Preventing Nail Rust: Simple, Useful Project Advice

Summary for preventing nail rust Discussion

The thread on what prevents nails rusting starts with an 8th-grade student asking for simple household substances to test on nails, such as oil and petroleum jelly, plus an easy explanation of the topic. One reply suggests looking into anodizing metal, but another answerer points out that nails are usually steel and steel cannot be anodized, so that advice does not fit the question. The practical takeaway is that the discussion does not provide a full list of household rust preventers, but it does clarify that the project should focus on rust prevention methods for steel nails rather than anodizing. The exchange also shows that the student wanted plain-language help, not technical jargon.

Q. I’m in 8th grade and I am doing a project on which household substance can prevent rusting. I’m using nails to see if it works. I already have oil, petroleum jelly, and I think that is it to see if it works. I need help on 2 things:
1. what else I can use
2. what can help me understand about this topic and not using big words

Fazara M.
Student – Chicago, Illinois, USA
2006

A. If you have done any homework (research) on the subject you know that it takes iron, moisture and oxygen to get rust.
You could try light weight oil, heavier oils and modified materials like WD-40

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. You could also use varnish, shellac, paint, polyurethane, fingernail polish, butter or margarine (among many other things).
Some nails are plated. Some nails are glue coated. Some nails have a heavy black oxide coating. How are you planning to remove that so that each nail is exactly identical to each other one? Your experiment is a waste of time if you do not have this as a starting point.

James Watts
– Navarre, Florida
2006

A. Fazara,
Oil and vaseline will retard rusting but they will eventually wear off. There are many coatings used on nails today, but most coatings are not found at home or in a hardware store. You could lightly sand the nails with emery paper, clean well. Hang the nails with fine wire or fishing line, get a cardboard backdrop, and spray a few coats of clear lacquer over the entire surface of the nail(s). Make sure you have good ventilation and eye protection. Good Luck!

Mark Baker
Process Engineer – Syracuse, New York
2006

A. You should look into polishing those nails. Use sandpaper from 400 grit all the way to 2000 grit and then use coarse to fine 00 steel wool

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Amazon [affil link] from a Hardware store. Do limit your thinking.

You’re in 8th grade, you should be looking at how to anodize pieces of metal. There is a way to do it without buying expensive Chemicals. It’s a really easy process to do. Just look up How to Anodize”. There may be a topic here!

John Fletcher
– Durham, NC, US
2007

Nails are usually made of steel, John, and steel can’t be anodized.

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com – Pine Beach, New Jersey

Need quick confidential answers? $25
Need project assistance? $100/hr.

2007

A. Simplest way to prevent rusting is to make liquid formulation of wax + acetone

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+ melamine resin. Take the acetone in excess to have a liquid state of formulation, dip the nail for 2/3 min in this and take it out , the acetone will evaporate and the wax+resin may make a thin coat.
Try with several compositions of the formulations.

Dr. Man Singh
– New Delhi, Delhi, India
2007