Corrosion on hiking poles

“I have a pair of hiking poles made with 7075 aluminium. One section was so fused it took a lot of sweat and a bench vise to finially seperate them. The end was corroding and produced a lot of white powder. I think I need to store them apart in the future even though I was good at wiping the poles clean and dry after my hikes.

Any idea how to treat the poles to minimize the corrosion and prevent the sections from fusing together again?

I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order.
- John Burroughs”

“I took a dowel, put a slit in one end, wrapped a emery cloth strip around it and spun it in the shaft. Then I took an older adjuster and with it adjusted just enough to drag, ran it back and forth until it came reasonably clean. Blowing it out now and then with compressed air. It took awhile, but it worked.

You also need to put just a tad (I mean a small tad) of silicone grease on the threads and reinstall the adjusters. Be careful not to get any grease on the adjuster or inside the shaft.

My partner sprayed the inside with WD 40 once (I don't have a clue what she was trying to do, lol) and it took a couple cans of Industrial Carb cleaner (leaves no residue) to clean it out.

The best way to prevent the corrosion is to take them apart when you get home, they have a tendency to build up moisture inside.”

“Thanks for the idea. I am hoping the parts don't fuse together like that again. I certainly missed the poles on my last two hikes and I have a backpacking trip coming up that I would hate to do without them.”

“Never had trouble with my trekking poles but this did happen to my wife's aluminum awning poles for her pop-up tent trailer. I fixed them a couple times after locking up. They'd work for a short while & lock up again. I replaced the awning.”

“I've had a similar problem with one of my hiking poles. It was not quite fused, but it took a lot of pulling with pliers to get the pieces apart.

I was going to give a brass brush for a 16ga shotgun a try and see if that would get the inside smoother.

Another option is to set your poles at the length you like and leave 'em like that, remembering of course, that you might never be able to compress them again.”

“I separate the sections for storage.

Be careful with your industrial carb cleaner. Breathing Carbon Tetrachloride fumes will make your liver like Swiss cheese, and you need your liver to break down ingested alcohol.”

“I think someone peed on them.”

“The brass brush for a 16 ga sure sounds like the way to go....”

“Use the swab and pole from a 12 gauge shotgun barrel cleaning set. I use WD-40, although I have read not to do that because of the plastic inside of the poles. It works well, never had mine stick and keeps them clean. I usually clean mine after each trip. I have poles that compress and I leave them in that state until I get on the trail... No problems with my poles in three years.”

“I'm kind of afriad to check mine. I haven't used them since March of last year. They've been quietly sitting in a corner gathering cobwebs.”