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256602 Gye Greene <gyegreene@g...> 2015‑10‑10 Example of vinegar de-rusting
GGs,


Hi!


Just a minor data point/example on using vinegar for de-rusting:  I just
got done de-rusting three calipers, a small pipe(?) wrench, and two...
poky-things.

Includes "before", "ready", and "after" photos.


http://gyegreene.blogspot.com.au/2015/10/de-rusting-with-
vinegar.html">http://gyegreene.blogspot.com.au/2015/10/de-rusting-with-
vinegar.html


Note this is aimed more at the new kids than the old hands.


Also, FWIW -- it seems like pretty much anything acidic would work.  I've
used my wife's expired Diet Coke (phosphoric and carbonic acid), and also
the squeezings of lemons that were starting to rot.


--Travis
256603 Michael Blair <branson2@s...> 2015‑10‑10 Re: Example of vinegar de-rusting
Gye Greene. your experience is about the same as mine.  Been
using vinegar for about 8 years now.  Got tired of the cost
of Naval Jelly and found vinegar was not only cheaper, but
easier to use.  The grey surface?  0000 steel wool cures that.

Mike in Sacto
256604 "Ray Sheley Jr." <rsheley@r...> 2015‑10‑10 Re: Example of vinegar de-rusting
I'll have to give this a try.

I've been very satisfied with using a solution of 1 cup of citric acid to a 
gallon of hot (From your faucet hot.) water.

-----Original Message----- 
From: Michael Blair
Gye Greene. your experience is about the same as mine.  Been
using vinegar for about 8 years now.  Got tired of the cost
of Naval Jelly and found vinegar was not only cheaper, but
easier to use.  The grey surface?  0000 steel wool cures that.

Mike in Sacto
256607 Claudio DeLorenzi <claudio@d...> 2015‑10‑10 Re: Example of vinegar de-rusting
Re Vinegar for rust removal:

Regular vinegar is ~ 5% acetic acid.  In the cleaning supply area of Home
Hardware (in Canada) you can often find "cleaning vinegar" which is ~10%
acetic acid (other suppliers may have 8%-check the label).
 It's usually about the same price as the regular food grade stuff from the
grocery store.  I find the higher concentration convenient because it just
works faster (plus it works great for windows and general cleaning of scale
from hard water etc),  Soaking a couple of hours or so will clean most of
the moderate rust, and maybe overnight for the more severely rusted stuff.
Don't forget your stuff in there for weeks though (it will eventually
'dissolve').

  I also use this soaking technique for quick rehab of bargain priced used
flea market files and rasps.  The files come out of the solution with thick
black crud that comes off pretty easily with a brass wire brush (even the
crud at the deepest parts of double cut files comes out).   I find that
this will clean out the grooves and chemically "sharpen" the teeth giving
me very inexpensive, reasonably sharp files (sometimes 'as new').
  I use files for wood as well as shaping metal, and I find it convenient
to have many shapes and styles to hand for all sorts of odd jobs.  Usually
no one wants used files so you can usually get them at a very good price,
 It often works out in my favor to buy a handful of these and drop them in
vinegar overnight to see what I've got.  Give it a try- you will be
surprised by how well this usually works.  Sure you will get a few duds,
but often the files are just really dirty and have plenty of life left in
them.
  I'm not sure if it weakens the edges or not (ie reduces the life of the
file), but for the money, it usually works out favorably. (Maybe someone
who knows metal can comment on this?)  Besides, there are so many uses for
the high carbon steel, its worth picking some up just to experiment with-
(for example, you can put a couple into the hot coals after your next BBQ
and then leave them to cool slowly in the ashes to anneal the steel to
rework it giving it a new purpose rather than landfill...
  Does anyone know if the edges of steel files are permanently damaged (or
weakened) by soaking in acid?

Cheers,
Claudio in Waterloo, ON




> of Naval Jelly and found vinegar was not only cheaper, but
> easier to use.  The grey surface?  0000 steel wool cures that.
>
> Mike in Sacto
>
>
256608 Chuck Ramsey <chuck-ramsey@l...> 2015‑10‑10 Re: Example of vinegar de-rusting
Claudio DeLorenzi wrote:

[Snip]

Does anyone know if the edges of steel files are permanently damaged (or
weakened) by soaking in acid?

[End of Snip]

Of course the answer is, "Depends".  Depends on the strength of the acid, the
time of contact and no doubt other things I can't
think of at the moment.  I recall The Old Millrat writing about a used rasp that
he put into a container of serious acid (muriatic acid?)
to clean the rasp.  He forgot about it for a while (a week or weeks?) and when
he remembered to remove the rasp it had holes in the
tool.  I recall the photos of this rasp and what was left resembled a surform
blade or a cheese grater.  One very dead useless rasp was the result.

[Snip]

Don't forget your stuff in there for weeks though (it will eventually
'dissolve').

[End of Snip]

I too use household/grocery store vinegar for my rust removal.  I use it because
it's cheap, available, kitchen safe and vinegar works.  My flea market old
tools get washed with hot water and maybe a squirt of dish washing soap in the
kitchen sink.  I scrub the tools with a green dish washing pad and maybe a
small brass bristled brush.  Then I dry them and dump them in a container of of
vinegar usually overnight.  The container is left open on the kitchen counter
exposed to food preparation and a pair of cats who sometimes venture onto the
counter.  When I pull them out of the vinegar I use the same cleaning method
I used before I dumped them in the vinegar with the addition of special
attention to the drying.
The only problem I have had is neglecting to remove the tools after an overnight
soak.  When I have soaked the tools in the vinegar for a week it seemed to
me that there were more and deeper pits in the "cleaned" tool that I had
expected or desired.  I have yet to "dissolve" a tool or turn a file into a
cheese grater
but I suspect that given enough time it could happen.  Also if the tools is not
completely submerged there will be a line on the tool to indicate where the
vinegar level was.

chuck       

    

________________________________________
256609 "Adam R. Maxwell" <amaxwell@m...> 2015‑10‑10 Re: Example of vinegar de-rusting
> On Oct 10, 2015, at 09:48 , Claudio DeLorenzi  wrote:
> 
>  Does anyone know if the edges of steel files are permanently damaged (or
> weakened) by soaking in acid?

Go read everything in the archives that George Langford
has written (not kidding; he knows this stuff):

http://swingl
eydev.com/archive/get.php?message_id=255300

http://swingleydev.com/archive/get.php?message_id=64253&submit_thread=1
">http://swingleydev.com/archive/get.php?message_id=64253&submit_thread=1

Adam
(who has stopped soaking steel tools in vinegar)
256616 Ed Minch <ruby1638@a...> 2015‑10‑11 Re: Example of vinegar de-rusting
I have gotten stuff back from Boggs with no sign of the dull grey you get with
the acids I have used.  I akways thought they used acidm but check this out:

http://www.boggstool.com/page1.htm
l

Also, the website says:


Ed Minch




On Oct 10, 2015, at 2:23 PM, Chuck Ramsey  wrote:

> 
> Does anyone know if the edges of steel files are permanently damaged (or
> weakened) by soaking in acid?

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