Typecaster
09-11-2008, 04:56 PM
A few years ago I bought a gallon of liquid rust remover from Gempler's, and finally gave it a try. I bought a couple of toolboxes (with tools); one had obviously been full of water, but they were cheap.
I put the square and plane in a plastic tub, added the rust remover, and let it sit at room temp for a couple of hours. The frozen parts could be disassembled, so I let them soak for another couple of hours. Then I gave everything a little scrub with a Scotchbrite green pad—WOW! What I thought was a Woolworth's combination square that was rusted solid is really a Starrett! The plane cleaned up well...so I dropped in the tap wrenches, with photos this time, let 'em soak till I could unscrew the collet, then let all the parts soak a little longer.
I'm satisfied with the results, at least to regain the function of tools. The stuff didn't affect the japanned plane (I didn't have anything blued that was expendable to see if it removed bluing like phosphoric acid). The solution seems to darken/grey the surface a little, but I didn't really try to polish/steel wool anything. It's pretty easy—soak, scrub a little, rinse in water, dry, and shoot it with RemOil or something.
I never had good luck with naval jelly (phosphoric acid)...don't like the gunk that builds up or the smell. The jug says this doesn't have "organic acids," but the MSDS doesn't give any info on what's in it.
Anybody else tried this stuff, especially compared to electrolytic rust removal?
Richard
I put the square and plane in a plastic tub, added the rust remover, and let it sit at room temp for a couple of hours. The frozen parts could be disassembled, so I let them soak for another couple of hours. Then I gave everything a little scrub with a Scotchbrite green pad—WOW! What I thought was a Woolworth's combination square that was rusted solid is really a Starrett! The plane cleaned up well...so I dropped in the tap wrenches, with photos this time, let 'em soak till I could unscrew the collet, then let all the parts soak a little longer.
I'm satisfied with the results, at least to regain the function of tools. The stuff didn't affect the japanned plane (I didn't have anything blued that was expendable to see if it removed bluing like phosphoric acid). The solution seems to darken/grey the surface a little, but I didn't really try to polish/steel wool anything. It's pretty easy—soak, scrub a little, rinse in water, dry, and shoot it with RemOil or something.
I never had good luck with naval jelly (phosphoric acid)...don't like the gunk that builds up or the smell. The jug says this doesn't have "organic acids," but the MSDS doesn't give any info on what's in it.
Anybody else tried this stuff, especially compared to electrolytic rust removal?
Richard