Originally Posted by
xiaoman1
I would never use steel wool on chrome even the finest wool will scratch leave scratches on the finish (steel is harder than the chrome finish).
I would thoroughly wash the area to remove any rust particles and either soak with a mild solution of Oxalic Acid or use the aluminum foil process to remove the rust.
There are sever kinds of chrome plating: hard chrome is a thick layer applied to hardened steel surfaces like engine parts for wear resistance.
Regular decorative chrome plating is either double or triple plated. The standard process is to apply a layer of nickel which is usually polished before the final layer of chrome. Triple plated chrome has a base layer of copper plating to fill imperfections. It's usually polished then nickel plated and finally chrome plated. Triple plating gives the most durable surface.
Chrome thicknesses range from 0.002" to 0.020" (0.05 to 0.5 μm) but usually between 0.005" and 0.010" (0.13 and 0.25 μm).
Hard Chrome usually has a Rockwell Hardness (Rc) of around 70rc. Decorative chrome plating ranges from 66Rc to 70Rc. The chrome layer has to be at least 0.001" thick for those hardnesses.
"steel is harder than the chrome finish" HUH!
Steel wool has a hardness of 4 on the Mohs scale which converts to 32Rc... The nickel plating under the chrome is harder than that.
Copper, bronze or brass wool are for wood working use. Any embedded fibers of steel wool can rust and cause a stain in light colored wood. Those products are not hard enough to remove rust effectively.
Rust "grows" out of pores and scratches in the chrome/nickel plating and spreads across the plated surface. The thin layer of surface rust is easy to remove with steel wool. Over time and because of thin/poorly applied plating, the rust can get between the plating layers and the steel below causing the plating to lift or peel off.
No amount of anything that you use or apply will fix that problem! Just stripping and re-plating.
I photoshopped this picture of the fork crown on my 83' Super. All of the dull looking areas around the Colnago C logo were badly rusted. I used a dental pick to scrape away all of the crusty rust down to the bare steel then covered with paint or clear coat.
I was going to get the fork repainted but I found an NOS Colnago replacement fork.
verktyg
