Spring steel should not go into acid, especially if under tension. I have
not seen the effect on spring steel because I have never used it on spring
steel including saws.

 Acid keeps on working after the rust is removed and etches steel - that is
how files are sharpened after all. Cast iron seems less affected. 

The solution is vigilance, checking items regularly and removing earlier
rather than later is the method. I removed some superficial rust from NOS
files after 15 minutes in the citric. Followed by removing ALL moisture with
a hair dryer.


Cheers
Peter

Peter Evans
Sydney, Australia

-----Original Message-----
From: OldTools [mailto:oldtools-
bounces@s...] On Behalf Of Chuck
Ramsey
Sent: Tuesday, 30 June 2015 8:12 AM
To: Adam R. Maxwell; oldtools@s...
Subject: Re: [OldTools] Off Topic for People Who Know Some Metallurgy

Yeah Adam-
Springs are one of the things I've totally ruined too.  And your comment
about revealing or adding pits is also close to my experience.  I dunno
either because there was too much rust covering the item before I put it in
the vinegar to do an inventory of the pits.
chuck