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The ashtray in my 59 had some pretty heavy rust on it, so I pulled it out and tried a few different solutions to try to get the rust out of it. I tried soaking it in Coke for 24 hours with no results. I then tried vinegar for 24 hours with very little results. Finally I did some research and came across "Metal Rescue," I picked some up at Home Depot. I soaked it for 24 hours and It did wonders as you can tell by the pictures. Sorry, they are not the greatest pictures since they were taken with my cell phone. I normally don't post about specific products, but Metal Rescue did such a fantastic job, I had to share the info.
I use 'em both (Evapo-Rust when I can get it, Metal Rescue when I can't). They both work the same way (chellation), and absolutely do not hurt anything else. They are both as good as these guys say they are. One of the few products that does what it says it does. I keep a covered 5 gallon bucket in the corner of my shop, and am constantly hanging stuff it it : tools, brackets, fasteners, etc. It makes life a lot easier. You can leave it in until you remember to take it out. It is not an acid, so it won't go too far, like vinegar.
Just did a bunch of hand tools that had been subjected to major indignities including mouse urine. Tools were deeply rusted and frozen in position. Several hours in Evapo-Rust did the trick. Before and after pictures of two sample items are attached. Evapo-Rust is a product that does as advertised and more. Chelation, by the way, is a process used to treat heavy metal poisoning in humans.
Buy some molasses from Tractor supply, (dirt cheap in gallon sizes) and mix 9 parts of water to 1 part molasses and watch the rust disappear. (about one week soak)
Thats pretty darn clean and i need to try the Metal Rescue and Evapo Rust. Ive used vinegar for decades but soak for 48 hrs. Well soak for 2 days. Not 3 days or 1 day but 2 days seems to be the sweet period. Soak for 3 days and u will lose metal. It wont look as clean as that Metal Resue/Evapo Rust stuff and still needs a brushing and rinse after that soaking. Worked good enough on ferrous metal but dont waste your time on magnesium as u will destroy the part also. Vinegar removes paint to. Takes a lot of vinegar to do vlv covers and i remember the funny looks at Costco buying all those jugs of vinegar. Well i clean a lot of things in the house w/vinegar anyways so im glad its cheap. All my used nuts and bolts and metal fasteners look like new and ready for re-use. Saves me a lot of trips to the hardware store when i cant find something i took off the car.
I've used Evapo-Rust with great results, especially for saving old cigarette lighters. I've saved a number of original Casco 63 lighter elements, using it.
I'm with Roger, molasses and water is cheaper, works great and can handle large oversized pieces. Try it before you dismiss it. Very inexpensive to buy bulk molasses at feed stores.
Reed
I use vinegar with a little salt. It works wonders. Soak the part for 1-2 days. Usually overnight does the trick. You might want to check on it in the morning and brush it a little with a scotchbrite pad or even a toothbrush. I've rubbed it with my fingers sometimes. I have had tremendous success with it. It will even leave the patina on old tools or parts, but takes off every bit of rust. As soon as you are satisfied, you take the part and rinse it with water and baking soda. You must do that! It stops the reaction. It's the best thing that I've found and it is so inexpensive.
The Metal Rescue was not that expensive. I spent $20 for a gallon of it. I think it is worth the money for small to medium size pieces. Plus, it worked fast. 24 hours and it worked great.
I concur that the molasses concoction would work better for large pieces, for the price. I have seen, but never tried, electrolysis. That seems to be a cheap and easy way to remove rust from large pieces as well. However, both take days to work.
I tried electrolysis a few years ago. I took the time to get the proper components (a variable DC power, the proper washing soda and a large plastic tub). I found it was messy and not near as good as the products mentioned here. One disadvantage is that it works at "line of sight" only, meaning that you have to re-position the pieces being de-rusted several times to get anywhere near full coverage.
I'll stick with my Evapo-Rust. One note. I de-rusted some '51 Ford parking light units, and it didn't even touch the remnants of the factory black paint in the "grooves" while getting rid of all of the rust. I also have some wire wheels given me by a friend that aren't worth buying Evapo-Rust for. For those, I will try the molasses route.
It's a more timely process. Both of these manifolds sat for around 2 weeks in the tub. About every 2-3 days it's best to take a small wire brush and remove rust that's already starting to chelate. Then, drop em back in and repeat a few times until they are completely free of it. It's pretty amazing how it just attacks the rust. Both of these manifolds were extremely rusty. I was concerned mostly about the manifold above because the 66-tube (shown) that has the straight up connection is not reproduced and the guy who tries to reproduce them doesn't do it right. Now, it just needs a black oxide coating on it and it will look new. Oh, and expect a very foul odor from the molasses mixture. (Pictured) I keep it on the porch outside.
The recommendations they make are:
- Evapo-rust (looks like there are two different vendors: http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb...and-up-217346/)
- Salt and vinegar
- Electrolysis
- WD-40 Specialist Rust Remover Soak
- Razor blade
- Knorrostol (McMaster-Carr may be able to special order it). Simichrome or Flitz is similar but (apparently) not as mild.
- Molasses / water
- Stainless steel cleaner
- 3 in 1 oil and steel wool
- Petroleum solvent, Varsol, Kero, WD, LPS, Etc
- Scotchbrite
- Copper wire brush
Would be interesting to do a bake off between the various methods. I have some parts that I don't want the surfaces changed, which is why I was looking at electrolysis but given mattnSD's post I may change my mind for the part I have to try molasses (I was worried about the Faraday cage effect with electrolysis on what I'm working on).
That said, I have all the bits for electrolysis and am still going to try it for comparison.
I have used muratic acid and water mix for years. You can vary the strength for various removal rates. Won't hurt rubber or plastic.
It is cheap and available at most hardware stores.
You must clean and oil or prime the surfaces quickly upon removal
Soak time varies with strength of solution. From a few hours to 2 or 3 days.
Don't put in pot metal or it will disappear. I made a tub for large parts using 2x4s and plywood lined with visqueen.
Caution using muratic acid in strong solutions. It will burn your skin. Use rubber gloves and goggles.
Do not use near any metal you don't want affected (best used outdoors).
12-26-2015, 09:53 PM
Metal Rescue
I used "Evapo-Rust" with the same results on various items. I thought the stuff was "snake oil", but I'm pretty impressed with the results!
