Rust-Free Shafts: Myth… or Did I Stumble Onto Something?

For years now, I’ve been going back and forth on induction-hardened steel shafts and their rusting issues. 

 

Based on all the things I’ve read and been told, I know they’re not supposed to rust. 

 

However, my experience has them rusting no matter what I do. 

 

Even well-oiled shafts that never touched salt water rust sitting in my workroom on a rack. 

 

Maybe because I live across the street from a saltwater marsh.

Despite a religious regime of rinsing, drying thoroughly, and then being oiled with a plant-based or a food-grade mineral oil, they continually rusted.
My tolerance had ended. 

A while ago I had to do work on my trailer and bought  “CRC Zinc-It Instant Cold Galvanize” spray. With leftover spray, I coated my quiver of ever-rusting induction-hardened shafts. 

 

To prepare them, I used a green kitchen scrubby and removed all the oxidation, rubbed them down with acetone to clean off oils, sprayed them with two coats of cold galvanizing spray paint, and let them dry in the sun.

 

The paint had runners and got thick in spots, so I used a very light sandpaper to smooth it down and applied another coat of light galvanization.

 

Then I started using the shafts again. The galvanization spray wore off as I used the shafts.  

 

Still. I rinsed, dried, and oiled the shafts in my outdoor shower after a day of fishing.  

 

After two years of this process, the shafts developed a dark bronze/black patina that, with regular oiling, NEVER rusts!

 

The induction-hardened steel and the spray galvanization must’ve created a chemical bond/coating that works very well to resist rust with washing, drying, and oiling maintenance. 

I attribute this to sheer dumb luck, as in “blind pig finds corn”.

 

I  generally lay low online. However, if you would consider sharing this insight with your network, you’re welcome to share my contact details below.. 

 

Attached is a picture of one of my shafts and the galvanizing

Your work, the sharing of tips and knowledge, and the community approach you employ are outstanding.

I am so over the typical spearfishing porn where you don’t learn anything.