De-rusting lotta steel

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this is about 25% of what i have.

Any suggestions welcome.

thanks

gary

Reply to
vrgolf
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5 gal buckets and phosphoric acid. Get the acid from Home Depot, etc in the paint prep section

Or drag the chains on a gravel road.

Reply to
karltownsend.NOT

Looks to be tire chains. Why bother derusting them? Put them on, the wear parts get shiny, then they rust all summer (less if you wash & oil them when you take them off, and store them inside) repeat until they fall apart. That's life as a tire chain.

Phosphoric acid probably does a quicker job, citric acid may be better if you are going to forget about them for a long time.

Tossing them in a cement mixer with a load of sharp sand might also work, but likely the hooks will catch on something and make a mess. Might depend on the design of the mixer.

Reply to
Ecnerwal

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Run them as is. The rough rust will give you extra bite.....

Tire chains live a tough life, They get used during the worst conditions then get stored. If you do want to clean them give them a bath in acid. Rinse VERY WELL then dunk them in paint/bluing solution or maybe plate them with zinc.

Reply to
Steve W.

Bucked with diluted muriatic acid.

Then wash in a very hot water with baking soda, then dry quickly and oil.

i

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Reply to
Ignoramus18557

Pressure wash them in a driveway and let them sun dry out. Get a 5 gallon bucket - put them inside and add an oil rag on the top. Close (chains dry) - and the heat will vaporize the oil inside the can.

Mart>

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Reply to
Martin Eastburn

Reason is, I have to cary these in the underbunk sideboxes of the truck, and the rust "sheds" and makes a godawful mess. Need to clean them up(easier) or spend days cleaning the sideboxes.

Any suggestions re: how much of the recomended acids for 4 X the amount of steel shown?

thanks

gary

Reply to
vrgolf

If you use hydrochloric (muriatic), a one-gallon jug from Home Depot will de-rust your chains for a lifetime.

I use it for de-rusting and for stripping the zinc off of EMT. FWIW, I don't recommend Iggy's suggestion of using baking soda or washing soda to neutralize it. Some folks more knowledgable than me have pointed out that it creates salts, which can stay in the pores of the steel that are opened up with the acid. I just wash it real well with water. Deionized water is used in industry for this purpose. I have some pieces of EMT that I treated this way around seven or eight years ago and then laid them on a shelf in my humid basement, without oiling. They still are rust-free.

But I'm with Gunner and the others who say don't bother. If they're a problem in your truck, just dry them good, spray them with some LPS, and wrap them in a couple of heavy lawn-trash bags.

Reply to
Ed Huntress

I beg to disagree.

I have taken to neutralizing all steel that I pickle in acid (I have used several). The key is to rinse afterwards, preferably dry carefully and oil.

I have found that non-neutralized steel continued to rust more.

I agree about the de-ionized water - all the final rinses are done this way, particularly if the steel has been carefully degreased.

Michael Koblic, Campbell River, BC

Reply to
mkoblic

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