What did I miss?

tangerinegreen555

Well-Known Member
That is such an easy restore. take some iron rod or other sacrificial piece of iron. Next fill a tub or bin with water and chuck some bicarb in and stir it a bit.
Take a battery charger connect the negative to the iron and the positive to the piece you want clean. If you don't want to make lots of connected sacrificial iron bits, you will need to turn the item being cleaned over now and again as it is a line of sight process... This will clean even rusted stuck shit. It will not touch a single healthy clean iron molecule on the piece being cleaned.
Leave the shit in there overnight. Tomorrow take a hard brush and some water and it will clean up to the bone.
When I worked in a steel mill, everybody snuck in grill grates and other dirty/rusty stuff and swished them in the acid rinse at an anneal line.

Things like that were 7 seconds from shiny new. Kolene worked best.
 

ANC

Well-Known Member
Thing is, acid seeps in between the molecules and continues oxidizing it over time.
As well as it will oxidize the moment it dries if not redipped fast. Similar problem with electrolytic rust removal but easily solved by putting a bit of turps on the wet cloth you wipe parts dry with. It spreads a thin oily layer.
 

WeedFreak78

Well-Known Member
That is such an easy restore. take some iron rod or other sacrificial piece of iron. Next fill a tub or bin with water and chuck some bicarb in and stir it a bit.
Take a battery charger connect the negative to the iron and the positive to the piece you want clean. If you don't want to make lots of connected sacrificial iron bits, you will need to turn the item being cleaned over now and again as it is a line of sight process... This will clean even rusted stuck shit. It will not touch a single healthy clean iron molecule on the piece being cleaned.
Leave the shit in there overnight. Tomorrow take a hard brush and some water and it will clean up to the bone.
Drop it in some used ATF, let it sit for a week or so, then hit with a wire brush. It'll loosen all the flaky rusty and convert what's left to a black, almost rust proof, finish.
 

ANC

Well-Known Member
Electrolysis will turn some of the thinner black rust (rust that formed in low O2 conditions) back into clean steel.
 
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