Rusty tools

westhinder

westhinder

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I have been given a number of tools that apparently have been kept in a salt environment, they are coated in a salty, rusty crust. As far as I can tell, it is all superficial and the tools are worth recuperating. They are now soaking in warm water to remove that salty crust, but what is the next step? Soaking them in Coke? in a solution of oxalic acid? Anything better suited?
 
Depends what the tools are.
Maybe remove rust with wet and dry or wire brush.
Jenolite or other phosphoric acid.
wipe with oil?
 
Clean off the rough stuff and soak them for about two weeks in a 10% solution of molasses, stirred every day.
Stinks a bit but is the most effective ever.
When washed off and dried they will tend to rust again very quickly so coat them with some anti rust coating to stop them rusting again.

Do not use for brass or aluminium as it will disappear!
 
I keep a stock of ACF 50 both on the boat and in my garage.
A light spray will both neutralise rust and prevent it coming back. In the boat tool box I have a rag which holds enough of the fluid for a wipe-down of any tools I have used before putting them away.
Its also very good at getting rid of verdigris on electrical connections.
 
I'd use 10% HCl. But you'll need to coat them with something immediately afterward or they start rusting again. After acid cleaning, rinse in water then immerse in oil.
Be careful with HCl, even 10%.
 
Many thanks for your suggestions.
I have soaked the tools in oxalic acid as that is what I have immediately available. After a couple of hours quite a lot of the crust has come off, so I will leave them overnight to soak further. I think I will try wire brushing afterwards and then coat with a rust inhibitor. My local DIY carries Hammerite, so it will be one of their products.
 
Prepare a shallow plastic tray filled with vinegar. Soak the tools in in it, overnight. The rust will fall of and the tools will go black. Take them out and wire brush them. Then rinse them in fresh water and dry immediately. Then give them a coat of marine varnish. Grease any joints or working parts. Works a treat, and cheap.
 
There has been several threads recently about removing rust from steel or iron products, so here is my view.

Most acids will remove rust but the stronger the quicker it will work. We all know about oxalic acid and HCA (brick cleaner)

In industries that process steel products like the car industry when I worked in that industry the body in white would pass through several preparation/wash baths including HCA with one of the last being phosphoric acid ,dry then wash and final dry before priming. This may have changed in the last 30od year.

IMHO the key is to eliminate all iron oxide (rust). The other possibility is to convert ALL the rust to an inactive product.

As far as removing ALL the rust IMHO grit blast or HCA is the best but as there will allow the steel to flash rust quickly it must be done in a low humidity environment. Grinding is also possible but that removes lots of material to get ALL the rust from any cavities. This may be OK and a thick keel but a steel deck would be too thin to do thick.

The wash and quick dry after using HCA is most important.

When I grit blast my boat it was winter in Johannesburg so no rain for 3 months and humidity in the 30% range so very little if any flash rust took place.

Two possible solutions if flash rusting does happen is to use phosphoric acid or rust converter. The rust converter would work as the flash rust would be very thin unless left for a long time and the converter would get to ALL the rust.

The fact that the rust converter MUST convert ALL the rust is very important as if there is any unconverted rust left, rusting will start again very quickly. With all the usual ways or removing loose rust it is almost impossible for any rust converter painted on the surface to convert ALL the rust. It will work some times, some times not.

One other think to consider when protecting steel with paint is that all paint is hydroscopic to some extent some better than others. I used epoxy tar as the data I looked showed it was less hydroscopic than others, also dry film thickness is important, the thicker better.

When my tools get rusty if its heavy rust I soak then in HCA then phosphoric acid followed by oiling. If the rust is light I just use phosphoric acid then oiling.
 
You gotta try Evaporust, Rogershaw!
No connection- just a complete convert and evangelist of their product! Rusty tools (I'm around wet salty boats daily) are a quick fix, and non-ferrous metals aren't affected. Even siezed tools (pliers lost in an engine bilge) are readily saved, but that's a whole 'nother story!
 
Available from the agents here in CT. Reusable insofar as it seems to get saturated with the removed rust. Last price was about ZAR 135/litre- well worth it I'd say! Dropped my ageing Marples chisels in for a spa treatment and they came out looking "befok" as they say down here!
 
I remember using phosphoric acid many years to treat the inside of the chassis on my TVR (which turned up on Top Gear several years later :D). I sprayed it inside the chassis and just left it there. It produces a white phosphate layer and if you scratch it off rust starts again. However, any excess phosphoric acid left just heals the scratch with more phosphate. Slightly surprised to see it used on tools as I expect a residual white powdery coating once acid washed off and surface dries.

Interesting to find out about Evapo-Rust and I had a quick look expecting it to contain a chelating agent such as EDTA. Unfortunately, the composition is a trade secret and they infer that contains sulphur. My best guess then would be something like a compound related to Dimercaprol (but longer chain with some S03H to make it water soluble?). I'd expect it to perform a lot better than phosphoric acid or even EDTA. Not enough information to make a DIY batch though. :D

So it is probably worth looking for to help keep boat tools in good condition.
 
Last edited:
Adamastor said:
Available from the agents here in CT. Reusable insofar as it seems to get saturated with the removed rust. Last price was about ZAR 135/litre- well worth it I'd say! Dropped my ageing Marples chisels in for a spa treatment and they came out looking "befok" as they say down here!
Click to expand...

Web site only has a cel phone (mobile) and no physical address. Do you have a physical address as daughter is in Cape Town quite often and so could get me some to try.
 
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