Trying out Evaporust

[BFBOB]

Anything that can make rust evaporate, that's for me! I heard about this stuff, found it at O'Reilly's (I think ... maybe Auto Zone), so I gave it a try on some recent acquisitions. I bought these wrenches to get the Penncraft 1" that came with them. Seller wouldn't split 'em up. They are all in good shape, but rusty all over. My thought was just to improve their appearance, and the rust was fairly light except for some pits, so I dumped them in a plastic tray with a quart of Evaporust and waited. Just to kill time I read the instructions. Oops, didn't clean,. degrease first. So after the minimum prescribed time, half an hour, I pulled the worst of the bunch out and rinsed. It looked better, but far from good. After another half hour, I brushed them all vigorously with a nylon-bristled fingernail brush. That made a BIG difference. Another couple of hours, and they looked as you see in these photos. I dried them off, rubbed in some WD-40 and toweled them. Quite an improvement, and much better than I could have done with just a rag and penetrating oil.
Of course, I bought the stuff BEFORE I read posts here about vinegar, at 1/10 the cost!
I'm also going to try electrolysis, though I don't think it's appropriate for chrome tools.

 

[G1GRANDEUR]

Good result.

Anyone tried this brand?
http://www.metalrescue.com/home.aspx

 

[spongerich]

If the chrome is damaged, evaporust will often cause it to flake for the same reason that electrolysis does. It happens when there's oxidation under the chrome. I've had chromed pieces in my electrolysis rig. Wherever the chrome is sound it isn't affected.

I've found that you should always use evaporust in a sealed container... it seems to oxidize in the open air and lose its effectiveness much faster if left out.

 

[nine4gmc]

i have heard of people using molasses/water solution for rust removal too. idk if it will work with chrome but it works on rusty car parts/panels.

 

[davesnothere]

I too dropped the cash for evaporust before reading about vinegar.
Even though it smells worse, for the money, I'll stick with the salad dressing.

 

[billymade]

With Evaporust; it will save whatever chrome is left, acid will eat things away. ER does cost more but I like the fact that coatings will not be removed (aside from black oxide) and rubber, plastic etc. is ok as well...

 

[bimmerZ5]

 

[gsmornot]

Interesting. My first option would have been a brass brush wheel on my grinder.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

i have heard of people using molasses/water solution for rust removal too. idk if it will work with chrome but it works on rusty car parts/panels.

I use molasses on anything plated - chrome, nickel, etc. Also on tools with wood, brass, or tiny springs (e.g., pocket knives). But it's very slow and, as you can imagine, sticky to work with. I've had an old screwdriver sitting upright up to the handle in a jury rigged tube of molasses since April. Trying to clean up the markings on the ferrule which were illegible with box rot.

Everything else goes in toilet bowl cleaner. NO LONGER THAN 2 minutes. Rinse hard. Oil thoroughly. Done. I have never seen anything work better or quicker. And it's cheap.

 

[chad99]

Funny thing about that video...at the end he uses a steel wire brush wheel on a grinder to clean the parts up.I can't help but think if he would have used that wheel at the start he would have saved all the time and effort.The point I think is rust removal in situations where a wire wheel isn't appropriate.

 

[Kenwc]

Evapo-rust is great stuff. I've used it for years now on machine restorations.

It works more effciently...quicker...if you can keep the temp of the solution at about 90 degrees. The tech rep. of the folks who make it told me that and after I tried it with the higher temp I was impressed.

I've had vinegar ruin some bolts I soaked in it. They were black oxide bolts and the acid in vinegar "pickled" and knifed the threads and pretty much ruined them. They actually wabbled inside the nut after soaking whereas they threaded on firmly before soaking.

I tried a couple of the other home brew suggestions but decided to just stick what what works best for me which is E/R.

 

[BFBOB]

The experiment continues, and I'm less enchanted with Evaporust. With more heavily rusted wrenches -- unplated, rusted all over, and plated with deep pitting in a small area, the rusults are much less dramatic. The more lightly rusted wrench has, after 24 hours, pretty much returned to a bare metal look. The others have essentially turned black all over. Looks kinda like the nasty black **** formed by "rust converters" - only suitable for painting. The plated wrench has done the same thing in the deeply pitted area; the good chrome plating is unaffected.
For now, I'm leaving it to soak. We'll see.

 

[Bigpigdave]

The experiment continues, and I'm less enchanted with Evaporust. With more heavily rusted wrenches -- unplated, rusted all over, and plated with deep pitting in a small area, the rusults are much less dramatic. The more lightly rusted wrench has, after 24 hours, pretty much returned to a bare metal look. The others have essentially turned black all over. Looks kinda like the nasty black **** formed by "rust converters" - only suitable for painting. The plated wrench has done the same thing in the deeply pitted area; the good chrome plating is unaffected.
For now, I'm leaving it to soak. We'll see.

Use a green Scotch-brite pad and the black **** will come right off.
Good luck, Dave

 

[Danglerb]

I hate wire wheel on tools, ruins them in my opinion.

 

[BFBOB]

Brass wire brush, maybe, don't have one. Steel wire brush, no way. Scotchbrite?? You gotta be kidding. The abrasive in it would scratch all to hell. In my experiments, Evaporust only worked well on lightly rusted plated tools.
I turned to hydrochloric acid (muriatic if you insist) and for me, it's The Answer. I used Kleen-Strip's Green Safer stuff (25% solution) full strength, and found it dramatically improves a lightly rusted plated wrench in just a few minutes. Rust is gone, and all that's left is the pits where the rust was. No plating removal. Heavy rust takes longer, but still it's gone, leaving a plain metal surface. None of the black residue I complained about with Evaporust, and it doesn't take days. Care is needed, though because I'm sure the acid would, in time attack the good metal too. Keep an eye on it.
I even re-dipped the worst of my Evaporust trials, some old unplated wrenches that were pretty bad, and the acid removed the black ****, leaving bare metal. Pitted metal, to be sure, but metal.

I'm still going to try electrolysis one of these days, but for now acid is so quick, easy, and good I'm sticking with it.

 

[Mister Moose]

Anyone have a suggestion on the best rust remover for something un-dipable?

I have a table saw and a band saw in an unheated barn, and on humid cold days they sweat and rust the cast iron table surface. I've tried naval jelly, not very effective. Wet sanding with wet/dry paper and a fine 400 grit works, but doesn't get the lower pores in the metal. Ideas?

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I've sprayed light HCL acid solutions (e.g., again, TheWorks toilet bowl cleaner) on things too large to dip. You have more waste, of course, it's not contained - you need to be careful about inadvertent spray of other things or non-steel parts, and you may have to work the area with a pad of light steel wool, but HCL works quickly enough that a coating versus a dipping IS effective.

 

[Bruce Lancaster]

With some improv, SOME fairly big objects can be dipped in a fairly small amount of Evapo-rust or whatever.
A sheet of plastic will make anything into a dip tray for fairly thin objects...for big, irregular stuff you can make tray from cardboard box material, shore it up against collapse with bricks around the edge, and line it with your plastic. Kitchen stuff is good too, cookie trays, roast pans, etc., line'em with plastic so nothing can transfer to your supper or be provable in your divorce litigation.

 

[ckadams00]

I love evaporust. I know it is expensive but for the time is saves me wire wheeling I actually think it is pretty reasonable. I had read on here that vinegar does the same - can someone give me a tip or two?

I have some parts sitting in about 1/2 gal of distilled white vinegar for almost three days and it is sloooooowly removing some rust. Is is a matter of longer times? Am I impatient becuase I'm used to evaporust? What parts should I keep OUT of vinegar?

Be happy to make the switch to vinegar if I knew how to use it more effectively - but I am thinking I might just go get another gallong of evaporust!

 

[BFBOB]

Vinegar is 3% acetic acid, pretty weak. The two muriatic (hydrochloric) acids I've seen in hardware stores are 25% (Klean-Strip) and 31% (Sunnyside). It works much more quickly, and the fumes are correspondingly nastier. Good ventilation and gloves required for applying. Dipping in a covered container not so bad. Cost $7/gal.