Vinegar, rust killer.

[m_brothers]

Vinegar has been mentioned before as a rust remover, but this weekend, my dad got out some of his old files and drill bits that were orange. Covered in Rust. I took one of my moms cake pans, filled it with vinegar, put the files and drill bits in the vinegar. I then put a piece of plastic on the top and let it sit for three days, on the third, i took it out and scrubbed them with a wire bursh and then put them back in the vinegar.(I emptied out the nasty vinegar and put in new vinegar.) The fourth i took them out and they are as good as new.

However, I would like to know how this chemical reaction works.

[Ice Czar]

Acetic acid

[fat pete]

hey M Take a drywall bucket and 1 of those black plant pots that have holes in it and are used when you buy a plant as the inner pot.....fix a hanger as a handle. The black plant pot will fit into the drywall bucket....fill the drywall bucket and the plant pot acts as a retriever....then you can just leave the bucket full of vinegar and lift the plant pot with your goodies in...there are holes in the plant pot so the vinegar will drain out as you check what you got init......you dont have to change the vinegar but you may have to add some from time to time.....

[Ted T]

Thank You
m brothers, Ice Czar, and Fat Pete.
Good reminder of one of the many uses of vinegar. Plus I had not thought about using some type of submersible vessel as Fat Pete described.
I use a lot of vinegar for cleaning all types of things due to it being relatively safe to use.
Be safe!
Old Rusty Ted

[fat pete]

I will get a pic of it and post it tomorrow.......THX Ted

[Ice Czar]

Originally Posted by Ted Throckmorton

I use a lot of vinegar for cleaning all types of things due to it being relatively safe to use.

or drink

other organic Carboxylic acids can be relatively safe and useful at a low dilution level
Oxalic acid in particular is often employed in metal smithing (rust remover\ silver pickling \ cleaning brass, copper ect) but its important to treat it with alot more respect than vinegar

[m_brothers]

"hey M Take a drywall bucket and 1 of those black plant pots that have holes in it and are used when you buy a plant as the inner pot.....fix a hanger as a handle. The black plant pot will fit into the drywall bucket....fill the drywall bucket and the plant pot acts as a retriever....then you can just leave the bucket full of vinegar and lift the plant pot with your goodies in...there are holes in the plant pot so the vinegar will drain out as you check what you got init......you dont have to change the vinegar but you may have to add some from time to time....."

I will defiantly have to try that as we have both lying around somewhere. Unfortunates, I do not have any pictures. How do you prevent flash rust on files and drill bits, most of the rust is gone, but once i dried it with a few towels, it rusted a bit. It's not bad just a bit. Could I spray something on it?

[keykeeper]

It has been my experience when using vinegar to remove rust, that as soon as any cleaning, brushing, etc. is finished, that a quick spray of Gunk Liquid Wrench will protect the item from flash rust. I also sometimes use Marvel Mystery Oil, just a quick wipe with a rag lightly saturated with it works. Great when cleaning old tools. Seems like the Marvel has a more pleasant aroma that the Liquid Wrench, though. Automatic Transmission Fluid (ATF) is a good oil for this, also.

Your Mileage May Vary......

aaron

[m_brothers]

Where could I find this MMO? And what is it made up of?

[Finnr]

You can get it t Wal Mart in the automotive section. Red plastic bottle. It's sold mainly as a fuel additive for some odd reason.
Finnr