Can we talk about people using stainless brushes on regular steel?

I keep seeing guys at the union hall grabbing stainless wire brushes for carbon steel work and it drives me nuts. You know that contamination causes rust down the line, right? Who else has had to fix jobs because of this mix-up?

2 comments

2 Comments

robinson.holly14h agoMost Upvoted

Yeah the "it drives me nuts" part really hit home because I've literally watched guys grab the wrong brush out of the same drawer. The problem is stainless steel brushes are made with a different alloy that actually embeds particles into the carbon steel. Those particles become little rust magnets over time especially if the part sees any moisture. I've had to grind down and reweld whole sections of handrail because someone used a stainless brush on the base metal and it started bleeding rust spots six months later. Best fix I've found is to keep a dedicated stainless brush set locked in your toolbox and label them with colored tape so there's no guessing. Also tell your foreman to buy the cheap carbon steel brushes in bulk so nobody has a reason to borrow the stainless ones.

willowc6012h ago

Honestly, did you try magnetic trays to separate them or does that just not work on site?