B&R Bar maintenance?

[bts327]

How should one go about maintaining the B&R bar?

What kind of oil should be applied to prevent oxidation?

Do the bearings need to be maintained or oiled in any way?

Thanks.

Bryan

[Mark Rippetoe]

The bar is supposed to oxidize. It is designed to "blue" over time like a gun barrel. The only maintenance is a drop of 3-in-1 Oil on the inside and outside bushings occasionally.

[bts327]

The bar is supposed to oxidize. It is designed to "blue" over time like a gun barrel. The only maintenance is a drop of 3-in-1 Oil on the inside and outside bushings occasionally.

Oxidation, or "bluing," is fine, welcome even.

I guess I should have been more clear. What I am trying to prevent is the occurrence of rust. I live in East Texas and the humidity here can get fairly nasty at times.

Also, do the sleeves need to be removed? Or do you mean a drop at the point where the bar meets the sleeve?

This is my first good bar and I want to take care of it.

Thanks for clarification.

Bryan

[Mark Rippetoe]

From Wikipedia: Bluing is a passivation process in which steel is partially protected against rust, and is named after the blue-black appearance of the resulting protective finish. True gun bluing is an electrochemical conversion coating resulting from an oxidizing chemical reaction with iron on the surface selectively forming magnetite (Fe3O4), the black oxide of iron, which occupies the same volume as metallic iron. Black oxide provides minimal protection against corrosion, unless also treated with a water-displacing oil to reduce wetting and galvanic action.

In contrast, rust, the red oxide of iron (Fe2O3), does not occupy the same volume as iron, thereby causing the typical reddish rusting away of iron.

This is why rust causes pitting and bluing does not; the metal is displaced by rust's volume change, while bluing preserves the original texture. Your bar is doing the fast kind of oxidation in East Texas, which is basically a fever swamp and you should move anyway (Plainsman here). To slow it down, you might wipe it with a little tiny bit of kerosene once a week. The oil goes in the little space between the shaft and the sleeve on the inside and between the end cap and the sleeve on the outside.

[SkinnyWimp]

Notice that the black oxide of iron is denser than the iron (same volume, but more atoms in the molecule), so the bar actually gets heavier. Automatic micro loading. Genius.