Best and safest way of getting rid of galvanizing?

Pelallito

Well-Known Member
I picked up a couple of small water tanks that would make great forges. Unfortunately they are galvanized.
I am considering using paint stripper, and then cutting off one or both ends and putting it in some sort of fire outdoors.
All advice welcome.
Thanks,
Fred
 
I'm not expert, but paint stripper likely won't do much. You'll probably have better luck with some type of acid, like Muriatic for instance. You'll definitely want to be outside for this, with adequate ventalation. Where the appropriate PPE and if you dilute the acid, remember to add acid to water, and not water to the acid.

You could possibly even get away with using a preheated vinegar solution. It just migh take a little longer.
 
I don't think it can be removed? Call or talk with someone that does Galvanizing work on steel. It's not a paint and I beleive its not a coating? Galvanizing has changed the surface of the steel.
It may be very bad to breathe if heated?

Google the word Galvanizing or Galvanized and read up on what this procedure does to steel?

Laurence

www.rhinoknives.com
 
galvanizing is not a "paint on " type of coating. it is bonded onto the surface of the metal through a heat/fire process. you wont ever get it of with any kind of strippers. acid could in theory etch through it but it would take a while and you could cut into the steel body too.and, do you really want to be having that much acid around you our your shop?

throwing it into a fire if hot enough could break the bond but in that precess you'd be giving off a pile of really bad stuff that could make you REALLY sick. anyone that has gotten sick from welding galvanized pipe can attest to that.

my advice is to junk the galvanized tubs and keep looking. there are lots of free containers out there that can make good forge body's.

Erik
 
Speaking from experience as a structural steel guy, that galvanizing is very bad stuff. You can neutralize it enough to get the steel weldable or to be able to torch cut it with a lot of heat but the fumes are wicked. The blacksmithing community had a guy die a few years back from cooking off galvanized from pipe scrap in his forge. You can either grit blast or grind it off with a flap disk as the coating is similar to the thickness of a thin very durable coat of paint that's bonded into the surface of the steel. The dust is bad too. If you're determined you might be able to cook the most of it off in a fire outside, it'll turn yellow and soften, then finish up by blasting, but any little spots you miss will outgas when you fire up the forge. Gonna be a lot of elbow grease.
 
Thanks for the replies.
I thought I had replied earlier, but it seems lost in limbo. I will reply again.
I did not explain very well. The paint stripper is for the several layers of paint on the outside of the tanks.
Once I got that off, then I was going to tackle the galvanized coating.
I am also wondering if I put a coat of satanite or similar product on the shell, then the wool and then more satanite, would it get hot enough to release gas?
I will dump them if I can't use them safely!
Thanks again!
Fred
 
Paint over galvanized is a pretty common treatment and just means more work to get it cleaned off. The hot dip galvanizing treatment is applied at 800 degrees or so in a bath of it, I bet even 500 degrees would begin to cook the stuff back off so I'm thinking your insulation wouldn't be enough to prevent that at least on the inside. I would want a clean blasted surface before I began.
 
Thanks Frank.
I will start keeping an eye out for an old propane bottle or similar sized container.
I want to make a 2 burner forge.
Fred
 
Good call on passing on the galvanize. As stated previous, it is VERY bad stuff to inhale or ingest.
Have you checked your local scrap yard? Most will have pipe sections that should be more than adequate for a forge shell.

God Bless
Mike
 
several years ago I read an article written by a guy that inhaled fumes he was burning off something galvanized. It basically killed him slow enough that he was able to write about the whole slow death process as his health failed - eventually killing him, including the last chapter he wrote in advance. It was a terrifying and very sobering read and his exposure was very casual. He wrote the article as a warning to others that may want to burn off galvanized plating. Please don't do it.
t
 
Mike and Tracy,
Thanks for the replies and especially advice. One tank I disposed of already and the other is will be disposed by a friend that I had given it to. He is aware of this thread and danger.
Thanks again to everybody.
Fred
 
Last edited:
IF it was hot dipped, you won't get rid of all of it short of grinding the entire surface. Zinc diffuses into the steel surface and forms a bond with the iron and causes the surface of the steel to form intermetallic compounds with the zinc. There is a little zinc for a considerable depth into the steel base material. At the surface, it's all zinc. This dissolves in acid fairly easily, but the zinc in the steel probably won't completely. The intermetallic compounds are also quite hard, and a wire brush on a grinder won't remove them. Actual grinding is required. Be extremely careful if you (anyone) decide to mess with it. The American Galvanizers Association is quite open with their information and may be able to point out a safe way to get rid of it. I've talked to them on a few projects and got all the info I needed for free.
 
I just made a forge out of an old discarded freon tank. It made for a great forge body that is Ridgid but light. Just a thought
 
I believe zinc and cadmium is used in the process. Both of which can cause some serious problems, as Tracy said. Cadmium is very toxic to the immune system and the central nervous system. I got a big whiff of fumes from some gavanized metal ... an old trash can I was burning some trash in . I was sick for about a week . Always wear a breather that filters fumes and welding gases . the better the breather the better off you will be ............ Bubba
 
Back
Top