be very careful with strong chemicals -- assuring good ventilation and always wearing gloves and goggles (as a minimum).
Regards,
Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
Need quick confidential answers? $25
Need project assistance? $100/hr.
Sorry! Finishing.com is temporarily Read-Only.
Please maintain your bookmarks! Although Ted Mooney is retiring, finishing.com is not!
It will have a new owner/curator very shortly!