Tip Awesome Rust Remover!!

ShadowMan

Designated Grumpy Old Fart
I recently inherited a whole of shop of old tools. Most have sat unused for years due to FIL's failing health and as a result some have become pretty rusty. I started cleaning them up with a wire wheel which was taking forever, then I discovered a rust remover on a trip to Harbor Freight.....Evapo-Rust. I've used Naval Jelly before, Neverdul, SimiChrome and several different chrome and metal polishes but this new stuff Evapo-Rust is the shiits!

Apparently this stuff molecularly binds with and lifts the iron oxide (rust) off the soaking object. It's some sort of ionic thing. It's not a solvent. It won't clean anything but iron oxide of something. doesn't seem to affect painted surfaces, only rust. Frankly I didn't quite believe all the positive feedback reports I'd read, but now after several sets of various hand tools have gone through the soakings I'm amazed at the results. The longer you leave the rusty part in the solution the better the results. When you're done, just rinse off the part, wipe the oxide off with a clean rag or towel and gave the parts a quick spray of WD40 and wipe down.....Easy-Peezy!! What's really nice is it's ability to get down into all the hard to reach places where you can't get a wire wheel. I'm honestly really surprised by how well this stuff really works.

A gallon jug of this stuff runs about $25, a quart about $8. It's saved me hours and hours of wire work and polishing. Next I'm going to toss in a bunch of seriously nasty rusty bolts and nuts just to see what this stuff can do.

Worth looking into if you have a bunch of rusty stuff to clean up.
 
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shoddy61

Inactive
Best thing I've found is a very inexpensive Molasses used by the feed processors and a 5 gallon can with sealable lid. It will take many days and some time more days, but will clean nuts and bolts, tools, and is perfect for heavy steel to thin sheet metal items. You'll need a drip rack above your container.
Doesn't work well in cold weather, and drips clean even slower.
sonny
 

tiger13

Veteran Member
Yes it works very well, and you can reuse it too. just strain it out, although it gets dark in color. I use it when I do restoration work, and when I come across an old muzzle loader that has been neglected, I made up a PVC tube that is the size of a gun barrel with a screw top and I place the barrel inside, fill with the Evaporust and leave it in there for a few days. It comes out clean as new.
 

33dInd

Veteran Member
I have always used electrolysis to remove rust

Olds low amp battery charger
Washing soda. Electrodes placed in the solution. Hook up the battery charger positive to electrode. Negative to the rusty part. And it goes away
Several articles and YouTube university if you wanna try it
 
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