Cleaning up rusty tools, bolts, engine parts!

[Mayor]

Hey gang.....
Been tinkering around with some new tools this winter and some of the tooling was rusty. So I decided there had too be a better way than wire wheeling, sanding, electrolysis, or buying de-rust which costs lots of money. I wanted something simple that would work on its own. My answer was simple and cheap and does an amazing job. White Vinegar!. Yep...just put all the rusty tools in a bucket, pour white vinegar over them until they are covered.....and let them sit for 24 hours.
Remove the tools and rinse thoroughly, then add water and baking soda too neutralize the acid in the vinegar. Rinse several more times.
Now then, using rubber gloves or latex gloves, scrub the parts with warm soapy water and a stiff bristled or wire brush.....the rust will wipe right off!.
Rinse in hot water so the parts will get warm and dry quickly once rinsed!. Dry parts really good and at this point, you can either oil them and wipe them off and use them.....or.....buff them with a soft wire wheel on your bench grinder if you want them really shiny and clean.

This method works great and is quick and easy too do with very little cost involved....baking soda and vinegar are very cheap at the dollar general store!.
I've only done two batches of small parts in a quart jar and I've used the same vinegar for both batches with great results!.

I immediately thought of cub cadet parts and kohler parts!.......so easy too do and the parts come out looking like new!.
I had two drill chucks that were rusty and one was stuck.....they both came out clean and work like new without forcing anything.....when I took them out of the vinegar, they spun freely in my hand. So stuck tools shouldnt be a problem anymore!!!!.
Give it a shot.....I think you'll like the results!.

[Mayor]

Here's a pic. of what I done so far......only took about 30 minutes too do all these!.

[dag1450]

I love it and it works great, i have done lots of cub hardware. You do have to watch it will take off zinc or cadmium plating. I have never tried the baking soda to rinse just hot water. The hard part will b putting the zinc plating back on as i hope to do real soon. Dave

[Mayor]

After further testing of this method and cleaning a ton of parts....I've made and important discovery!. Vinegar will eat up aluminum allow. Vinegar will also destroy spring steel!. I had an L.S. Starrett Divider soaking as Rhonda had brought one home in a box of rummage sale junk tools and they were a little rusty. I noticed the spring was broken when I took them out of the bucket. I also had a cheap aluminum frame compass and the spring circle was broken on it also when I took it out of the bucket. Two in one bucket is more than just a coincedence!. I dont know what causes this...someone enlighten me!.

Parts all came out great though!!!!.

p.s. I've already contacted Starrett for a new spring!.

[Tom Scott]

Tony - Unless you want to get into chemistry, it is just a case of the aluminum being more reactive to the acid. White vinegar is pretty acidic, that's why it works.

I cleaned my aluminum humidifier pad in the vinegar, but I only left it in for about 15 minutes because I knew it would start reacting.

As for the spring steel, I am not sure why, it must be more reactive as well.

I appreciate this thread you started because I just hadn't thought of it for this use. I actually soaked my parts tonight before I painted them. They were not rusty, but were both new steel with mill slag and some were chrome. I sanded on them all I could with a belt sander then threw them in the bucket of vinegar. I figured it would etch some of the chrome remnants enough that maybe the paint would stay on. We shall see...

An hour later there was evidence that the vinegar had removed a bit of stuff I couldn't reach with the sanding. I neutralized by washing with dishwashing liquid soap and water, real hot, then dried by the woodstove.

For anyone that gets steel real clean like this, it will rust very quickly (that day if humid) if you don't get some paint or oil on it. A little oil goes a long way on steel.

[BigMike]

I have not ried chemicals and probably should but I still like electrolysis.
I use a wall paper tray,some expanded metal formed to fit inside,TSP cleaner(tri sodium phosphate) and a 6/12/24 volt battery charger I bought on clearance and I have great luck.

[dag1450]

I like these two for rust removal, the phosphoric acid works fast but i found u cant really reuse it and there for can get expensive, the vinegar can take a few days but i reuse over and over even though it turns rust colored. most of my 450 blower hardware has been derusted (some surface rust has formed from sitting so long) and waiting for final cleaning before plating. I have also found some thin washers can fail

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[JMotuzick]

Dave
how long do you let the hardware sit in the vinegar for?
Ive got a 5 gallon bucket of IH and WP headed bolts that I need to blast and get to the plater normally this much hardware word take me about 3 or 4 weeks worth of blasting and sorting every night after work and even longer time frames on the weekend. I'l like to be able to dump and gallon or so of vinegar in the bucket and a few days later pull it out and blast sort and repeat….. thanks for the idea guys! for the bigger stuff i'll stick to the electrolysis for now…..

[dag1450]

Joe i have left parts in the vinager for maybe 4 or 5 days with no problems that i could see. Maybe one of our science guys would know if 5% will harm steel. I have found when i remove thing from vinager(while still wet) it needs light hand work so i grab any brush i have handy, an old tooth brush or i did get a 3 pack of wire tooth brushes at the dollar store to remove the film of rust gunk . Like Tom said, i also rinse in super hot water to aid in the quickest drying possable to prevent flash rusting. Now the phosphoric acid u can clean and if u dont wash with water it will not flash rust for weeks, kind of a presevitive till u r ready to paint or plate. In my last post i said that the phosphoric acid was not reuseable and im just wondering if it was because of the zinc that was stripped off the bolts and now in the solution so when i would reuse it i would get black deposits on the hardware and they did not want to come off. Dave

[tbdavis123]

Speaking of electrolysis, I have some old engine blocks that have been freshly bored and need to clean up the outsides. Don't want to blast anything for fear of damaging fresh surfaces so was thinking about electrolysis but have never tried it. I know a wire wheel will get most of it off but looking for something that'll get into the tighter spots. Any thoughts or advice?

[rdehli]

I have been looking for a low cost method of cleaning up rusty tools , parts etc around the shop . I was using Gunk carb cleaner in the gallon can but that is like $15.00 per gallon of solvent. and will take a week or more to work on rusty parts and pieces. Im gonna give the vinegar a test.

[dag1450]

Well Rob, how did it work for ya. Have any pics ?

[JMotuzick]

I started a test run today with some IH hardware, I started with this:

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After spending 30 minutes Storting and adding a jug of Vinager I picked up:

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Ill keep an eye on things and drain them out in a day or so... Hopefully this will degrease and preclean most of the parts making it easier for me to sandblast!

[JMotuzick]

well I couldn't wait and I'm happy I didn't!
After I took the second picture I watched the bucket of bolts bubble and foam. After a short time the vinegar went from clear to a brown sludge. I drained and stained off the vinegar and asI did this I sorted out the bolts to those needing more and those that where basically clean. Dirty went back in the vinegar and clean got dusted with baking soda and then sand blasted dry. I'll finish blasting in the nest few days/weeks. the rest will get washed and sorted after work tomorrow…..

[dag1450]

Good work Joe ! I have found that the vinegar wont work unless the items have been degreased prior to treatment. Do u have a blasting cabinet ? I have to do mine outside. someday i would like a small cabinet. Dave

[JMotuzick]

Dave
I have a small top load skat blast cabanet it works great for most small parts. I just did a set of rims for 10.50 tires that's about the biggest thing I would fit in there. If I need to do bigger parts my father has a small harbor freight presure pot. I could also drop them off at the shop in town after all he is cub freindly!