[TheForge] Unique (?) coating for steel and iron...

[Bruce Freeman]

I've been sitting on this idea a few weeks in hopes of being able to
test it thoroughly.  Lack of time has precluded that.

Here's the background:  While welding a polyethylene doohicky, using a
polyethylene coffee can lid as my "stick" and an old cast iron spoon ash
my iron, I noticed what a nice coating of polyethylene I got on the
iron.  Aha!  A water-impervious coating for iron, cheap as recycled
garbage...

Well, it turns out that polyethylene melts at about 380 F, and burns
not much higher than that.  So, while, in principle, it could be used
fairly nicely, it's not to practical.  You're have to tow the line
between something moving slower than molasses, and something burning
like napalm.  If you could apply the polyethylene to the iron under
strict (~400 F) temperature control, this would probably work.

However, while contemplating this, it occurred to me that hot-melt glue
is nothing more than low-MP polyethylene, or high-MP paraffin wax, with
a MP of~200 F or less.  So I tried applying this to a recent project and
it seems to have worked quite well.

So there you go.  Get your metal to ~250 in an oven and rub the
hot-melt glue stick directly on the thing. Smooth with a cloth or brush
(vegetable fiber - not bristle or synthetic).

Next I have to test how effective it is.  Or wait for one of you guys
to test it and let me know.

Bruce
NJ