Stainless steel shot rusting

Jewelry Discussion
1

Hi Amery I’ve had that happen alittle bit to me as well I just run
it by itself with soap for awhile (1 hour?) and it will clean itself,
thats what i do and I dont have problems after that. if it sits
around it will happen again but just do the same again etc etc.
someone else might have a more hi tech solution but thats what I do.

GB

2

Just keep stainless steel shot constantly submerged in water. Don’t
let it dry out.

Cyndy

3

Thanks guys! It was kept in water the entire time… I’ll try
running it plain with soap and seeing if that cleans it up. If not,
I’ll do the magnet trick. Hopefully this will fix the problem.

Amery Carriere
Romantic Jewelry with an Edge.
www.amerycarriere.com

4

Try running some Coke thru it. The Phos. Acid in the Coke will clean
it up also! Steve

5

Cyndy,

the only reason the shot will rust is if it contains ferrous metals/
alloys. Genuine stainless does not rust, go to a magnet or discolor.
Lesser grades from our buddies the Chinese almost always have ferrous
metal involved. That’s why its cheaper don’t you know!;~)I have
experience with stainless because I made aircraft ignitors for jets
and they are stainless with various exotic metals.Water soluable oil
was used as the machine coolant.

6 
the only reason the shot will rust is if it contains ferrous
metals/ alloys. Genuine stainless does not rust, go to a magnet or
discolor.

All steels, including stainless, are ferrous metals. Rusting may
indicate that the chromium content is too low to be a true stainless
steel. Some stainless steel alloys are magnetic, some not.

Al Balmer
Sun City, AZ

7

I don’t believe the quoted statements below are correct. Stainless
alloys are primarily iron, with large percentages of chromium and
nickel added along with a few other metals in smaller percentages
depending on the exact alloy you are talking about. Chromium oxidizes
to form a protective film on the surface of the metal, forming the
primary protection of the iron in the alloy from rusting. This does
not make the metal rust-proof, merely very rust resistant, some
alloys more than others. Stainless typically rusts when something
breaks down the chromium oxide film or depletes the chromium content
at the surface of the metal. This can occur via several processes,
typically via chemicals or by high heat (welding, soldering). Also,
some stainless alloys are magnetic.

That being said, I’ve never had my stainless shot rust. It has
discolored slightly over the years, so it isn’t quite as shiny as it
once was, but it still seems to work just fine.

Jason

8 
the only reason the shot will rust is if it contains ferrous
metals/ alloys. Genuine stainless does not rust, go to a magnet or
discolor.

All stainless will rust given the right circumstances. Some
stainless alloys are magnetic but they tend to be much less corrosion
resist than the non magnetic alloys. The stainless shot in tumblers
is almost always non magnetic stainless for this reason.

James Binnion
James Binnion Metal Arts

9

My stainless steel shot has been sitting in liquids for years and has
not rusted. Occasionally I find rust, but on further inspection I
find a small junk metal jump ring or other tiny piece that rusted
and made a mess. A tiny piece of junk metal can create allot of rust.