CorrosionX?

[FishermanTom81]

I recently fished salt water and I have a few reels with corrosion issues.  From the searches I have done on this site it sounds like CorrosionX is the thing to use to get rid of the blue/green corrosion on my reel parts.  What CorrosionX should I buy?  There is ReelX, CorrosionX, and many other choices.  Should I just use regular CorrosionX and a tooth brush or something else? 

[RowdyW]

Corrosion X products are for use BEFORE using the reel. Try some white vinegar and a tooth brush followed by a fresh water rinse & a protectant. Repeat the fresh water rinse & coating of protectant  after each time fishing.

[johndtuttle]

Corrosion X products are for use BEFORE using the reel. Try some white vinegar and a tooth brush followed by a fresh water rinse & a protectant. Repeat the fresh water rinse & coating of protectant  after each time fishing.

Yes and no. It is an excellent remover of rust and corrosion from parts and they do make a specific "rust remover" formulation as well that is probably not too different from their regular product.

I commonly scrub assemblies with corrosion-x and a tooth brush to rehabilitate them with great success. It removes old grease and corrosion in one pass saving multiple steps.

Reel-x is a little faster formulation for improving the speed of bearings. Any standard Corrosion-X is fine for the purpose.

White vinegar (acid essentially) is useful for soaks of encrusted parts. It has to be used carefully as some plastics and finishes are damaged by its use.


best

[FishermanTom81]

Thank you.  I will try white vinegar.  Unfortunately I soaked the reel parts in Simple Green for two days before attending to them and that seemed to remove any coating off of the parts.  I will use white vinegar to remove the remaining blue/green corrosion.

[CaptainRMF]

White vinegar is what I use to soak all the chrome parts to get rid of the green oxidation. It works great on the rings, spool and posts. I do, however, add 2 or 3 tablespoons of baking soda to it and only takes about an hour or 2 and they're clean. Be careful adding baking soda a little at a time or it will bubble over the container. When done just rinse with fresh water.

[newport]

Don't make the mistake of leaving the parts in vinigrr overnight like I did; otherwise, you will strip more than just the green crusts.

[sdlehr]

White vinegar is what I use to soak all the chrome parts to get rid of the green oxidation. It works great on the rings, spool and posts. I do, however, add 2 or 3 tablespoons of baking soda to it and only takes about an hour or 2 and they're clean. Be careful adding baking soda a little at a time or it will bubble over the container. When done just rinse with fresh water.

Capt., white vinegar works because it dissolves the copper oxide; that is what is the green color. White vinegar only works because it is a dilute acid (Fresh, it's 5% acetic acid). If you add baking soda to the dilute acid, you are neutralizing it and preventing it from doing it's job to the max. If you add enough baking soda the solution won't do the job you are asking of it. I suspect you haven't neutralized all of it, because you're still using it and I must conclude it is doing something for you. I soak my corroded chromed parts in white vinegar for an hour or two, then pour the vinegar back into the container (I've been using the same 1/2 gallon of vinegar for a  few months and it still does the job) and only after it has done it's job will I add baking soda to the tub (after pouring off the vinegar and addign water), to neutralize the excess acid. I try hard to get the vinegar (5% acetic acid) out of the screw holes of the posts - I blow it out with compressed air (I use the canisters that you can buy in Office Depot to clean computer parts), then make sure the baking soda solution gets into the post screw holes to neutralize the excess acid.

You're working against yourself if you add baking soda directly to the vinegar. Let the acetic acid do it's job - for about an hour or two - then rinse well and neutralize before you dry and reassemble. I have a masters degree in chemistry. Trust me, I know what I'm talking about.

[GClev]

I've got to think about that one.  The sodium acetate probably chelates the copper corrosion as well as anything and neutralizing the protonic acid is going to stop further oxidation of the copper in the brass.  The mix of bicarb and vinegar might even be better than just the vinegar.

Here's one observation on Corrosion X as it pertains to compatibility with other greases and oils, a topic which holds some current interest for me.  It's a proprietary formula but the combustion/decomposition data from the MSDS lists oxides of sulfur, calcium, magnesium, and phosphorous.  It would be logical to assume that Corrosion X contains some small quantity of calcium and magnesium dialkyl dithiophosphate, the metal alkyl thiophosphonate, or the metal dialkyl thiopyrophosphonate in their proprietary "polar" anti-wear agent.  Those are all well known lubricant additives.  Those observations aside, I would be hesitant to use it to thin an arbitrary grease.  In the short term it may work.  It's probably good for a season.  In the longer term, I suspect it will turn many greases to junk.  Haven't we all cracked open an old reel and found the old grease now has the consistency of hard crayons or even chalk? 

Chiseling and scrubbing the hardened crap out of a locked up preprogram key, screw, and pinion from a big Triton Troller yesterday, I could only cuss myself for just adding a shmear of Cal's to something blue last time I tore it down instead of taking the time then to degrease it thoroughly.  Mixing incompatible lubricants is a much longer topic.

By the way, has anyone tried greasing the big canvas drag in the old Shimanos?  Mine looked very dry and I left it that way, though I was tempted to lube it.  It has caught a few too many 2s to change much without some encouragement.

[Reel 224]

White vinegar is what I use to soak all the chrome parts to get rid of the green oxidation. It works great on the rings, spool and posts. I do, however, add 2 or 3 tablespoons of baking soda to it and only takes about an hour or 2 and they're clean. Be careful adding baking soda a little at a time or it will bubble over the container. When done just rinse with fresh water.

Capt., white vinegar works because it dissolves the copper oxide; that is what is the green color. White vinegar only works because it is a dilute acid (Fresh, it's 5% acetic acid). If you add baking soda to the dilute acid, you are neutralizing it and preventing it from doing it's job to the max. If you add enough baking soda the solution won't do the job you are asking of it. I suspect you haven't neutralized all of it, because you're still using it and I must conclude it is doing something for you. I soak my corroded chromed parts in white vinegar for an hour or two, then pour the vinegar back into the container (I've been using the same 1/2 gallon of vinegar for a  few months and it still does the job) and only after it has done it's job will I add baking soda to the tub (after pouring off the vinegar and addign water), to neutralize the excess acid. I try hard to get the vinegar (5% acetic acid) out of the screw holes of the posts - I blow it out with compressed air (I use the canisters that you can buy in Office Depot to clean computer parts), then make sure the baking soda solution gets into the post screw holes to neutralize the excess acid.

You're working against yourself if you add baking soda directly to the vinegar. Let the acetic acid do it's job - for about an hour or two - then rinse well and neutralize before you dry and reassemble. I have a masters degree in chemistry. Trust me, I know what I'm talking about.

Sid is dead rite on with white Vinegar! If you use Baking Soda the bubbles it makes is the breaking down of the acidic solution. It looks nice but it doesn't work for removing corrosion.

Joe 

[johndtuttle]

I've got to think about that one.  The sodium acetate probably chelates the copper corrosion as well as anything and neutralizing the protonic acid is going to stop further oxidation of the copper in the brass.  The mix of bicarb and vinegar might even be better than just the vinegar.

Here's one observation on Corrosion X as it pertains to compatibility with other greases and oils, a topic which holds some current interest for me.  It's a proprietary formula but the combustion/decomposition data from the MSDS lists oxides of sulfur, calcium, magnesium, and phosphorous.  It would be logical to assume that Corrosion X contains some small quantity of calcium and magnesium dialkyl dithiophosphate, the metal alkyl thiophosphonate, or the metal dialkyl thiopyrophosphonate in their proprietary "polar" anti-wear agent.  Those are all well known lubricant additives.  Those observations aside, I would be hesitant to use it to thin an arbitrary grease.  In the short term it may work.  It's probably good for a season.  In the longer term, I suspect it will turn many greases to junk.  Haven't we all cracked open an old reel and found the old grease now has the consistency of hard crayons or even chalk? 

Chiseling and scrubbing the hardened crap out of a locked up preprogram key, screw, and pinion from a big Triton Troller yesterday, I could only cuss myself for just adding a shmear of Cal's to something blue last time I tore it down instead of taking the time then to degrease it thoroughly.  Mixing incompatible lubricants is a much longer topic.

By the way, has anyone tried greasing the big canvas drag in the old Shimanos?  Mine looked very dry and I left it that way, though I was tempted to lube it.  It has caught a few too many 2s to change much without some encouragement.

Don't over think it and listen to the poster with a Master's Degree in Chemistry. 

And don't overthink "incompatible" greases/oils in fishing reels. Corrosion-X and anything petroleum based will mix fine and not harm anything. The trouble with most greases is that being petroleum based the base oil that all the additives are suspended in eventually evaporates (boils off) leaving the chalky anti-corrosion additives behind.

That's ok for our purposes though ideally, a grease with a synthetic base that is more heat tolerate would be ideal.

Yes, we routinely find old gummy grease is preventing some linkage from working smoothly...20 years after the grease was applied...and the parts underneath are bright and shiny.

Nothing has been harmed other than function that a squirt of Corrosion-X and a scrub with a toothbrush won't restore in a few seconds.

We simply do not have the perfect lube (yet) that protects and maintains it's ideal consistency for decades...something for the Chemists to figure out...

But, our purposes are not that demanding. I have confidence that anything being regularly used will not gum up if routine service keeps them fresh. If a reel becomes a back bencher for 20 years, I have confidence it is still protected if it was properly serviced before being put into storage even if it needs a freshening up to be put back into use. There is nothing in our lubes that will hurt them over time (if we have wisely chosen plastic safe lubes).

Replace canvas washers with greased carbon fiber. The canvas will soak up saltwater and cause trouble eventually.



best regards

[foakes]

Once again, John is absolutely correct about lube -- IMO...

Don't overthink every lube detail.

Just use good lubes recommended on our AT site.

More important, to my view -- is cleaning & lubing a couple of times a year, if used heavily in the salt.

At least once a year, if just used on a couple of trips.

Do not trust others claims about a reel being just serviced -- open it up and verify with your own experience.

A pilot is required to do a "pre-flight" check of all systems, plus visually inspect exterior parts of a plane before every flight.

Even on a new reel out of the box.

Best,

Fred

[johndtuttle]

Once again, John is absolutely correct about lube -- IMO...

Don't overthink every lube detail.

Just use good lubes recommended on our AT site.

More important, to my view -- is cleaning & lubing a couple of times a year, if used heavily in the salt.

At least once a year, if just used on a couple of trips.

Do not trust others claims about a reel being just serviced -- open it up and verify with your own experience.

A pilot is required to do a "pre-flight" check of all systems, plus visually inspect exterior parts of a plane before every flight.

Even on a new reel out of the box.

Best,

Fred

Thanks for that Fred. 

I was reminded recently that all one really needs to keep any reel alive indefinitely is generic Marine Bearing Grease and 3 in 1 oil regularly applied to the parts that like grease and oil respectively if we break it down to essentials.

We ourselves even obsess about this or that flavor being the right shade of blue or tasting just right on crackers  ...and I love Corrosion-X for it's rust removing properties so swear by it for general service needs...

But all you need is a cheap marine bearing grease available by the pound in any hardware store and a general purpose oil and penetrant (ie 3 in 1 oil) and your reels will work as new as long as you take care of them and apply frequently. Thin the grease with the oil if it is too tacky. Grease for gears, oil for bearings...GTG. 

[sdlehr]

The sodium acetate probably chelates the copper corrosion as well as anything and neutralizing the protonic acid is going to stop further oxidation of the copper in the brass.  The mix of bicarb and vinegar might even be better than just the vinegar.

The bicarb just neutralizes the acetic acid and weakens the solution diminishing effectiveness. If you want a more dilute acid solution just add water to your vinegar (note: usually one adds acid to water, not water to acid, but vinegar is such a dilute acid nothing bad will happen). It won't work as quickly, and you'll have a little more control over the reaction.

I've read in multiple places where people add baking soda to vinegar thinking they are making a better choice. All they're doing is reacting an acid with a base and making a salt and water, and making a less concentrated acid solution. In this case sodium acetate is the salt (we're reacting sodium bicarbonate with acetic acid to get sodium acetate and water; the bubbles are carbon dioxide that comes from the breakdown of the bicarbonate in the baking soda). The acetate is just a bystander; it doesn't do anything to help remove any corrosion.

Don't put zinc parts in vinegar. As the vinegar oxidizes the zinc it produces hydrogen; very flammable! That's what the bubbles are coming off the zinc sitting in the vinegar. And zinc dissolves quickly in acid; the major reason zinc is useful as the sacrificial anode on boats.

Sid

[GClev]

You mean I wasted all that time getting a PhD in organic chemistry and those 30 years in the lab, office, and boardroom?  Damn.  Do I get a do-over?

[foakes]

One thing to remember, and generally only experience will teach this -- just a few observations:

Various reel brands will react quite differently to vinegar, degreasers, aggressive solvents, etc.

As an example, I never soak painted parts in anything except diluted Simple Green -- and then only for a few minutes -- out and rinse.

On some reels like Mitchell's -- parts will turn black -- necessitating a LOT more cleaning by hand.

Quicks are all OK, except the painted surfaces need special care.

ABU seems to hold up well with anything, as long as the sideplates or nylon parts are not involved.

Penn parts hold up really well, sideplates just get diluted Simple Green.

Most anodized parts, like on higher end reels such as Internationals, Tiagras, Pro Gears, Avets, etc.  -- must be handled carefully.  All of the interior parts on these reels are really tolerant of even the harshest cleaners.

Most of your older baitcasters are very durable.

Most of your newer plastic, graphite, or bling reels -- do not like most of the common cleaning solutions so much.

I use an ultrasonic cleaner for 90% of my jobs.

But many times, on restorations -- vinegar, lacquer thinner, and degreasers will require a good soak.  But be aware that issues could arise, depending on the reel material.

Best,

Fred