What to do with Rusty Stuff?

[BrassMagnet]

This thread can be blamed on Dbosman for suggesting I get Vaporust and on Sweetpea for suggesting I document my experiences with the Vaporust and a rusty old mould.

To start with, I got this old 32359 mould off Fleabay with some other stuff. Two-thirds of the mating edge of the mould was covered in thick rust. There was and still is some rust in the cavities and on the face. This picture was taken after about four hours soaking in Evaporust.
If this mould can be fixed, it will throw a 115 grain 8MM plinking boolit.
Also pictured are some Lyman 310 dies which came in an assortment of FleaBay junk so rusted they couldn't even be disassembled. Also photographed after about four hours soaking in Evaporust.

Evaporust can be purchased at Autozone in quart containers. I told my brother I was going to get some and I priced it at an Autozone. He tould me it was more affordable by the gallon in his favorite little tool store, so that is where I got it. Evaporust is water based and reusable until it evaporates away or becomes inefficient at eating rust on steel.

The second photo is a bullet seating die which is so rusted it is seized. As found in a pile of junk dies.

97000

97001

The Evaporust directions say to remove all oil before use so I soaked the mould and 310 dies in strong dishwater made with Joy detergent. There clearly wasn't even a memory of oil on the bullet seating die.

After washing in dish soap and after rinsing off the Evaporust, I dried the mould and 310 dies in a dehydrator.
I also cleand, de-rusted, dried and oiled a bunch of 310 boolit sizing dies. They merely look rather nice when done, but they weren't really bad to begin with.
This thread will focus more on what to do with moulds and such which are so rusted as to appear to be worthless and restoring them to usability.

[BrassMagnet]

The rusty mould came with other stuff which was so poorly photographed that it all looked rusty. The poor little old lady threw in this rusty old mould as a freeby on FleaBay with the other moulds. I was very concerned about rust in the cavity of the other moulds and I almost didn't bid at all. Obviously, most other bidders were also concerned.
It turned out there was no rust on the other moulds and I got all of this stuff for less than this mould alone would sell for if it was not rusty and made decent boolits.

[mrblue]

Nice find I would have jumped on seeing a 323 boolit mold on fleabay

[BrassMagnet]

I think this was about six more hours of Evaporust. What a change!
I kind of forgot to check on it sooner!

97063

The mould blocks now fit together with no light showing between the blocks.
I did a small amount of scrubbing on the mould mating faces with Scotch pads and inside the mould cavities with Q-tips. Not bad at all for a mould headed for the trash as hopeless!
The parts aren't quite totally dry and they are back in the dehydrator. I will oil them and see if the seating die can be un-seized.

[Sweetpea]

Looks like it's coming along!

[BrassMagnet]

Looks like it's coming along!

When it finishes drying and gets oiled it just might be all right!

[jonas302]

I have used evaporust worked great I regretted not taking pics but I had a snap on impact swivel socket that I found laying under a battery in a car after soaking in penetrant it still couldn't move 2 days in evaporust it was like new with kinda a dark finish that holds oil great

[CastingFool]

Those look nice. good job!

[dbosman]

I guess I'm happy to be blamed for feeding BrassMagnet's acquisitiveness. On the other hand, he'll be buying out eBay now.
I learned about Evaporust on this forum. I'm sorry I can't thank the original poster by name.

[BrassMagnet]

Here is a Minie Bullet mould Lyman 575213 OS.

A little rusty, but not too bad!

The photos could have come out better, but it is soaking in Evaporust now.

97126

97127

97128

Rather than soak the hollow base insert and damage the wood, I soaked a cleaning patch with Evaporust and wiped it until it came clean. The insert is drying in the dehydrator now,

[BrassMagnet]

Before:

97571 97573

After Vaporust:

97572

Not bad!

[NewbieDave007]

Wow! Nice job!

[Bored1]

That is looking alot better!!!

[imashooter2]

Electrolytic rust removal is king.

http://schoepp.hylands.net/electrolyticrust.html

A quick and easy set up I have used several times:

http://imashooter2.com/pictures/ERR-out.jpg

http://imashooter2.com/pictures/ERR-in.jpg

Results:

http://imashooter2.com/pictures/rustydies-600.jpghttp://imashooter2.com/pictures/cleandies-600.jpg

[nodda duma]

Very interesting, thanks.

[mannyCA]

very informative. Thanks for the post.

[sdalcher]

I have done the electrolytic rust removal before and it works surprisingly well!

[beezapilot]

I confess that I did not read all the post, so this may be a repete....... THIS STUFF WILL REMOVE BLUING IN A NANO-SECOND.

But other than that is has become a staple in the motorcycle restoration biz, fill up an old gas tank and in the morning it is ready for rinse, dry and coat. Small tools that have the notorious Florida surface rust are quickly cleaned, machine room tools get a slather of oil, and tools for the woodshop are heated to dry and smeared with butchers wax while still hot.

On big stuff a rag wetted with it and laid to rest with an occaisional rub & dampen works OK.

I bought a 5 gallon bucket of the stuff and just drop items in it with a wire attached, pull out, shake off and into the deep sink.

I really rusty ol' revolver disassembled, was de-blued and derusted in very little time- Hey, LOOK! There is still rifling.... Oxpho-blue and to the range... not pretty, but not too ugly either.....

I love the stuff.

[Ed1]

Would navel jelly work as good?

[BrassMagnet]

Would navel jelly work as good?

No. It won't, but do feel free to try it.

[Whiterabbit]

Before:

97571 97573

After Vaporust:

97572

Not bad!

Wow that looks great. If you are still refusing to buy yourself a 58 cal muzzleloader, you might have to sell that mold to me!

(but the better course of action is clearly to buy yourself a muzzleloader! :))

[Whiterabbit]

Would navel jelly work as good?


No. It won't, but do feel free to try it.

Dumb question, have you ever tried muriatic acid? Works a champ for me, especially after banging my head around with naval jelly too. Far more effective, and id be curious how it works compared to Vaporust. never had to soak anything for 6 hours in muriatic to derust anything.

[oscarflytyer]

Evaporust

[SSGOldfart]

Evaporust

Who makes this stuff ?? I'm headed to AutoZone in the morning

[SSGOldfart]

What's the best treatment afterwards for moulds and dies ? Our humidity is so high it's hard to keep the rust at bay

[Whiterabbit]

moisture displacing oil works best, for me. flood-spray, half-**** wipe off.

[imashooter2]

What's the best treatment afterwards for moulds and dies ? Our humidity is so high it's hard to keep the rust at bay

A sealed box with VCI paper.

[SSGOldfart]

I'm thinking about adding a larger AC to the shop to help remove the humidity

[BrassMagnet]

What's the best treatment afterwards for moulds and dies ? Our humidity is so high it's hard to keep the rust at bay

Regardless of climate and humidity, I would recommend wetting with oil and storing in an ammo can!

Keeping the mould halves from banging around is also very important. Rubber bands are useless in the presence of oil. I recommend using nylon tie-wraps to hold the blocks together.

[Green Monster]

Wow i wish i knew about this stuff a few weeks ago. I saw a bunch of old reloading stuff with rust all over at an estate auction for cheap $ and passed it over. Now i know better and am kickin myself.

[beezapilot]

The cool thing about evaporust is it doesn't damage paint. We used to use muriatic acid in motorcycle tanks, then came the neutralizing and paint damage, this stuff rinses clean.


Dumb question, have you ever tried muriatic acid? Works a champ for me, especially after banging my head around with naval jelly too. Far more effective, and id be curious how it works compared to Vaporust. never had to soak anything for 6 hours in muriatic to derust anything.

[beezapilot]

I just ordered in another 5 gallon bucket from O'Reilly Auto Parts. Free Shipping to my door and used the "10off50" code for an additional $10 off... 5 gallons for $85.19 delivered to my doorstep. Get them while the gettin' is good.

[Whiterabbit]

The cool thing about evaporust is it doesn't damage paint. We used to use muriatic acid in motorcycle tanks, then came the neutralizing and paint damage, this stuff rinses clean.

oh yes, it does that. I tried a barrel cutoff, washing it after I stripped with via muriatic. Imagine my surprise when I came back the next day and the cutoff was bright orange! Neutralization is definitely needed with muriatic. If evaoprust is really $85 for 5 gal, sounds like it's very reasonable in price.

[SSGOldfart]

Regardless of climate and humidity, I would recommend wetting with oil and storing in an ammo can!

Keeping the mould halves from banging around is also very important. Rubber bands are useless in the presence of oil. I recommend using nylon tie-wraps to hold the blocks together.

Yep good point

[Just Duke]

Electrolytic rust removal is king.

http://schoepp.hylands.net/electrolyticrust.html

A quick and easy set up I have used several times:

http://home.comcast.net/~imashooter2/pictures/ERR-out.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~imashooter2/pictures/ERR-in.jpg

Results:

http://home.comcast.net/~imashooter2/pictures/rustydies-600.jpghttp://home.comcast.net/~imashooter2/pictures/cleandies-600.jpg

I am told this should be done away from ones house. I'm just the messenger though.

[Whiterabbit]

Usually (usually) processes like this are hydrogen emitters. Hydrogen burns with an invisible flame, if not energetically. Anyone who played with MRE heaters know how low intensity the flame is. But flame it is, invisible or not, so there is a technical danger, assuming the reasoning for dis-proximity to one's home is gas discharge.

[imashooter2]

You would have to have a very large part, an unusually powerful DC source and a very tight house for the amount of hydrogen being emitted to be an issue. Yes, there is technically a risk. There is also a risk that a meteor could scream from the heavens and vaporize me in my bed. I don't spend a lot of time worrying about it though. :-)

[Baryngyl]

It might also depend on what mix your using in the Electrolytic rust removal as to what the gas is that it creates (just guessing).

The few times I tried it I used a water/washing soda mix, powered it with a low amp 12 volt car battery charger and it did bubble some but I do not know what the bubbles were.


Michael Grace