Chris Comtois Posted August 11, 2016 Share Posted August 11, 2016 Not the kind of problems you're probably thinking of. I'm going for a rust finish on a project for a friend. Living in Michigan, I've left it outside in the damp for several weeks. A good start, but some areas aren't rusting. I poled around on here and found a concoction of H2O2, salt and vinegar which sped the process along, but not fast enough in certain areas. The areas that aren't rusting (tips of the horseshoes shown below) were parts of the horseshoe that were stamped with the brand name - I used torch welding rod (sorry don't have the brand or composition right now) to build up these areas. I suspect that's the issue. Any tips? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SLAG Posted August 11, 2016 Share Posted August 11, 2016 Try this. Wipe the whole sculpture with a rag. After that, wash it detergent water to remove any oil or grease on its surface.. Then dry it. Now spot the non-rusted portions with undiluted vinegar. (its 5%, out of the bottle), Leave the salt and peroxide out of it. Keep an eye on it while doing so. (it will rust quickly). When the rust is uniform you can darken the whole sculpture in a vinegar bath, if you wish to increase the rusting. If the reaction is slow warm the vinegar up, and then use it. Vinegar is cheap and most super-markets sell it. SLAG. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted August 11, 2016 Share Posted August 11, 2016 rod is probably the culprit, welded areas are usually happy to rust! Can you find out what alloy it was? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave51B Posted August 11, 2016 Share Posted August 11, 2016 If you read up on an electrolysis tank, all you have to do is hook it up backwards. + or positive or red to rust...Find some rusty scrap to clean and use the project for the sacrificial electrode. You can move the rust from one part to another. Been there done that. Or I have had good luck with paint remover (zip strip)also. And please don't take this as argumentative, but I thought you could use vinegar to de-rust...I've got some experimenting to do... Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted August 11, 2016 Share Posted August 11, 2016 You can: total immersion in vinegar derusts, surface application rusts due to the O2 being available Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave51B Posted August 11, 2016 Share Posted August 11, 2016 Thanks Thomas, makes sense now...still learning so that's a good thing.... Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joel OF Posted August 12, 2016 Share Posted August 12, 2016 Friends of mine who pretty much have a rust finish on all their work use brick cleaner to make things rust quickly. In hours in some cases. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SLAG Posted August 12, 2016 Share Posted August 12, 2016 What is the chemical ingredient list on the "brick cleaner" package. I suspect that it is hydrochloric acid. (= muriatic acod). I am really curious. Thanks in advance, SLAG. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted August 12, 2016 Share Posted August 12, 2016 If you're electrolysis rusting pieces you can use a paint brush with the + clipped to it and paint rust where you want it. The same trick with the brush - and citrusclean will electro polish Stainless. It's fun with electricity so be careful and use LOW amperage, PLEASE! Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gote Posted August 15, 2016 Share Posted August 15, 2016 Frosty, I assume you mean low voltage - or am I missing something here. I am tryimg to squeeze in a lab-unit in my budget. They suppy a voltage between zero and 30V (which should be safe) and amperages between 0 and 3A. There is a site somewhere that goes into detail and gives figures for mA/square inch etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted August 15, 2016 Share Posted August 15, 2016 Seems like most folks I know use an auto battery charger as their power source as they are cheap and easy to find. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted August 15, 2016 Share Posted August 15, 2016 1 hour ago, ThomasPowers said: Seems like most folks I know use an auto battery charger as their power source as they are cheap and easy to find. I use one for electrolytic etching, but I've been meaning to try it for rust. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arkie Posted August 16, 2016 Share Posted August 16, 2016 Battery chargers work fine. Just make sure it's the manual type. The automatic chargers try to sense a battery-to-be-charged and don't play well with electrolysis. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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