Evaporust before and after

[G-ManBart]

Hey all,

I'm a super newbie to all things blacksmithing, so I can't offer much to the site on those topics, but I a fair amount of work with metal...welding, cutting, restoring, etc.  One of my hobbies is restoring bench vises, and removing rust is a common task.  I've used most of the common techniques, to include electrolysis, wire wheel, etc but one of the easiest is a product called Evaporust.  I understand it's a chelation process, and the nice thing is it's not hazardous, non-toxic and generally pretty harmless.

I just started restoring an old Paker 975 vise (5" jaws, about 105lbs) and the swivel base was pretty rusty.  I would normally just wire wheel something like this, but it's hard to get a wheel down on the inside, and it takes a long time.  This time I just put the swivel base in Evaporust and let it sit for about 36 hours give or take.  Yes, you will notice quite a few casting flaws and incomplete holes, etc...they really didn't worry about them as they didn't hurt anything and weren't normally visible.

Here's the "before":

After soaking and being wiped off:

After five minutes with a wire wheel.  At this point it's good enough to prime, but if it was a museum piece I'd try to get that last little bit of the inside cleaner.  This will be a fairly inexpensive user vise for someone, so this is good enough.

I primed it and will add pictures of that later.  I should point out that Evaporust is reusable (I filter it through a rag after each use) but does seem to wear out after a while, so it doesn't last forever.  It's also not cheap...about $20 a gallon at TSC, or $80/5gal off Amazon last I knew.  Anyway, it's just another option and would be really hand for small hand tools that have gotten rusty, or other stuff you can toss in and check back after a day or so.

[Frosty]

Evapo Rust eh. Have you checked out the MSDS? No reportable quantity. Eergency environmental or spill clean up. use absorbent paper and dispose of according to local regs. Toxicity 0.0, irritant 0.0, flush eyes with water. No breathing hazard. No skin irritant unless sensitive to detergents. Don't drink it but if you do, drink  two glasses of water and induce vomiting. Seek medical attention if symptoms occur.

PPE, safety glasses should always be worn using cleaning agents. 

Sounds pretty safe and looks like it works. $20/gal eh? Might give it a try.

Thanks, Frosty The Lucky.

[G-ManBart]

On 5/29/2017 at 12:14 AM, Frosty said:

 

Yeah, that's a big part of what I like about it....pretty safe, and it even has a pleasant odor.  I've gotten it all over my hands and arms and it's as if it were water.

Here's the base after a coat of self-etching primer:

[Frosty]

Well there you go, that looks pretty darned awful.  

Frosty The Lucky.

[ausfire]

Never heard of Evapo Rust so I googled it and found that we have a distributor right here. Must give it a try. Looks a lot cleaner than molasses.

[arkie]

And......you can save the molasses to put on your hot, buttered biscuits or pancakes!!!!!!

[ThomasPowers]

or *cough* moonshine *cough*...

[Rashelle]

Moonshine on your pancakes?

[JHCC]

8 hours ago, Rashelle said:

Moonshine on your pancakes?

To go with your Scotch eggs.

[ThomasPowers]

Well as you all know molasses is the raw material for distilling Rum!.... Remember that song from the play/movie  1776 about the Triangle Trade?

[Kozzy]

That casting is an excellent example of how not to design a casting--and why the good designers are worth their paychecks.  Understanding what happens with material shrinkage and CONTROLLING that is a big deal both in metal casting and plastic injection molding.  

Anyway....I too am sold on the evaporust product.  I've had great results with rust that was so heavy I never anticipated reasonable results.  The only negative is removal of the black ferrous oxide (iirc) in tight spaces and corners.  That stuff prefers to be mechanically removed.  Anyone have any chemical tricks which can be done as a secondary soak to remove the stuff?  Reading up, it's only soluble in strong acids which negates the whole notion of a safer rust remover.  I haven't tried a secondary citric acid soak yet just to see if it clears those hard to get spots of the black.  Might try that this afternoon on a lark as I have some citric acid pickling paste samples sitting around here.

Weirdly, I just read that ferrous oxide is FDA approved in the USA as a colorant in black tattoo ink. 

[ThomasPowers]

So heavily tattooed people are actually an ore source for smelting iron?????

[Kozzy]

1 hour ago, ThomasPowers said:

So heavily tattooed people are actually an ore source for smelting iron?????

Are you volunteering to take a magnet down to the local biker bar and check a few samples to settle the matter ?  

[G-ManBart]

3 hours ago, Kozzy said:

That casting is an excellent example of how not to design a casting--and why the good designers are worth their paychecks.  Understanding what happens with material shrinkage and CONTROLLING that is a big deal both in metal casting and plastic injection molding.  

No argument there, but I will say I've had several Parkers with the same style base (even the same model) and none have looked quite like that on the bottom.  They've had holes that weren't fully open, but that was about the extent of it, so I'm just wondering if this one wasn't something of a dud.

[ThomasPowers]

Re magnetic tattoo ink;  sounds like a bad thing to mix with a MRI!

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

I have used evaporust for years restoring old rusted muzzle loader firearms and Willys Jeeps. Works wonders on neglected "barn finds". Never thought of using it with blacksmithing. I'll have to try it.

[Donal Harris]

This is an old topic, but why would this be better than just using vinegar?  Vinegar is less expensive and appears to work OK. 

[Shabumi]

I saw this thread earlier and it had piqued my interest, so I went to the source, the evaporust website. It has alot of explanations of what evaporust is and does, but a summery is that while vinegar is an acid that disolves everything. Evaporust, IIRC, is a chelating agent that only effects iron molecules, pulling them from the iron oxide and "relocating" them to sulphur in the solution to create iron sulfide, thus freeing the chelator to work some more. The black residue on higher carbon metal is the carbon left over after the iron is removed from the rust.

[swedefiddle]

Good Morning,

Phosphoric Acid is the base ingredient of a lot of names that deal with 'Rust Neutralizing'. Phosphoric Acid is a component in Coca-Cola. No harm to  our bodies, we are slightly acidic. Phosphoric Acid turns the rust 'Black'. To neutralize it, wash with Soap and Water after at least 12 hours. I put it on with a small paint brush, right out of the container (plastic cup or plastic something from the recycle. Not using Coke).

Enjoy,

Neil

[JHCC]

7 hours ago, swedefiddle said:

No harm to  our bodies,

As with many substances, the poison is in the dose; you wouldn't want to drink the stuff straight. Also, drinking a lot of soda containing phosphoric acid can be damaging to the esophagus and to the enamel of the teeth.

9 hours ago, Shabumi said:

Evaporust, IIRC, is a chelating agent that only effects iron molecules, pulling them from the iron oxide and "relocating" them to sulphur in the solution to create iron sulfide

Now that is very interesting. Thank you, Shabumi.

[Daninghram]

I have used Bar Keepers Friend to scrub rust. It works well for scrubbing rust spots. It uses Oxalic acid.

[Shabumi]

Your welcome jhcc. The site is very informative, I suggest going through their FAQs if anyone has any other questions about it. Another cool thing is it's mostly water so when the liquid level goes down you can top it off with a hose. The water just acts as a carrier for everything. My guess is it stops working when there is no more free sulphur in the solution to collect the iron. Maybe if you have the stinky egg smelling water, you could use it indefinitely.

[gaswizard]

On 11/28/2018 at 11:29 PM, Shabumi said:

I saw this thread earlier and it had piqued my interest, so I went to the source, the evaporust website. It has alot of explanations of what evaporust is and does, but a summery is that while vinegar is an acid that disolves everything. Evaporust, IIRC, is a chelating agent that only effects iron molecules,

Saw you area  local NC guy. I live in GV. Drop me a note and maybe get together

[Chris C]

I know this is an older thread................but I, also, am older, so............................................

I keep a gallon of Evaporust on my shelf all the time.  It's great stuff and has never let me down.  I've cleaned up so many "lost and forgotten" rusted items and made them almost new and totally practical again that it's paid for itself many times over.  Love the stuff.  Highly recommend it.  I'd do tele-commercials for them, if they'd hire me.  Did I mention I like Evaorust?   Go buy a gallon.............you'll never regret it.  xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

[Frosty]

15 minutes ago, Chris C said:

I'd do tele-commercials for them, if they'd hire me.

Tele-chemmercials?  

Frosty The Lucky.