Seems like everytime I use vinegar for scale removal, I have to first find the right size container to hold the work piece. Then I end up using a lot a vinegar to cover it. Recently I noticed my wife marinating steaks in a plastic bag. Nothing new there until she suspended the open baggie in a larger container of water to displace the air and then 'zipped' the baggie closed. Total immersion....now I use garbage bags and my slack tube to do the same thing. Yep, that woman is not only smart, but a good cook too! LOL

Not that vinegar is real expensive but you can concentrate it or just remove all that iron oxide in a simple crock pot still. Cut it on and walk away from it a gallon at a time.

Keith, that just made my forehead flat and sore again. Now, why didn't I ever think of that?
Another vinegar tip: After you are thru with the descaleing run the vinegar thru a coffee filter to remove most of the iron oxide will still be brown but it will retain more of the acid properties longer.

is it better than diesel ?

Nice! I typically just use a piece of pvc capped on one end with a threaded cap on the other. A 3" pipe doesn't take that much to fill and you can cap it later to store it under a bench.

If you use too little vinegar you may deplete it before the job is done. The immersion idea is pretty good as long as you don't have sharp points and edges working on the plastic bag. A 3" pipe won't hold some of the items I want to de-scale. I do filter my vinegar as I return it to the jug, I've been using a paper towel.

Diesel?

diesel to get rust off stuff ? thats what i been useing , vinegar any better ?

Diesel to get scale off a forged piece? Yup way better as diesel won't remove scale!

I bought a handful of needle files at a yard sale for fifty cents and I put them in a mayonnaise jar overnight and worked wonders on the rust, then poured the rusty vinegar on my fallow garden to neutralize some of my alkaline soil to get ready for fall planting.

o wow , im way off here..lol, i just use a wire brush to get that off, thought you where calling rust scale

Using vinegar in a plastic bag and sucking the air out is a good idea I hadn't thought of trying and I DO marinate meat that way! <SHEESH> I have been wrapping work in a rag and wetting it with vinegar. Works and makes the shop smell like vinegrette.

Frosty The Lucky.

I had a plastic drum that needed a new life..put in 9 gallons vinegar and a bunch of water. Long shaft must be turned to comple the cleaning. Little cost...spare time...effective...large stuff fits.

I work on a lot of other things than blacksmithing so the slo-go tank is good for me. If I am in a hurry then it is the wire brush and power device.

Carry on

I do most of my pickling in a 5 gallon bucket. As a way to speed things up a little, I gorilla-taped a vibrating motor from an old massager to the side. I get the best results when I suspend the bucket and let the vibration shake the scale off a little faster. Kind of like a poor man's ultrasonic cleaner!