Thread: Protecting Padlocks

Oxidization (or rust) is going to be a natural process, as long as the locks are not kept in a damp environment it should not be a major problem and over time will develop into a deep brown patina.

If you wish to prevent this the best method is going to be a light oiling of the metal, simply apply a little thin oil to a cloth and wipe the surface down. The surface of the iron is likely to be slightly absorbent but take care not to use too much oil or it will make the locks unpleasant to handle.

You can get oxalic acid from your pharmacist and it will reverse oxidisation (rusting) although not actually deposit steel where it has rusted away....

I use petroleum jelly. Work it into the metal, which is slightly absorbent, with a cloth until its almost disappeared.

Steve, I use PB Blaster or WD40 and spray the insides and outsides liberally. Then I take a clean cotton cloth and wipe the excess off. Next I take a cotton cloth dampened with a good gun oil and wipe them down before hanging them in the display cases. And just like my guns I always rewipe them with the gun oil after handling them. It's always worked for me. By the way, that's a nice collection of padlocks you have there. Mark

Thank you all for your helpful advice - there are a couple of suggestions here I can try using items I already have knocking around the house or garage!

Tom, I will try getting hold of some Oxalic acid to see how that works out for a few of my locks but I will start out with this approach on some of my lower value duplicates.

Steve

It is quite mild and effective

and will leave an invisible protective layer ...unless you completely wash it off or handle them of course