Stainless Steel Cleaning, Passivation, and Rust Protection

Cleaning and passivating stainless steel is an easy way to keep your stainless steel looking like the day you bought it. Today, I’m going to demonstrate how to clean and passivate stainless steel. I’ll also show you a trick for removing rust from stainless steel.
Products Used
Citrisurf 2310 - amzn.to/3kfWGl5
Citrisurf 77 - amzn.to/3yQIOBX
Abrasive Pads - amzn.to/3rfrhRg
Rust Rescue 200 - www.google.com/search?q=rust+...
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
The Citrisurf 77 is an alternative to the 2310. 77 does not assist with rust removal like the 2310 does.
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[@watcherwatchmen7785]

Most stainless steel is passivized with acid, such as nitric acid. The acid is actually dissolving the exposed iron, which leaves just nickel and chromium behind which won't rust. When you scratch stainless steel, you expose new iron, which can then rust again. So if you scrub or scratch stainless, you'll want to passivate it after you scrub it to dissolve the newly exposed iron. Then rinse with baking soda to neutralize, then clean water. You can use oxalic acid, phosphoric acid, or citric acid, or any of the food safe acids to help passivate your stainless steel. But the passivization step should be done after all the scrubbing is finished. If you have to add a sealer to prevent rust, then you haven't passivized it enough.

[@ScientistDog]

If I have to passivize it later, then which product should I use for rust and deposits removal while scratching?

[@KeepHammering117]

Excellent!

[@ToolboxDIY]

Glad you liked it!

[@adamwagner7105]

Video was posted a year ago. I'd be interesting to add a 10 second clip to this to say "and here it is 1 year later to see how it held up."

[@arthurtapia7465]

Love the tips but where did you buy both products Chris?

[@PatriceBoivin]

I bet some Cybertruck owners are going to watch this

[@JohnSmith-fx4se]

I wish you had taken the mailbox off the wall. If it were me, I would be super upset if any of the chemicals used messed up that beautiful wood or vinyl surface. I love the color of the wood/vinyl.

[@Oz4rmEg]

Thank you. I cleaned against the grain and ruined the hood

[@jim78]

Nice video. Don't want to sound like a hater but the products used were like $100 to buy. I would have just replaced the mailbox. Easier

[@AlexOvechkinSucks]

How often do you want to replace mailboxes? The product may cost a bit, but can be used in 100’s of applications. But anyway, there’s probably better solutions out there, but just may require more scrubbing.