Any of you hambers try rust removal using molasses & water? No joke! they use this method in Australia & NZ. 7 parts water 1 part molasses. 5 gal pail of feed grade molasses at Blue Seal feeds for $20.00. I have a 275 gal. oil tank split in half & hinged. I can fit doors & fenders in.Only removes rust wont take off paint.Gets where sandblasting cant reach. just power wash the parts after.Wont harm the metal.its takes about 2-3 weeks or more depending on the rust. A friend of mine told my about this & I thought he was nuts till I tried it.
There was a thread with a couple of posts that seemed to show that the use of molasses can produce pitting on machined cast iron surfaces. Something to think about. I prefer chellation myself.
Citric acid will work, but you have to remember it is an acid (the batch I made up had a pH of 1.5). That means that it will eventually affect the base metal if you don't watch it. There seems to be a sense out there that citric acid works like Evaporust. This is not true; I have tested Evaporust (which works by chellation, an ion-exchange process I don't fully understand) and it has a pH of 7.
Food grade molasses is probably more expensive But molasses is biodegradeable I put it in my compost pile.
Oxalic acid works if you don't want to disturb paint or old chrome. I have dumped things in that were completely orange and surprised to pull them out and see them nearly fully painted, with graphics still intact. Works great on old chrome with mild surface rust too.
20 gallons of feed grade (not food grade) molasses. 7:1 mix. Wooden box lined with an old pond liner. 2 weeks. 90 years of rust.............gone!
Food grade phosphoric acid is best by far. I buy full strength and dilute 10 to 1 . Doesn’t stink. It’s what give coke the “zing!”.
I put 30 pounds($75) in my tank with water. Doesn`t stink. Takes less than a week. Hose it off at the car wash. Doesn`t flash rust. The last batch I had was 6 months old until it froze up in the winter.
My batch was 6 months old. It was frozen about 12 inches thick and lost it`s umpth. I had since bought a tank heater.
Mine was about 3'' Thick I know its been along cold winter, but how cold does it get in your neck of the woods?
It was colder than normal this year. We had more than 10 days with below 0 temps. Not including times when temps getting below zero at night.
Citric acid is very mild and works great, no stink, cheap and harmless enough its easy to dispose of when your done. Sent from my SM-J727T1 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I use citric acid too, I have a big tub for chassis parts, a couple of cat litter tubs for small parts, old pool filter baskets are good for hardware. I did the front of my hood using an under-bed storage container. I lashed the hood to my deck rail and gave it 10 days. I always neutralize the acid with baking soda and water.
Whether or not you can take rust away on chrome is what I have been wondering about. Does it harm the chrome itself ? And where do you get oxalic acid ? I have used phosphoric acid and like it but have been afraid to use it on chrome.
I think the ratio I used with water was somewhere between 5:1 and 10:1 it works well .When I hose off the part I spray it with POR15 Prep and Ready to stop flash oxidation. I used agricultural grade.
I get citric acid in 5-lb bags online, shop around for it. Last one I found on Amazon. Just looked on eBay, better deals and free shipping for the most part.
Yessir bought a zip lock bag online cheap, It goes a long way. Sent from my SM-J727T1 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I use sodium hydroxate for this. I leave it in my tank for about 15 minutes. I bought two 5 gallon pails and my tank is similar to the one below. I also use it to strip paint off of parts. Takes about a week.