Chrome golf club shafts rust in 6 months

A. Well my irons are chromed metal shafts and they are 20 years old. They have been stored outside in a storage locker .... not a good thing! But they have no rust on them what so ever. Never have! Chrome plated steel should NEVER rust unless you scratch or wear through the chrome. Wearing through chrome is usually kinda hard to do. Something just does not sound right here but without seeing it I can't say. Best guess? Poor clubs with a poor chrome plate? I dunno!

A. Properly plated shafts should withstand exterior use and exposure to water with no ill effects. Look at all the chrome bumpers which have been outdoors for 10-15 years and are still in good condition.

What you've got is a lousy plating job. Too thin and possibly other faults too.

I see you're from England where there are well understood specifications for plating. I'll bet your clubs were plated somewhere on the other side of the planet where no standards apply.

A. Longfellow could have been referring to chrome plating when he wrote:

Hi, John. I'm confident that Jeffrey's answer was the correct one :-)

Done really well, chrome plating can be remarkably corrosion resistant per Rod Henrickson's testimonial and per common knowledge of truck bumpers and auto grills lasting a decade and more (sometimes much more), in the worst imaginable conditions. But if not done well, chrome plating isn't merely a poor corrosion fighter, it's an exceptionally powerful corrosion causer! That's because decorative chrome plating always involves a nickel plating layer, and nickel is "noble" with respect to steel. If there are pinholes or porosity, the nickel forces the underlying steel into becoming a sacrificial anode, and it causes galvanic corrosion of the steel -- making it rust much faster than it would have done if it had no plating at all :-( Here is a nickel-chrome plated bar rack only 24 hours after being removed from its packaging, but outside on a damp day. In Pier One's defense, it wasn't sold for outdoor bars, but it rusted noticeably in one, count 'em, ONE day. Regards,

A. John

Their "answer" is absolute rubbish. WD-40 ⇦ this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] was developed as a maintenance product for the Polaris missile project - not much rust on those!
It does not contain silicones but it would be irrelevant to their argument if it did.

I suggest you contact the Institute of metal finishing. They are anxious to protect the reputation of our industry.

They can probably suggest a local contact who can give a professional opinion to back up your claim

www.uk-finishing.org.uk/index.htm

Well in the firearms industry WD-40 is taboo. WD-40 is a very light grade of machine oil with a detergent built into it. The oil and the detergent are there for basically one purpose and one purpose only. To break down and prevent rust. We don't use it because the blueing found on firearms is an actual form of rust (black oxide). I do happen to use the stuff on everything else as a general purpose cleaner and rust preventative though and in my life I've probably gone through 45 gallons of the crap. I generally don't like to point fingers unless I'm 100% certain so I'll just stand behind my first statement. Cheap clubs (explains the lovely service and the bull excuse that my 12 year old nephew wouldn't buy)! And, a poor plate job which explains the rust. You seam to have a bit more patients than I do. I would have said to hell with the legal stuff, bought a new set of clubs, had a load of horse manure delivered to the door step of the manufacture and poked the old clubs into it in a nice floral array with a thanks for nothing note. But that's just me! I'm certainly not recommending that you go out and do it!

December 15, 2009

I have to disagree with Rod's description of WD-40, having used it forever on my guns, including one from 1963, and the blueing on them is all still near perfect.

I do like Rod's suggestion, but since the mfr is probably 12,000 miles away, arranging the manure delivery might be difficult. What you could do, if sufficiently angry, is to hire an expert metal finishing consult to give you a formal appraisal of the plating, and then present it to the local sales agent, along with a demand for a full refund.

Jeffrey Holmes, CEF
Spartanburg, South Carolina

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December 21, 2009

Well the WD-40 debate has been going on since old Danny Boone whacked his first bear. Some folks claim that WD-40 will do everything from catch fish to repelling mosquitoes. Almost all gunsmiths poo poo the use of it and I don't ever recall reading an account of a gun maker endorsing the stuff but whatever! Gunsmiths generally use what they believe in and gun makers all sell their own brand of oils so who is to say who is right and who is wrong. What do I use? Non detergent sewing machine oil. Why? It stays fluid at any temperature in Canada, it never dries out or hardens, does not seem to harm wood finishes or black oxide and it costs $15.00 USD per gallon. I have been using it professionally for 25 years on some odd 500 guns a year. The only real complaint I've ever had is that it don't smell purdy, in fact it has no odor whatsoever! But don't tell anyone! In fact, use all the WD-40 you want! I don't sell any oil but I do blue firearms.;o)

Rod Henrickson
gunsmith - Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

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December 22, 2009

Hi. It's an interesting WD-40 discussion, but the product which is suffering rust is not a blued firearm, but a chrome plated golf club. If anything, WD-40 being used on it slightly prolonged the life of the plating; it didn't hurt the plating.

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey

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It may not be totally unrealistic that while Rocket Chemical Company founder Norm Larsen was busy creating Water Displacing-40 he also developed another neat product called Chrome Displacing-HCl and a couple bottles of it survived and accidentally got shipped to Mr Nicholson! Awww hell, it's a bad chrome job send Mizuno the horse shit !

Rod Henrickson
gunsmith - Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
December 22, 2009

Hi again.

According to their website at www.mizunousa.com/golf/product-support,

"If you get some rust forming, spray the surface with WD-40 ..."   :-)

If the quality of the plating is low though, the 3rd, 4th, and 5th set of replacements will rust just as fast :-(

Regards,