Concrete tamper

"Steve B" fired this volley in news:_I5Jp.44233$ snipped-for-privacy@news.usenetserver.com:

Mechanical shock. Put the screen down on a wooden surface, and start banging a small wood block on top of the screen with a heavy hammer.

Most of the grod will flake off.

If you're up to the time and noise to do it, a needle scaler will clean it up nicely.

LLoyd

Offer it to Mythbusters - they did a nice job on a truck agitator full of concrete with a few sticks of explosive!!

DON'T apply anything oily unless its clean. Any residue left after taking Steve's advice should clean up fairly easily with a wire brush after a good soak in kettle descaler. Once its clean, keep it well waxed and if you look after your tools, and don't lend it to lazy jerks it will be easy enough to keep clean.

Wasn't much left of that truck after they got done with it, though.

Straight vinegar would probably work. But for $5 at the pool store, you can get a gallon of muriatic acid which works instantly. Dilute it by pouring an ounce into ten ounces of water. Pour on, wait a few, and the concrete slides off. Neutralize with baking powder

That'll rust the portion which isn't covered in cement.

NO.

A brush and water, wipe or air-dry, and oil 'er up.

-- The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools. --Herbert Spencer

I know a guy who used to drive a cement truck. Someone brought a load back in and parked it. The next day, they were wondering how stuck it was. Some bright engineer suggested they start it up and spin it a few times. My buddy said he backed way off because he knew what would happen. On the second revolution, the truck flopped on its side.

Steve

I also vote for muriatic acid, it works great on concrete.

It also rusts steel.

i > >

First, it strips rust that's already there. Then it starts eating clean steel. As it wears out, and if it's exposed to the air (oxygen), it rusts the steel again.

I hesitated to recommend it because you want to catch it in this application before it starts eating steel. But Larry is right. It attacks concrete pretty fast, although it doesn't *penetrate* concrete very fast. It works on the exposed surface and eats the lime, which should weaken the conrete's grip on the steel.

If you stay there with it, you shouldn't have a problem with it attacking the steel. It's not very fast at that. Just don't walk away and let it work for hours.

Yeah, the fumes are very active on steel.

A bucket full of sand with waste oil poured on it works well to sand and oil after cleaning. Jab the tool into it and it abrades minor rust off while oiling up the tool.

-- The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools. --Herbert Spencer

I got a BUNCH of the corrugated steel that is made to rust. It has like S waves in it. I'm going to make it into window awnings soon. Looks very rustic. I was wondering how to advance the rust process, and may make a chamber that I can speed up the rusting process on some of them. They are all laid in a stack, and the top one is nice and evenly rusty, but down through the pile, it varies. I'd like to make them all alike, but don't want to have to age them for a year or three in the real weather.

Steve

Getting an even finish on Cor-Ten and the like is the subject of a lot of controversy. What works for one doesn't seem to work for another.

In recent years, I've seen several architectural users recommend soda-blasting. They say it results in an even finish.

I agree mechanical shock if it is at all thick. After that I would use phosphoric acid. If you get it at Tractor Supply Corp , it is not much more expensive than muriatic acid. $12 a gallon. Sold for cleaning piping at dairies.

Dan

It's fairly easy to control. Takes a special pot if you don't want to use impractical quantities, it's pretty expensive if you don't control the flow rate carefully. It also kills nearby vegetation better than Round Up, and it's not so great if it drifts over to polished aluminum wheels...