All,

Once I'd decided to build my rigging out of SS, I asked Chuck what I'd seen him use to clean up his SS welds.

He told me to look for "Pickling Paste CF". I was not able to locate a local supplier or an internet supplier for that.

However, I did locate another SS pickling product that is readily available.

Bradford Derustiit makes a product known as Wonder Gel.

http://www.derustit.com/cart/index.php? ... cts_id=199 (http://www.derustit.com/cart/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=199)

It is a stainless steel pickling gel. You can either order it directly from them, or from McMaster-Carr.

McMaster-Carr's part number for a quart bottle is 8554T11. They also have it in gallon bottles. I figure that a quart should do me. I already had a McMaster-Carr account, so I ordered from them.

Hope this helps someone else looking for a SS pickling product.

Duane

My buddy that happens to be a welder, says you shouldn't have a cleanup problem on SS, if you use straight Argon.

Dave

Buster,

I thought that I'd replied to this earlier, but didn't. :o

Pickling pastes / gels do 2 things for Stainless steel. Pickle, and Passivy.

From the Derustit web site: http://www.derustit.com

Pickling: Removes weld scale, black oxides and discoloration from the surface of stainless steel.

Passivation: Restores the protective chromium oxide layer.

Duane

Duane,

I have to admit I have no experience with SS,... none. I merley asked Ron why you needed pickling paste. This is all brand new to me, previously I thought pickles were only for hamburgers!

Thanks, Dave

Buster,

No problem. I've TIG welded SS in the past, and didn't know about Pickling paste until I saw Chuck using it after MIG welding Scorpy's battery mount.

MIG is faster and easier in many ways on SS, but it does leave more clean-up work to be done.

The Pickling paste makes that clean-up quick and easy, plus it restores the SS's corrosion resistance at the weld.

I have not Pickled my welds yet. It is messy, smelly, and somewhat hazardous stuff to work with, (it's a mixture of acids) so I'm going to wait until most of my welding is done before I do so. I'll post before and after pictures. :)

Thanks,

Duane

If you get it on ya make sure you get it off quick its some bad stuff to have on you make sure you have rubber gloves if you have to do alot. I got some on my finger nail and had my hands in a glove pickled a whole rig and felt somthing burning and it was that if felt like somebody hit my finger with a hammer for a couple days

WOW, That sounds more like jalapenos, than pickles!

It's been a while, but I promised some before and after pictures.

Before:

http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh2/TullieD/DSCN1349.jpg

After:

http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh2/TullieD/DSCN1355.jpg

Duane