[TheForge] Rust-proofing mild steel - accidental discovery

[Paul Tomlinson]

Hi Guys/Gals,

Greetings from sunny^b^b^b^b^brainy Jamaica! I have been lurking on 
and learning from this list for a long time, from even before I went 
to Campbell in 2001 to do a week long introductory BS course with Dan Tull.

I really wonder if this will work for anybody else, but it is working 
on everything I have used it on, and in the rainy season it is so 
humid that everything gets mouldy or rusts like blazes!

Anyway after our last big hurricane my favourite forged sculpture was 
really rusty and I had an olive oil and garlic salad-spray close at 
hand ...! It has not rusted since, its been years, and I handle it 
regularly to check if its started to rust yet!

I now use garlic laced olive oil for anything I don't want to rust - 
and none of them do.

Having  never tried this on clean metal I do not know if it will keep 
all rust off, but, a surface with a fine coating of rust ends up with 
a slightly brown patina which I rather like.

I hope somebody finds this useful,

Paul

PS - I make garlic olive oil by slicing garlic into a bottle of oil. 
By the way DO NOT CAP THE BOTTLE TIGHTLY AS THERE IS A REACTION THAT 
RELEASES LOTS OF GAS OVER A WEEK OR TWO!