Barbell Maintenence tips?

So after building and using a garage gym this summer...

I've turned a zinc oxide coated Oly bar and EZ bar, into 2 slightly rusted zinc oxide coated bars!

So before it gets any worse i'm going to fix it, and see if i can prevent the issue getting worse over the winter.


I'm about to follow this -

http://blog.adamantbarbell.com/490/olympic-bar-maintenance-and-removing-rust/

To remove the surface rust, and re grease the bearings, and start wiping down the bar after use, and air out the gym before closing up every time.

I was going to get a garage door seal too, (as there's a good 2cm gap at the bottom, but I'm thinking that might make the moisture problem worse.

Has anyone got any tips on how to do this?

 

Hate that rust.
I work with a lot of metal and the best product I've found for treating and preventing rust is called "CorrosionX". One of the reasons it's so great is because it stays put for so long. Even when exposed to moisture it stays on the metal for months and protects it.
Over the years I've tried all types
of rust penetrant and corrosion inhibitors and in my experience the second best is to make your own using a simple mixture of half ATF and half Naptha. It's seriously good stuff.

 

Excellent tip, ill look into that now!

Thanks!

 

Well, I have two olympic bars. One is older than I am and was my fathers. The other is pretty new. Both of them are orange brown from rust as I live in Florida and my equipment is outside. There has been no integrity change in the bars from what I can tell, and the one that was my fathers is near 30 years old.

I have spray painted my weights and barbells before though. That helped for a little bit until the paint wears off.

I don't really have anything to contribute for care. Weights are one of those things I see as "oh, it's broke/damaged . . . time to get a new one." The thing about that though is I've never broke or damaged any of it so I"m using all the same old stuff xD. If you were worried about some oxidation ruining the bar for use, it probably isn't going to happen by the time you're looking to get new stuff as long as you're actively using it (not sure if that was a concern). I wouldn't feel too bad about maybe missing the cleaning routine once in a while (which sounds like a terrible routine to do after you've just busted your butt lifting weights )

 

I'd think all that Crisco would help preserve your weight set . I agree though, surface rust won't hurt the integrity of the steel at all. Even badly rusted and pitted steel can still be crazy strong. I picked up some 100ish year old rail road wrenches (I think old tools are cool). They were rusted and pitted pretty bad so I took them to work and cleaned them up with a wire wheel. I was just going to display them on a shelf above my computer, but I ran into a jam and ended up using one. It was the only thing I could find at that moment that fit a seized up fan clutch on a truck. I had to wail on it repeatedly with a mini sledge and it held up fine. Now I like to use it every time I do a fan clutch because it's unique and I'm kinda weird. But I think the point I'm trying to lay down is that it's still strong as can be. So....yahoo for steel and random stories...

 

Hey, it's important to know these things! I've deadlifted 400+ lbs with the old bar I have and the thing had no issue holding up in its orange brown glory. It's a comfort to know your bar isn't going to just snap in half because it gets rusted : P.

I do have to rub some Crisco on my galvanized pulley system I made on a tree for a cable machine though. It's important to have that running smoothly. Tricep extensions with a clonky pulley are not fun.

Funny you mention changing things on vehicles with strange tools. One time a friend an I spend about three hours changing an alternator on a guy's Impala, and we couldn't get the belt on for the life of us. It was in such an awkward spot and we couldn't get leverage on the "lever bar thing" to push it down so we could slip the belt on. I left and then remembered I had a little league baseball bat in the trunk of my car, turned around and went back and it was just the perfect length and width to get in and push the bar so we could slip the belt on xD.

You use old wrenches, I use baseball bats, it's all the same xD

 

Nicely played! You sound like you're a bit of a McGyver too. I really enjoy using creative methods to accomplish the end goal. I tend to keep a supply of random hardware on hand just for this kind of occasion. I can get kind of carried away with the welder at times as well.

If the women don't find you handsome they should at least find you handy - Red Green

 

That's what I was thinking, I'll probobly see how cold it gets this winter and go from there!

cheers!