Question How do I restore a smooth finish on a spear?

[MacDuyver]

I’m about to head out on a trip in a few weeks, and am bringing a speargun a friend gifted me. Gun works fine, I got new bands for it, but the spear itself is pretty rough with hardened salt deposits and some possible light corrosion along the length of the shaft.

Best I can tell, it’s stainless steel and not aluminum. What’s the best way to scrub this puppy clean?

I was thinking of using steel wool and a flexible super high grit sand paper/polish pad.

 

[Scuba Lawyer]

I’m about to head out on a trip in a few weeks, and am bringing a speargun a friend gifted me. Gun works fine, I got new bands for it, but the spear itself is pretty rough with hardened salt deposits and some possible light corrosion along the length of the shaft.

Best I can tell, it’s stainless steel and not aluminum. What’s the best way to scrub this puppy clean?

I was thinking of using steel wool and a flexible super high grit sand paper/polish pad.

I have used #0000 steel wool, CLR and a fine wet/dry emery cloth to finish with success. Make sure the structural integrity of the shaft at its thinnest points (band notches, trigger notch) is not compromised by corrosion. My 2psi. Good luck.

 

[CuzzA]

It's stainless steel, so just polish it smooth. More importantly is to check if it's straight and sharpen the tip.

 

[Johnoly]

.., but the spear itself

Every spearo that has a big dive trip coming up always bring a 2nd shaft. Because if the one is lost/bent/broken you can continue to use the gun. Shafts like bands are a 'consumable' and just part of diving. Buy a 2nd shaft.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Don’t use steel wool because that will introduce a ferrous metal onto the surface and it can imping it causing the stainless to re-corrode with actual red rust.
Just use a red scotch brite, and if you have some citric acid (used for canning) make a solution and scrub it with that. Or squeeze a bunch of lemons into a bowl and use that. Citric acid works really well and is a natural alternative to the more caustic and hazardous cleaning/passivating agents.

 

[Bazzathemammoth]

As Eric said, don’t use steel wool on anything stainless unless you are about to sell it to someone you don’t like