This is truly embarassing: I managed to leave a steel rule (not a ruler in the shop) atop a sploosh of ferric chloride for far too long. I eventually noticed the corrosion creeping around the edges.
The bottom was hideous.
So I sprayed it down with TopSaver, applied fine sandpaper, applied a Scotchbrite pad, and it came out surprisingly well.
The ferric chloride, of course, came from a circuit board etching project. How you’re supposed to prevent that is to cover everything for about six feet around the spot marked X, but I don’t do that nearly as often as I should.
Mostly I lay a sheet of packing paper atop the workbench and whisk it into the trash when I’m done, but this time I’d left it in place because my resistance soldering gizmo wound up anchoring the far end. Soooo, a drop or two soaked into the paper and of course the ruler wound up exactly atop that spot.
The stuff is murder on stainless steel sinks, too…
The Smell of Molten Projects in the Morning 
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2 responses to “Stainless Steel Rule vs Ferric Chloride: Oops”
That. That right there is the reason I never loan you my tools.
:-P
Yeah, like you’ve never, oh, say, used a screwdriver to pry something apart…
Our daughter knows which of the screwdrivers in the tool tray is the designated prying tool: it’s the one with the goobered end. Use one of the others for prying and you draw back a bloody stump, kid…