Rusted Sizing Dies

[rbuck351]

I wouldn't spend the time on rusted dies to try to sell. If I needed the dies for my own use I would use some very fine polishing compound on cloth on a dowel and spin with a drill motor for the inside. The outside I wouldn't do much with other than use a wire wheel to clean the threads enough to allow them to be used.

[Bazoo]

Wire wheel on the outside does work well. The ones I've done that were very rusty all have had discoloration left where the rust was. I don't that there is any way to remove the discoloration.

[thump_rrr]

Use Boeshield T9 with a phosphor bronze utility brush and some Scotchbrite.
Make sure it’s a real phosphor bronze utility brush and not a steel brush with bronze plating.
Boeshield is often used to protect the tops of table saws when not in use.
They also have a product called Rust Free to remove rust.
I’ve always used the T-9 itself and not the rust free but I’ll pick some up to try next time.

[Jeff Michel]

Add a pretty fair amount of powdered citric acid to water, drop them in and literally watch the rust come off. I’d say 3-4 tablespoons to a quart of water would work for a sizing die. I’d guess it would be shiny clean in an hour or two. You can find it in most canning sections at Walmart or any store that handles canning supplies.

This would be Lemi-shine.

[jetinteriorguy]

This would be Lemi-shine.

Nope, lemishine is used to enhance cleaning products. The citric acid in the canning section is pure citric acid.

[sureYnot]

Nope, lemishine is used to enhance cleaning products. The citric acid in the canning section is pure citric acid.

https://lemishine.com/pages/downloads
MSDS for lemishine.

[timboslice]

I wouldn't spend the time on rusted dies to try to sell. If I needed the dies for my own use I would use some very fine polishing compound on cloth on a dowel and spin with a drill motor for the inside. The outside I wouldn't do much with other than use a wire wheel to clean the threads enough to allow them to be used.

Well, figured it wouldn't hurt to give it a shot. There are plenty of people out there that love giving old items new life. I certainly don't have the know-how or the tools necessary to make other tooling out the dies, but maybe someone that's willing to pay 30 bucks for a handful of dies might be able to do something useful with them.

[rbuck351]

If I decided to sell them I would list them as is and let the buyer decide how they wanted to clean them.

[timboslice]

If I decided to sell them I would list them as is and let the buyer decide how they wanted to clean them.

That's reasonable and there's a lot of wisdom in that. But there's a certain level of satisfaction that comes from learning to clean them up. I don't have to sell them, so this is more like a grand experiment in my mind. If they all get mucked up then it's no big deal.

[Bazoo]

I enjoy tinkering on things like that too, I also enjoy learning something new, so I can't blame you for undertaking a bit of a cleaning endeavor.

[Wayne Smith]

https://lemishine.com/pages/downloads
MSDS for lemishine.

Lemishine sure has a lot of products. I'd stick with the canning product or, like I did, get it off Amazon.com.

[rbuck351]

Yeah, I too enjoy fixing broken/damaged things. I buy a lot of stuff that needs fixing if it's cheap but I would rather it hadn't been messed with before I get my hands on it.

[timboslice]

Yeah, I too enjoy fixing broken/damaged things. I buy a lot of stuff that needs fixing if it's cheap but I would rather it hadn't been messed with before I get my hands on it.

Yeah that's fair. I have some calibers I will never really mess with so I may end up leaving them alone and seeing if I can fix up the others. To be determined.

[farmbif]

I got a bunch of brass tube brushes from justman brush company they have lots of perfect sizes for dies and several different options as far as handle and thickness of bristles. some have loop at end of handle for use by hand and others have straight shaft that can be used in a cordless drill dipped in kroil removes rust quick and easy

[timboslice]

I got a bunch of brass tube brushes from justman brush company they have lots of perfect sizes for dies and several different options as far as handle and thickness of bristles. some have loop at end of handle for use by hand and others have straight shaft that can be used in a cordless drill dipped in kroil removes rust quick and easy

I have an old gun smith friend who is now out of the business but has a TON of brass brushes that are actually perfect for this application. Just gotta get some from him. I've heard kroil is a good one to use from several folks. Might give that a shot for my next round of experiments.

[country gent]

Use a few of the ones youll never use to practice on before going to the ones you want

[imashooter2]

Electrolytic rust removal is great for precision parts. It cannot remove metal, only the rust.

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

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





Results:

[Rickf1985]

Evaporust is a Chelating process and I am pretty sure it cannot harm solid metal. I have had very good results with Evaporust on rusted old tools and threading dies. It did not harm the threads in the threading dies at all after 24 hours in the Evaporust.
I left a small wrench in vinegar for a couple of days and it ate most of the wrench!!!!

"Chelating agents will not harm the base metal but may not be as fast or thorough enough. A good middle ground is a phosphoric acid-based product that properly designed will provide quick dissolving of the rust with no risk of base metal damage. (c) Copyright 2023 DTN, LLC."

[ebb]

Glass bead blast to remove rust, oil immediately. Back in my archery days someone took the wheels bushings and axels from a compound bow and simmered them in a can with Slick 50 for several hours. The bow was reassembled and set up identical to how it was before. Shots before and after showed 6 to 7 FPS faster after slick 50. I would love to try this with reloading dies to see if they worked smoother with less force to size brass.

[Bazoo]

Glass bead blast to remove rust, oil immediately. Back in my archery days someone took the wheels bushings and axels from a compound bow and simmered them in a can with Slick 50 for several hours. The bow was reassembled and set up identical to how it was before. Shots before and after showed 6 to 7 FPS faster after slick 50. I would love to try this with reloading dies to see if they worked smoother with less force to size brass.

That's pretty interesting, thank you for sharing.