miamijim

Sectioned off, and treaded equaly. From left to right:

Synthetic car oil
WD40
Corrosion Block
Boeshield
Liquid Wrench penetrating oil
Loctite Extend Rust Neutrilizer

Grand Bois

Interesting! I wish you would have included boiled linseed oil.

miamijim

I could do another test. Why boiled?

unworthy1

boiled linseed oil catalyzes in wood to form a harder resin...but on metal? Some people used it on farm equip and hand tools.
I'd like to see FrameSaver.

southpawboston

+1 to testing framesaver. i was thinking of doing a similar test, thanks for doing it!!!

how, and for how long, did you expose the treated metal? did you spray it with water daily or something like that?

excellent experiment! (and speaking of experiments, the scientist in me has to point out that the best "negative" control would have been a section of untreated metal).

miamijim

I sprayed each test material onto a paper towel and then wiped the metal down. For exposure I left it on the ground in front of my garage door. Exposure time was ~3 weeks.
I'll try to find some FrameSaver localy.

c.miller64

If you can find some, give CorrosionX a try.

Grand Bois

Boiled linseed oil has additives that make it dry faster. It's not actually boiled. I used it on one frame. It appeared to be working the last time I looked. It was suggested by a very old bike mechanic.

awc380

I thought the boiled linseed oil was less likely to spontaneously combust or something...

Shimagnolo

It may, or may not, be boiled:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linseed...ed_linseed_oil

Sci-Fi

Add Mystic JT6 grease (green tube) to the test.

Which Corrosion Block did you use? Lear, PCT? PCT is good stuff.

miamijim

No grease as the test products need to be liquid. Lear Corrosion Block:

https://learchem.com/C.B.Page.htm

Loose Chain

Linseed oil is what we use in 4130 welded tube aircraft frames.

I would think that LPS3 would do well. I think Corrosion X might do well. Don't know what Frame Saver is.

Shimagnolo

"JP Weigle's Frame Saver", aka "Cosmoline".

Jasmijo

Cool experiment! Thanks for doing this and sharing your results! I'm going to try to ride through Chicago's wet/salty/slushy/snowy winter this year and I've been a bit worried about how the salt and water are going to just wreck my winter bike. I'll have to pick up some corrosion block to periodically treat my bike with.

mkeller234

+1, thank you for posting this. The only problem I see with testing framesaver is that it is applied differently than the tested products.

bitt3n

it looks like the best anti-rust agent is blue masking tape.

mtnbke

I don't like steel bikes (too wriggly), but I will say that boiled linseed oil is amazing stuff...

In the Jeepin' community its a staple. You use a power sprayer and completely spray down the underside of your car (using butchers paper and painters tape to mask off and protect the paint near the wheelwels, rockers, and front and rear bumpers).

Its miracle stuff. Even when you drag a differential over a rock the linseed oil stays mastic enough that it just kind of oozes back over the parts that got scratched/scraped.

Some people use linseed oil as spokeprep for the same reason.

filtersweep

Then you have never ridden a real steel bike.

Grand Bois

Boiled linseed oil
Boiled linseed oil is used as a paint binder or as a wood finish on its own. Heating the oil causes it to polymerize and oxidize, effectively making it thicker and shortening its drying time. Today most products labeled as "boiled linseed oil" are a combination of raw linseed oil, petroleum-based solvent and metallic dryers. The use of metallic dryers makes boiled linseed oil inedible. There are some products available that contain only heat-treated linseed oil, without exposure to oxygen. Heat treated linseed oil is thicker and dries very slowly. This grade of linseed oil is usually labeled as "polymerized" or "stand" oil, though some types may still be labeled as "boiled."

southpawboston

i'm intrigued about linseed oil as an alternative to framesaver.

i wonder if it would be possible to spray linseed oil onto the insides of the frame tubes in the same manner that framesaver is applied? can you buy inexpensive disposable paint sprayers with long wands for this type of application?

weareoxygen

I've heard that SOS pads work pretty good for getting rust off. has anyone ever tried it? it seems to me that it would scratch it up pretty bad.

miamijim

Yes, inexpensive canisters can be bought.



It works well, the amount of scratching is relative to the grade of steel wool, how well and what its lubricated with and the amount of pressure applied.


You are correct. I thought it would be an interesting test regardless of the inteneted/improper application.

Grand Bois

Linseed oil can be thinned with mineral spirits for spraying. I put thinned linseed oil in a Ronson Lighter fluid container for application through the vent holes. It turned the frame around in all directions to distribute the oil inside the tubes. I ruined a pair of jeans and a t-shirt and even had it in my hair by the time I finished.

unworthy1

the main property of B.L.O. is that it's CHEAP, so if you are shooting an entire underside of a truck that's important, ditto if you're a mfg of coatings and want a cheap extender. For smaller areas (frame tubes) I think cheap is not nearly as important as effective, and I have believed that Wiegle's Framesaver is superior (but a scientific test would be telling). By the time I bought the re-useable aerosol and loaded/charged it, I'd want to be spraying the best fluid I could buy, not the cheapest.