Removing a rust mark on sail

[GH29]

Much to my dismay, when my sails came back from my sailmaker there was an approximately 4 inch square rust mark in the centre of the gyb. No doubt you can guess my reaction. After searching this Forum for advice, I tried lemon juice and then white vinegar to no avail. However HG (Textile) Stain Away No 7 removed the stain after about two hours and the sail is back to pure white again. I obtained the stain remover from eBay at a cost of £2.87 and can highly recommend it. Now what have I done with the sailmaker's bill ...?

 

[Mistroma]

Or you could buy 500gms of oxalic acid for around the same cost and use about 20gms to clean the stain. Pretty much guaranteed to work just as well. I might look up the active agent in Stain Away No.7 if I have time (v. high probability that it will list it as oxalic acid).


Update: It only took about 1 minute to confirm that it contains 5-15% oxalic acid. So 200mls would contain around 20gms on average.

http://www.homecareessentials.co.uk/media/datasheets/Stainaway7_5.04.pdf

 

[macd]

+1 on Mistroma's post. I'm no stranger to the marvels of oxalic, but have not used it on sails. My sailmaker, though, says it's fine.

 

[Niander]

ive tried oxalic in the past for this same thing and been disappointed with the results

 

[LadyInBed]

Update: It only took about 1 minute to confirm that it contains 5-15% oxalic acid.
So 200mls would contain around 20gms on average.

I understand 15% but what does 5-15% mean?

 

[VicS]

I understand 15% but what does 5-15% mean?

Between 5% and 15% ... in other words they are not saying excactly what the concentration is.

 

[GH29]

The HG No 7 container does state that it contains oxalic acid, but no mention of the concentration. I'm just extremely pleased and relieved at how effective it was in solving the problem. The sail is as good as new. Might help a fellow seafarer if they have the same problem

 

[Mistroma]

ive tried oxalic in the past for this same thing and been disappointed with the results

Depends on what the stain was and also the temperature. Oxalic works quickly at 20C but you could leave it for many many hours at 5C. Cutoff is around 10C but well worth getting to at least 15C. If it doesn't move at that temp. then oxalic won't work.

Of course the oxalic based products wouldn't work then either. But you can pay more to be in exactly the same situation where it either works or not. I prefer the cheaper option.

The HG7 hazard data only mentions oxalic acid somewhere between 5 - 15% so that's the active ingredient and they'll probably add some non-ionic surfactants. I'm happy to stick with 10% oxalic acid solution and add a drop of washing up liquid to help penetration.

 

[ghostlymoron]

I've got a brown rust stain on my carpet. Do you think oxalic acid would remove this? Or might it bleach it? Carpet is wool light green.