Treat steel with HF

[chilled_fluorine]

The other day I was reading about the German v2's. They added a tiny amount of hydrofluoric acid to the nitric acid to prevent the steel container from being attacked. One of my hobbies is blade forging. A big problem for me is corrosion. Stainless steel results in inferior blades, and you can hardly chrome a sword. I was wondering if I could apply this fluoride protection to my knives/swords. An iron fluoride layer sounds like it would make 'em just about invincible. Could it work? What concentration of acid should be used? Will it just passivate the iron, or will it eventually dissolve all the way through (stupid question). Will the protection be permanent? (practically speaking, last at least 30 years)

Notes: for John especiallyI got my hydrofluoric as rust removerNone of you will dissuade me from handling HF, at 5%, I can handle it.If nobody provides info, I'll experiment on my own, so you might as well tell what you know, if you are afraid for my safety.Please don't try to recommend another method, if this one works I'm using it. I'm not here for a safety lecture.

That being said, I'm sure all of you will be very helpful, and there won't be any problems. Thanks in advance.

[John Cuthber]

Please don't try to recommend another method,

 

OK, I won't.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron(II)_fluoride

So, you plan to use something that's really very soluble in water (more than 1 in 1) as a rustproofing agent.

Enjoy.

[chilled_fluorine]

OK, I won't.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron(II)_fluoride

So, you plan to use something that's really very soluble in water (more than 1 in 1) as a rustproofing agent.

Enjoy.

 

So it is water soluble... I guess I suspected that, but the article made me wonder. I thought it would do something like al2o3 does for aluminium. So the stuff isn't soluble in nitric acid? That much at least would have to be true, unless the article I read (confirmed by the family ww2 geek and veteran) is bull. I guess I'll experiment more with different concentrations with nitric, see if that works. If it doesn't, I really don't want to, but I guess I'll give it a quick soak in nickel chloride. Btw, the first test in HF (screwing with hf past midnight, lol) left a gray-black coating, the first test with nitric and HF left a brown-ish layer on the outside, it rubbed off with difficulty, but did NOT dissolve in water. Maybe something other than fef2 is forming... Some no3 complex with fluorine in it? Doesn't seem very likely though.