Old timer told me to stop using a wire wheel on stainless tube... should have listened sooner

I had this grizzled foreman named Ray on a job in Baton Rouge back in 2019. He kept telling me not to use a wire wheel on stainless steel tube, said it would embed carbon particles and cause rust later. I figured he was just being old school and stuck in his ways. Two years later I'm doing a weld repair on a boiler feed pipe I worked on with him. Sure enough there's pitting and rust trails right where I had hit that stainless with a wheel. Guy knew his metallurgy I guess. Now I only use those green scotch-brite pads or pickling paste. Any of you guys had an old head give you advice that sounded dumb but turned out to be dead right?

3 comments

3 Comments

lucasjackson1mo agoMost Upvoted

Hey @emery199, before I even got to pickling paste I just learned to back the wheel off and not push so hard.

emery1991mo ago

Learned that same lesson the hard way on a food plant job. Ray sounds like he saved you a ton of headache if you had listened sooner. Stick with the scotch-brite and passivation paste and you won't have to redo your work in two years.

reese1241mo ago

The real trick is making sure your stainless was properly passivated in the first place.