What do you do about rust on a helmet??

[lambstew]

Aside from keeping a helmet in a dry environment, what else can be done about rusty areas on a helmet? Someone once told me "Rust Check" oil is good since it doesn't affect paint or rubber.

Any advice?

Regards,

Konrad

[grovb]

What would you do to remove rust from a steel coin or medalion?

Thanks,
Brandyn Grove

[grovb]

What would you do to remove rust from a steel coin or medalion?

Thanks,
Brandyn Grove

can anyone help with tips?

[Jean-Loup]

If you keep the helmet in a proper envoronment, it will not degrade any more. I would advise not to do anything to rust spots, you will not do any good, and risk doing something bad. Most serious collectors wont touch a helmet that has signs of having been "touched" by a collector. On the other hand everyone loves "untouched" pieces, even if they are a bit damaged.

Here is a helmet that was given to me several years ago when I was a beginner. It was straight from a barn, covered in dust, and quite rusty. I cleaned it with the green part of a sponge. It is one of the things I regret doing the most in my life. The danage done, and shiny spots are visible on the photo.

[Jean-Loup]

Here is an other helmet that I love enormously. I did not do anything to it since I pulled it out of the wood work. At the time, I took a picture of the rust. Now almost 10 years have past, and nothing has changed, the rust did not evolve one bit. I am very happy I did not listen to the people who told me to put this or that crap on it, or to rub the rust with iron wole, because otherwise I would end up with "a pile of rust"

JL

[MikeB]

Rust....

JL-
You are exactly right about treating rust. Rust comes about because metal is in the presence of moisture. If you remove the moisture, you prevent rust from "growing." When you take steel wool or other abrasives to your items to treat rust, you often create more of a problem. You were wise to not do it to your later items. Mike

[Valter Gorenc]

There is a difference between so-called active and passive rust. The active one is developing and this should be removed - it's the right brick red / orange rust that usually looks like clothed dust/powder. The passive rust looks much darker brown-red and it is firmly conncted with the metal. The one on Jean's later helmet is a passive one and this shoud be left alone, but if you have active rust, you should remove it. You don't need to clean it to the ground sound metal, just remove the active, powdery bright orange rust. Of course it's also very smart to remove the ordinary dirt from the hemlet (dust, mud, oil etc.), as these are harmful for the metal and paint and can eventually cause rust even where it wasn't before. You clean these things from your car too, aren't you?

Of course, you have to be very careful with cleaning. I do't think you can do any damage with gentle cleaning of a helmet with non-agressive agents, the helmets and other metal pieces are made to be resistant to normal use and also cleaning. I recommend you to use a good machine oil (I use the one for sewing machines and precise things, like cameras), but not gunoil, b/c this often contains agressive agants for dissolving gunpowder remains, lead etc. A clean petrol (benzin) is also good.- find the one for cleaning clothes or for medical purpose, not car fuel. Vaseline can be also useful, I ue it against zinc pest, but never tried on rusted iron. Abrasive cleaning agents and especially steel wool are out of the question of course. Your goal is NOT to clean the thing to shining bright metal, but ust remove the active rust, so the passive rust uner the3 active one will remain. The passive rust actually prevents further developing of the active one, I've heard.

Konrad, if your helmets have spots of active rust (brick red, powdery stuff) I suggest you to clean them very gently with soft cloth with little petrol/oil, then you can also wash the oil away with soapy water (again, with little piece of cloth, don't put the helmet under the tap!), then wipe it and dry carefully. Be very careful to treat only rusty spots and don't soil the liners etc. Alternatively, you can just wipe the powdered rust away with soft coth only, no chemicals, or just leave it alone and see is the rust develops, decision is yours.

Good luck, Valter