UKH

What is the coating you get on some kinds of pitons, like Camp Lost Arrows? As far as I can remember, the metal itself is chromoly, but there is some kind of black paint on as well. Not knowing anything about paint, I was wondering what kind it is?

I'm looking to touch up some older pitons I've got coming. Probably using citric acid for rust removal, and zinc electro-plating galvanisation for some of them - not that I'd expect the plating to survive more than a few hand placements.

Would touching up the Camp ones with zinc-based rust-proof primer and black acrylic paint do any harm, for example? Or is it bad in some way to put the wrong kind of paint and make them slippery?

Thanks very much for any guidance anyone can offer,

BT

In reply to BlueTotem:

From Jim Titt's site (http://www.bolt-products.com/Glue-inBoltDesign.htm)

... The manufacturer (Charlet Moser) decided to protect these from corrosion by galvanising them, perhaps overlooking the fact that zinc is one of the metals used in bearings due to its lubricating properties. Of course the galvanising is immediatly destroyed by the rock anyway. In fact a bit of rust is not a bad thing anyway as the static coefficient of granite on lightly rusted steel is 20% higher than on normal steel. ...

In reply to EwanR:

Thanks very much for pointing that out - it's an interesting read.