How can I remove rust from a hornady belling die?

[Bazoo]

I have a set of used hornady dies in 45 auto that have some rust in the belling die. The belling stem does not remove, it appears pressed in. There is bother rust on the inside of the die body, and on the belling die. If I had a lathe, i could chuck it, and then run some sandpaper and scotchbrite inside the crevasse and get it. However, I dont have a lathe. Anyone got any other ideas?

~bazoo

[JimB..]

Evapo-rust followed by light polishing with a q-tip held in a dremel.

[ikarus1]

Vineger soak followed by a few cycles in the ultrasonic.

[Bazoo]

Aint got no ultrasonic.....

I've never used evaporust... but i've heard it was good stuff. Any other ideas?

[country gent]

Kroil and the scothbrite work by hand slow and easy should clean up quick and easy. Follow this with a good solvent cleaning with a soft cotton or flannel rag.

[ikarus1]

Aint got no ultrasonic.....

I've never used evaporust... but i've heard it was good stuff. Any other ideas?

Got mine from Harbor Freight for less than the price of 2 sets of Lee dies. Best thing for cleaning gun parts and dies that Ive found.

Its also identical to the Lyman TS-2500 for half the price. Only difference is cosmetics.

[Moleman-]

Look up electric derusting. You can do it with an old cell phone charger or the like or even a few batteries for small parts. I've only ever done big parts so I use a battery charger. Going to drop the intake from a 76 IHC 345 in a tank tomorrow and take 41 years of rust off of it.

[gwpercle]

A day or two soak in kerosene ( hurricane lamp oil is refined kerosene) some wet or dry paper and 0000 steel wool, cleaning rod, brush wrapped in steel wool, just get after the rust with elbow grease.
Let it soak some more in the kerosene . kerosene is light oil that penetrates and softens rust and once removed a soak will neutralize it and keep any more from forming. This is an old timey rust removing trick. Buy the stuff at wally mart no special equiptment required. I've soaked extremely rusted tools for weeks sometimes to save them.
Gary

[poacherjo]

That Evapo Rust is great stuff and you can use it over and over again! Don't throw it away when it looks dirty it still works. Use that for an overnight soak and then let it soak in some Kroil for 24 hrs. Then everything should break free and wipe off with a rag.

[1hole]

I've seen and bought quite a few lightly rusted dies. They have all cleaned up very well on the outside with a motor driven soft steel wire brush. The insides clean with a wad of steel wool or scotchbrite pad tightly wrapped on a dowel and spun in a drill motor. (It helps a little to wet the pad with light gun oil or mineral spirits or kerosene.)

[Bazoo]

I havent attempted anything yet. I might try the kerosene thing to start. But still trying to think on a way to spin the die without having a tool head for a lathe to spin it. I have a wood working lathe, but I dont have any accessories for it. I also have a drill press, but it only opens to 5/8.

[Moleman-]

If you have washing soda (can be made from baking soda) and a power source you can basically plate the rust off of that die with no work from you. It will stop when the rust is gone and will not continue to eat the metal like an acid will. You will have to quickly rinse the part and hose it down with WD40 or it will flash rust since it will be so clean once you take it out of the bath. Negative goes on the die, and positive goes on a piece of scrap steel both of which are placed in the solution.

[Bazoo]

Electrolysis might be the way to go. Ive never done it before, but I know of it. Its not my typical means of removing rust, thats for sure.

[Moleman-]

It is not normally thought about, but it works very well. I first tried it on some heavily rusted parts for our 1966 IHC pickup. No work other than brushing some black smut off partway through with a nylon brush. I'd bet a rag would of worked also. I've used it on tools, car parts, and anything else that is rusty. Don't use it on firearms unless you want the bluing which is a type of rust removed also.

[Bazoo]

I figured that it would remove bluing as I knew it was a form of controlled rust.

[1hole]

You don't need to spin the die.

Spin your dowel rod arbor and steel wool/Scotch Brite while hand holding the die. My old South Bend lath works, my drill press works better (higher RPM) and a hand drill will work well enough.

[Bazoo]

In a hornady pistol belling die, the stem is not removable, and there is very little room between the inner die body and the belling stem. Thats why I was thinking spinning the die.

[John Boy]

How can I remove rust from a hornady belling die?

Put it in the rotary tumbler with the media & burnishing solution used to clean brass ...

[Bazoo]

Hmm. that is an idea. Im not super familiar with rotary tumbling, but i've had a rock tumbler. Thanks for that idea.

[JimB..]

Anyone ever try using a few pounds of spent primers in a tumbler for this? I've been thinking about it, but have had no need as yet.

I wouldn't add citric acid for tumbling steel.