# Rust Removing



## acowboy (Nov 20, 2013)

Have to write on this.

I use electrolysis extensively in my rust removing on old tools, but there is times when I do want to preserve the Japanning or it's real small.
I use regular store bought lemon juice, a gallon jug runs about 4 dollars.
Free if you barrow some of your wife's. 

This I used for the spokeshave was used for cleaning 19 auger bits several plane frogs, lever caps, and blades. Should note this, I had accidentally left one auger bit in the juice about a month ago and was not harmed.

Anyone feel free to add to this thread on there methods, just wanted to let everyone know of another safe method.

Spokeshave was just cleaned off with soap and hot water, and a little finger rubbing. Except for the screw which I used a wire brush for the threads.

cowboy


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## acowboy (Nov 20, 2013)

Just an update after the cleaning with the juice.
Seymour Smith & Son spokeshave restored.


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## plus1hdcp (Nov 20, 2013)

Looks good and thanks for the tip. How long did you soak the parts in the solution.


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## MarkE (Jan 29, 2014)

I use citric acid and mix my own. 5lbs of citric acid is about $18-$20 on Amazon. Just mix with water and you can make it as strong as you need. It may end up being cheaper than the lemon juice.


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## MarkE (Jan 29, 2014)

acowboy said:


> Just an update after the cleaning with the juice.
> Seymour Smith & Son spokeshave restored.



Looks great! :thumbsup:

What did you use to recoat the body?


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## mavawreck (Nov 26, 2011)

Dang! Spokeshave looks great. You work quick.


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## acowboy (Nov 20, 2013)

plus1hdcp said:


> Looks good and thanks for the tip. How long did you soak the parts in the solution.


24 hours in lemon juice, and the paint was VHT engine enamel from Auto Zone...still needs to cure at least 7 days.

And thanks everyone for the nice comments.

Edit: Must add this, make sure your part is totally submerged in LJ or a line will develop that will hard to remove.


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## acowboy (Nov 20, 2013)

Decided to clean-up my 81, used, off course, lemon juice.

Was not in bad shape to start , so only 7 hours in a diluted LJ solution.
Here is what it looked like before the bath.


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## aztoolman (Oct 13, 2013)

Everything looks great! I have been using electrolysis/emery cloth/sand-papering/wire wheeling for a while and I have wanted to try something that is a bit "easier." I wonder how it would do with a rusted plane? 

I just picked up a Revonoc No. 6 for 2 bucks that has a fair amount of rust, although I wonder if I would need to use too much lemon juice? Perhaps lemon juice for the smalls and electrolysis for the bigger items? Just a thought..


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## acowboy (Nov 20, 2013)

On bigger parts I do electrolysis, it's a little cheaper.
But for the small parts, LJ seems to work great.

Here is the 81 now cleaned up, must add that I have been using the brake cleaner to clean the lemon juice off, plus it gets the part ready to paint if that is in the game plan.

Only brake cleaner and a small wire brush was used for the final cleaning,

Edit: Some more pics of other parts and tools clean with this process.
Two expansive auger bits,fence for a 78, one Nicholson file, before and after. 

Edit: Brake cleaner may effect the paint, use soap and water for cleaning painted parts.


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## acowboy (Nov 20, 2013)

aztoolman said:


> Everything looks great! I have been using electrolysis/emery cloth/sand-papering/wire wheeling for a while and I have wanted to try something that is a bit "easier." I wonder how it would do with a rusted plane?
> 
> I just picked up a Revonoc No. 6 for 2 bucks that has a fair amount of rust, although I wonder if I would need to use too much lemon juice? Perhaps lemon juice for the smalls and electrolysis for the bigger items? Just a thought..


Planing on maybe using it on a #8, build a trough long and high enough to exceed the dimensions of the plane. Using some heavy mill plastic and line it with plenty of excess.

Put the plane in upside down, frog off of course, pour in the lemon juice to completely cover the plane. Even a heavy ply garbage bag might work. But I am going to use a clearer type plastic drop cloth.

Here is a few 78's d-rusted.
One that was a part plane with a unusual stamp O with a U in it.


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## MasterSplinter (Jan 12, 2013)

I have seen Christopher Schwartz use citric acid in powder form. He said you can find it where people get canning supplies


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## acowboy (Nov 20, 2013)

Health food stores carry it, I think Walmart carries it in the Pharmacy area. May look around today and pick up some and try that.

This thread is about "rust removing", so if anyone want to add to it, feel free to do it please.

Electrolysis link can be found here:
http://home.comcast.net/~rexmill/planes101/electrolysis/electrolysis.htm

And timetestedtools has an excellent site here:
http://timetestedtools.wordpress.com/bench-plane-restore-the-dw-way/

Citric acid link:
http://www.wkfinetools.com/trestore/techniques/rustCitricAcid/rustCitricAcid1.asp


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## Dave Paine (May 30, 2012)

Other methods of rust removal include :

a) Evapo-Rust. Works very well, but expensive, about $30 a gallon. Available at auto parts stores, some hardware stores.

b) Oxalic acid, aka Wood bleach. I use this as an inexpensive method. I posted a thread on using this.
http://www.woodworkingtalk.com/f11/first-time-using-oxalic-acid-rust-removal-48107/


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## acowboy (Nov 20, 2013)

The Stanley OU #78 plane cleaned up, with a little cosmetic work.


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## acowboy (Nov 20, 2013)

Here is a shot of my Electrolysis set up, not quite finished yet.

Will have her going tomorrow.


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## aztoolman (Oct 13, 2013)

I like that setup, mine is a bit more hillbilly.. If I can find a pic I'll upload.


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## acowboy (Nov 20, 2013)

A very special plane bottom in for a bath.

10 gallons of water plus 10 tbls. of baking soda, this is the cheapest and easiest way to remove rust that I know of. 

Japanning may be lost doing it this way, but the plane bottom had about 40 to 50 percent loss anyways.


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## acowboy (Nov 20, 2013)

*Rust removing with lemon juice*

Made a mistake the other day, had to rush off to work and not cleaning my tools off.

Was sharpening a plane blade on some of my diamond lapidary plates, had used a spray bottle my wife had mixed vinegar and water in.
Did not clean them off when I was done. Guess the vinegar accelerated the rusting. 

The metal shaving or dust had rusted and stained the plates.
Pics below.

The last one is where I stuck about half of one in lemon juice, mind you have tried to get the stains of with cleaning...nope..till LJ.

All four plates are taking a bath before I go to work...


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## John007 (Mar 15, 2014)

Hello,

Love the end result using the Lemon Juice. I have a question though: I bought a Stanley 55 Combination Plane, I believe that is what the gentleman told me it was called. I have heard Universal plane, but anyhow it has a nickel plating on it. I want to remove the rust but I don't want the nickel plating to be affected, do you know if the Lemon Juice would solve this problem or is there something else I could do?

John


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## Gilgaron (Mar 16, 2012)

You can also extend the Evaporust shelf life by running it through a coffee filter when you're done with it to remove particulates. My second jug has lasted me far longer than my first this way.


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## acowboy (Nov 20, 2013)

John007 said:


> Hello,
> 
> Love the end result using the Lemon Juice. I have a question though: I bought a Stanley 55 Combination Plane, I believe that is what the gentleman told me it was called. I have heard Universal plane, but anyhow it has a nickel plating on it. I want to remove the rust but I don't want the nickel plating to be affected, do you know if the Lemon Juice would solve this problem or is there something else I could do?
> 
> John


On page 2 I cleaned up a Stanley 81 which is Nickel plated, the results are there.

I should point out, if there is rust underneath the plating or japanning,
what ever method you use to d-rust, that patina will come off.

And also the area you have illuminated the rust from and you get the metal bright again, it will turn dark again over time.

With that aside, I have not had any problem with the Nickel plating.

Myself I have two 45, one is slowly losing the plate, I just leave it alone.

Sometimes it is best not to do a drastic clean up if you are wanting to resell, it can affect the collectors value.


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## John007 (Mar 15, 2014)

Why did you dilute the lemon juice? Can you go full strength or is it better diluted for a nickel plated application?


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## acowboy (Nov 20, 2013)

I did not have enough to fully submerge the tool.

If the item is not fully submerged a hard to get rid of line will result.


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## BZawat (Sep 21, 2012)

Here's my solution to needing a lot of liquid to submerge large parts, like a No 7 or 8 casting, for example. 











A disposable roller pan liner, found it at my local hardware store for $3.99. It's 30x6x6. I can fit a No 7 & all the parts, or 2 No 5s and all the parts from both without needing an enormous bucket & 3 or 4 gallons of liquid. I think it took about a gallon last time I used it, and that filled it to the brim. 

Just thought I'd share ;-)


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## pweller (Mar 10, 2014)

Another solution (like BZawat) is just to put the parts in a large plastic bag. I've used some jumbo ziplock bags. Then, you can either hang the bag, or put it inside of a close-fitting cardboard box. Either way, you can use a minimum of liquid to cover your parts.


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## Dave Paine (May 30, 2012)

pweller said:


> Another solution (like BZawat) is just to put the parts in a large plastic bag. I've used some jumbo ziplock bags.


I have used ziplock bags at times. It is a convenient way to submerge the parts.

I just recommend you have the bag in some other container just in case the bag develops a leak. It has happened to me a few times. I am careful placing the parts in the bag, but sometimes "Murphy" gets into places we do not want.

I put my bags in a paint roller tray. Easier to catch any leaks than have to mop them off the floor.


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## acowboy (Nov 20, 2013)

*Rust removing using vinegar*

I have used Lemon Juice in most of my d-rusting.
Heard and read about using vinegar. Here is documentation of using it, and the results.

Parts are from a #7 Stanley plane, just put them in this mourning.

The plane bottom will be cleaned using electrolysis, have a small issue and using this method will help me. 

Hope this will help others.:thumbsup:


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## acowboy (Nov 20, 2013)

Update on using Vinegar,

Was in the solution for 24 hours, parts where cleaned of with hot water and dish soap.A brass brush was used also.

My thought, Vinegar eats away the softer iron faster than lemon juice,
it does clean good but lemon juice does a better job.

Oxidation of the metal parts after clean up is faster after using Vinegar.
Wont use it again.. 

Time to buff the parts out, and some light oil..


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## acowboy (Nov 20, 2013)

I should give a heads up on the use of Vinegar for clean-ups.

Here is a few pics of the lever cap of the #7,
Thought it was just pitted bad, but Dave Paine pointed out, it could be etching of the metal instead.

Thought I might give a head up on it...to me it looks different and kind of art-full..but would hate to see someone ruin there's.


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