Trying my hand at salt and vinegar

[cbacres]

First time I documented dong this. Using the white vinegar and salt on some plain steel tools. I did a old junk pair of pliers last weekend, turned out good.
Still trying to decide what to treat with afterward .
Before.

After soaking for about a hour. Notice the outline of the tools, it is bubbles floating up in a perfect outline of the tool below.

Will update in the morning.

 

[outdoorsman310]

another thing to try is electrolysis

 

[mrborohachi]

i've always heard of http://www.corrosionx.com/

but have never used it. I'm not too impressed with Boeshield T-9®

 

[dledinger]

Not sure why the salt? You don't need that in there.

 

[drivesitfar]

Not sure why the salt? You don't need that in there.

My thought exactly or do you cook fish in the mix after your tools are derusted?

Do tell why the salt is added?

 

[cbacres]

The reason for the salt? I fond it right here on GJ. I have just used the straight vinegar and have good results, with the salt it does seem to have worked better.
I have not tried it side by side as it has been done here numerous times.
There is also other other home remedies that I plan on trying, citric acid, The works toilet bowel cleaner, and a store bought De-sov-all.
All the above I have read on the web with good results.
Also I want to set up a tank wit the charger, just haven't taken the time to do.

 

[jjjrmx5]

Salt is said to expediate the de-rusting process.

Do I use it? No.

Just plain ole' white vinegar bought in 1 gallon jugs.
And a lot of time and patience.

Once done and pulled, scrub with nylon brush under running water.

I let things dry and then WD-40 and use green scrotchbrite pad.
Then assess.

Wire wheel on bench grinder if bad.
More scotchbrite if no so bad.
Fine or xtra sandpaper and then scotchbrite again in some cases.

Its the foamy rootbear "head" on a good vinegar bath when done that makes me go ewwww. LOLZ.

I;ve have the means but not the winter ventilation to do electrolyisis.
For me it's too much fuss.

if even lazier evaporust baybee!!!!!!

 

[cbacres]

First couple of pliers I pulled out this morning, in the vinegar solution about 14 hours.
The Protos on the left was lightly wire brushed, I placed back in to soak some more. The CM wrench I put in to see how it would do just on the rusted areas, I did not soak entire wrench, just the top half. It to was brushed and cleaned up nicely, leaving the plating intact. I'll finish it and oil it up and should be good on that one.


The SnapOn on the right is how it came out of the tank, I rinsed with water, but not much came off, so wire brush it was. I coated with a gun spray in the second pic.

Both of the pliers are spring loaded, both were rusted to the point them staying open due to binding. I noticed that while brushing they were both free and operated nicely without any lube.

I'm not trying to recreate what has been done here many times, just sharing my little projects and how they come out. And to post pictures that we so crave

The pliers I did is morning sure could taken to higher levels of being cleaned, but I ended up with a pair that I can use and have about 10 minutes ******* in it.

I'm looking at the Corrosion X, kind of pricey, but I would imagine a 16 oz. bottle would go a long way. I used Boeshield in Nov. 2012 on some calipers and they are still doing fine with no touch ups.

I want to figure out how to do this and end up without the metal being dark when done .

 

[sasquatch12]

I've only used just the vinegar also, never added the salt. The vinegar works fine for me.

 

[dledinger]

No way I'd put tools into a salt bath... Salt causes severe pitting with a quickness. Vinegar is more than adequate on its own.

 

[Outlawmws]

I'm a plain vinegar guy also[ I will run a test salt added, but I need a sacrificial test piece I don't care about first, because I'm also concerned about the salt and latter rust...

Mostly I'm an E-tank, wire wheel, and occasionally a Vinegar guy. depends on the piece.

I've also used the dilute molasses trick with good, if slow, success.

 

[Automag88]

Anybody have any experience dipping pliers with grips on the handles in vinegar? I've got a set of Channelock lineman pliers that traveled around the country with me that could use a little cleaning up. Just curious if submerging the grips in vinegar would effect them?

 

[dledinger]

Anybody have any experience dipping pliers with grips on the handles in vinegar? I've got a set of Channelock lineman pliers that traveled around the country with me that could use a little cleaning up. Just curious if submerging the grips in vinegar would effect them?

My bet is it will get under the grips and rust. I usually cut them off and replace with heavy adhesive lined shrink tube. Makes a better handle than most dipped ones anyway.

 

[Jswain]

Anybody have any experience dipping pliers with grips on the handles in vinegar? I've got a set of Channelock lineman pliers that traveled around the country with me that could use a little cleaning up. Just curious if submerging the grips in vinegar would effect them?

If the grips aren't falling apart you could probably soften them up in some boiling water, take them off, then soften them a bit to get them back on after the de rusting. If they aren't in great shape you are probably better cutting them off or leaving them on and just using a wire wheel on a bench grinder to clean up the metal on the pliers.

 

[cbacres]

Wow, getting more info every day. The only reason I tried the salt was I seen it here in a thread. Not really sure it helped, but just overnight to this batch got it done.
Even the plain vinegar is a simple way to go. The tools I did today I wasn't worried about hurting them, they had some heavy rust and were already pitted. I agree to not using salt on a finer or more important piece. These tools were on the bottom of a junk box, couldn't read the name and now I have a couple usable pairs of pliers. I coated with some older gun oil spray that I picked up at an estate sale, I'll see how it holds up. I'll post up some more pics in a little while.

Mrborohachi, thanks for provoking me to look at the Corrosion X a little closer. There is a YouTube that did a comparison of it with about six other brands. Looks promising. I'm going to get a can to try. I need something here in S Fl. With the high humidity.

 

[Mooniac]

FYI, Corrosion X is sold in 1 and 5 gallon containers aimed at the aircraft industry. It can be applied with any pressurized sprayer (like a lawn/garden pump-up rig) and will save money vs. the small cans if you use a lot of it.

 

[Jswain]

I use salt with my stuff all the time and have never had a problem with pitting. After it comes out of the bath it gets a very good rinse with water, immediately dry the part then it sits on some clean paper towel and spray WD40 on both sides of it. I let that soak overnight, wipe the tool down the next day with some more clean paper towel and call it good. Haven't seen any signs of the rust coming back yet.

 

[Outlawmws]

Anybody have any experience dipping pliers with grips on the handles in vinegar? I've got a set of Channelock lineman pliers that traveled around the country with me that could use a little cleaning up. Just curious if submerging the grips in vinegar would effect them?

Dipped grip pliers like Channellock, since they are not plated anyway, I just use the wire wheel. Plated I will typically go after with SOS pads and water and use WD-40 liberally to get the residual water off/out. Another option is 0000 steel wool and oil...

 

[Automag88]

Thanks for the advice!

 

[cbacres]

Here they are.
Before

After




I'm happy with how they came out, I'm sure the appearance could been a little better.

Here's a pair of side cutters that I keep on my bench for misc. use. I used these to pick the others out of the soak, so after they was submerged a couple time, I hit it with a brush and they are a really nice pair. They are in my box now, with a cheaper pair for bench duty.

You guys have a point on the salt use. Last weekend I did a pair of pliers, happen to use my vice to brush them on and I noticed a fine rust where I brushed, it came off easy, but points out how it affect things.
This is in the soak now, think it will bring it back?

 

[dledinger]

I use salt with my stuff all the time and have never had a problem with pitting.

Thanks, but I still can't imagine what it could possibly do to hasten the rust removal. And since it's pretty well known that it works perfectly fine without, why bother? I'm not much of a fan in rinsing, oiling and storing/using either. Doing this properly calls for neutralization of the vinegar as an additonal step. Personally, think you've been lucky to have experienced no rust and have wasted money on salt.

If one wanted something faster, muratic acid works much faster, and since it can be dilluted, it can also be signifigantly cheaper. I'd never again buy vinegar for this purpose unless I had something small to derust and might be lucky enough to steal some from the kitchen.

I used to use acid to derust hundreds and hundreds of steel traps at a time. I'd have gone broke doing that with vinegar, or I'd still be soaking years later!

All that said, I've been wrong plenty of times before, and if I am missing something here, it certainly won't be my last mistake!

 

[dledinger]

This is in the soak now, think it will bring it back?

That wrench is in rough shape! It might work again, but those pits are pretty permanent.

The tools you've done look great!

 

[Jswain]

Thanks, but I still can't imagine what it could possibly do to hasten the rust removal. And since it's pretty well known that it works perfectly fine without, why bother? I'm not much of a fan in rinsing, oiling and storing/using either. Doing this properly calls for neutralization of the vinegar as an additonal step. Personally, think you've been lucky to have experienced no rust and have wasted money on salt.

If one wanted something faster, muratic acid works much faster, and since it can be dilluted, it can also be signifigantly cheaper. I'd never again buy vinegar for this purpose unless I had something small to derust and might be lucky enough to steal some from the kitchen.

I used to use acid to derust hundreds and hundreds of steel traps at a time. I'd have gone broke doing that with vinegar, or I'd still be soaking years later!

All that said, I've been wrong plenty of times before, and if I am missing something here, it certainly won't be my last mistake!

The amount of vinegar & salt I have used could probably be purchased with a $5 bill so I don't know how much I have "wasted" using either. I keep it in a glass jar and re-use it many times, and plan to do all the tools/bolts/nuts that need cleaning in batches right after one another and unless it is horribly rusty it Is usually done in a few hours. I believe the salt is to speed up the process but I'm not a chemist and don't claim to be I just know what I've tried and how well it worked. As far as the neutralizing yes you can do that with baking soda and water, I do it 50% of the time(if I remember to) and haven't noticed a difference either way. I have had rusty old bolts that I've cleaned using this method years ago and they are still as clean as the day they came out of the vinegar same with everyone of the other tools...if I was that lucky I'd play the lotto. I'd agree it would get quite expensive doing larger projects but I wouldn't exactly call 4 pairs of pliers that fit in a Tupperware a monster of a feat either

 

[dledinger]

It's not like I think salt costs thousands of dollars; wasteful in the sense that it was unnecessary - or so I beleive, anyway. Then again, I make the kids turn the water off while they're brushing their teeth and make them eat leftovers before something else. They compain its not neccessary because we have plenty of money, I tell them it's the reason why we have plenty of money.

Regardless, if you're happy that is all that matters. Rust free tools are just the icing on the cake.

 

[jeffmoss26]

I learn something every day here on GJ

 

[sasquatch12]

The problem with freeing up that adjustable is going to be the screw seized to the small shaft that moves it back and forth.
That wrench in my opinion is almost toast.
Vinegar will remove rust nicely, but pits it cannot do anything about as the metal has been eaten away .

 

[KnurledNut]

After the adjustables vinegar bath i would soak it in ATF/Acetone 1:1.

 

[cbacres]

I just happened to get that wrench in a lot I bought last week. I pulled it out from the scrap pile to try. I don't really expect it to free up, but what the hell, let's see what happens.
I have a pressure spray can with ATF and acetone, works great.

 

[metal4130]

Is there a way to remove the staining that is left under the rust?

 

[rick carpenter]

I haven't tried vinegar and salt yet, just the plain vinegar derusting and it worked well. I always took them out of the vinegar straight into water, then blow dry, hit with WD40, then atf or oil. I read here that it could be better if you use a base solution to neutralize the acid in the vinegar then WD40/etc. Maybe washing soda?

I like the way yours look now. That's generally the point I stop at tool resto.