Liquid rust remover?

[clovis]

A few months ago, on another non-tool forum, someone posted about a liquid rust remover that was supposed to be non-acidic, and not harmful to use.

They had given a link to a company that was selling the stuff for about $25 a gallon plus shipping.

One brand name is Evapo-Rust.

I am told that Harbor Freight has a similar product. It sells for about $25 per gallon too. 

Does anyone have experience with these type of products?

 

 

[Papaw]

Harbor Freight is not alone selling EvapoRust-
https://www.google.com/search?q=Evapo-Rust&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&channel=sb

It works, but I prefer vinegar.

[turnnut]

I use it on very rusty items, it does work well, you have to really rinse the item off good with water,
I rinse it with the garden hose, that is why I do not use it in the winter.
after rinsing, make sure that you dry it off good, get all the water out/off.
just put enough in a pan or bottle to soak the item, when done, I put paper towels in a funnel
and strain the used evapo-rust back into the container. you can use it over and over, as long
as you store it in the closed container.

my favorite is GIBBS that comes in spray cans, but is costly.

KROIL is also good, but smelly.

this is only my opinion.  let us know what you find to be the best for you.   Frank

I have a gallon of RUST BEATER that I have not tried yet.

as PAWPAW said, vinegar is good.

a friend claims that he uses olive oil.

[oldgoaly]

what are you wanting to derust? what part of the country?
I like molasses but it slows down in cold weather, it only eats the rust.
Everything else you have to keep an eye on! vinegar is an acid, so are the phosphoric acid based cleaner.  Some a using cirtic acid, but I have not tried that yet! That is supposed to less harmful to the steel!
To loosen frozen rusted part a 50/50 of ATF and acetone seems to work better than the other store bought, but store bought comes in a spray which helps you get into places you can't with a squirt can.
I've been working old rusty stuff for 40+ years heat works the best but is expensive and does ruin the heat treat so it can't be used on everything!

[Batz]

A little of topic, but is it true  phosphoric acid is the same a the kill rust type brands? Interesting as I use it as a sanitizer for brewing.

Batz

[oldgoaly]

same  phosphoric acid as in coke cola, also in some concrete cleaners like Savogran Crete-nu. That was my cheapest  and strongest local source.   Now I have been buying prep and etch at  local store http://www.wmbarr.com/product.aspx?catid=32&prodid=81  even after you derust a fender or door in molasses you have to rinse, then it flash rusts!  So I have a 55 gal barrel with my phosphoric acid solution, slosh the freshly rinsed part I do not have a flash rust problem . Very diluted phosphoric acid is also sold as metal prep for cleaning metal before painting.

[Branson]

There was a long and contentious discussion on another list about the virtues of evaporust a few months ago.   Fans of evaporust were pretty adamant.  One went so far as to claim that vinegar "could not" work.  I've used both, and frankly, there doesn't seem to be a great difference between the two. 

Except for this:  cheap white vinegar can be had for as little as $2 per gallon.  And it works.  Over night is usually long enough to do the job, sometimes less, sometimes a bit more.

[Lostmind]

I use "cleaning" vinegar. $1.87 at Walmart for a gallon. A good rinse after a 24 hour soak , and coat it with light oil.

[mrchuck]

I buy my "Evapo-Rust" a my local Northern Tool store in Tyler, Texas.
75 dollars for the 5 gallon pail.
I pour it into the plastic quart bottles.
I leave tools in in it for 3 days. Does a wonderful job.

[clovis]

Thank you for all of your replies!

Right now, I have a Rigid pipe die that is covered in surface rust. The threads look great, with virtually no wear, but the die looks like it was left on the shelf in a barn for years.

I think that if the surface rust was gone, I might get an additional $10 for it on the great auction site.

I've had mixed results using vinegar during the few times I've used it. Am I doing something wrong? 

[Lewill2]

Maybe add a little more dill seed to aid the pickling.

[rusty]

>I've had mixed results using vinegar during the few times I've used it. Am I doing something wrong? 

It won't work thru a layer of oil, so sometimes clean with soap first.
And it won't do much with some alloys and seems to do funny things to cast iron, so , results vary...
Also, if you have brass, copper, zinc or such connected to the steel, you are making a battery, really weird will things happen then....

[turnnut]

back in the 50's, we used coca cola on headlight rims and auto bumpers.

before a lot of these penetrants came out, we used a 50/50 mix of automatic transmission
fluid & kerosene for soaking parts.