Removing Surface Rust from iron

Any suggestions on removing surface rust from machined cast iron surfaces?

From time to time I salvage a machine from someone's garage or barn and clean it up. Big jig saw, jointer, and latest is a 14" band saw. Usually the table surface has light rust.

I've used steel wool, and Scotchbrite, with oil, and it seems to work OK. It's a lot of hand work though, and for some strange reason the table surface turns kind of black.

Any other suggestions for methods or materials?

Rich

Reply to
Rich
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Wire brushes! Hand or power, see: ohiobrush.com

Reply to
Tom Gardner

I HIGHLY recommend Tom's brushes. In fact I used one yesterday morning to remove the old gasket from the water pump housing when I had to change out the waterpump. (damnit) One small enough to fit in a cordless drill and get into the engine compartment.

I use quite a number of his various brushes in my machine shop and on the welding bench.

Gunner

"Gunner, you are the same ridiculous liberal f--k you ever where." Scipio

Reply to
Gunner

WIRE BRUSH RULES:

  1. Buy brush
  2. Use brush once
  3. Throw brush away
  4. See rule #1

Reply to
Tom Gardner

Hee Hee. Funny. But you do realize you are *not* helping your own cause with that one?

The crappy Taiwan Harbor Fright throwaway brushes I would expect to only last one or two hard uses, and be frazzled or broken out enough to require tossing...

-->--

(PS: Your counter is broken.)

Reply to
Bruce L. Bergman

For light speckled rust, you're using the right stuff. Doing things that way won't cause a lot of wear on the machined surfaces. I like to use LPS 1, but WD40 also works. Soak first, overnight, then go at it.

For really heavy rust on painted surfaces or non-critical areas, you can use powered wire brushes or a phosphoric acid-based rust remover. An old standby is Naval Jelly. If you use it, you'll have to have an area where you can wash the stuff off and oil it up immediately. This is where WD40 is good, LPS 1 also works for water displacement. If you use LPS 1, you can follow it up with LPS 3 for long-term rust prevention.

Your iron surfaces turning black after removing the rust is undoubedly a partial rust bluing. I have a multi-great-grandfather's Civil War sword I rescued from my grandparents' coal bin, it was one mass of rust from end to end, grip was long gone. I used a fine wire brush to remove the rust, turned out to have the nicest blue finish underneath, along with a mass of pits. These swords were originally bright with a polished finish.

Stan

Reply to
stans4

Amazingly enough, I hardly penetrate the trades anymore due to imports. My only customers left in that arena are some mill supplies that sell to pros and the Gov.. My biggest sector is food-service anymore.

Reply to
Tom Gardner

and thats a damned shame as Ive posted before yur brushes are GOOD stuff

Gunner

snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com...

"Gunner, you are the same ridiculous liberal f--k you ever where." Scipio

Reply to
Gunner

Thanks! I wish there was a market for "REALLY GOOD" brushes. I would know how to make such. As it is now, I cut a lot of corners to keep the price down.

Reply to
Tom Gardner

For light rust I like to use steel wool and oil or Diesel fuel.

If the rust is so bad it requires some serious elbow grease, I'd suggest one of the following:

1) phosphoric acid 2) soaking in a solution of vinegar and table salt 3) electrolysis

I've given a number of electrolysis demonstrations and have prepared a handout on the topic. It's not Web friendly, but you can go to this site and print it out for yourself.

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Orrin

Reply to
Orrin Iseminger

Just out of curiosity Tom...

Are you _really_ using cadmium plated steel on your Handle Braces???

Mark Rand RTFM

Reply to
Mark Rand

Just buy a pint of goog old "Blackstrap Molasses" and slather it on. Wash it off tomorrow, and the rust is GONE. (assuming it is thin rust, not heavy flakey rust)

Reply to
nospam.clare.nce

I recommend Evaporust. I used it on my last project machine and was very satisfied. See the results:

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Here is the commercial advertisement:
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However, it is available in small quantities from WalMart.

Reply to
Gene Kearns

Use a belt sander with a fine grit, and a light pressure, and keep it moving.

John

Reply to
john

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gunner

It's not unwise to remember that Mother Nature is essentially a murderous, sneakly, promiscuous bitch who has been trying to kill you since your conception.

Eventually she will succeed, perhaps with the help of your fellow man.

Life consists in putting off the inevitable as long as possible and taking what good and joy you can before her success.

Whether you attribute that situation to evolutionary forces, a fallen nature after Adam and Eve screwed the pooch, or whatever, it's no less true.

Be friendly, pleasant, unaggressive, and honest toward all and be prepared to ignore, avoid, or even kill anyone who is otherwise toward you. Being ready doesn't mean eager, just ready. What true friends are found in life will undestand and accept that fundamental rule of human interaction." John Husvar

Reply to
Gunner

Sorry...kneejerk reaction.

Might I suggest a 1/4 or half sheet sander and some 200 grit followed by some 400 grit?

Though, I simply use a fine wire wheel in a 4.5" right angle grinder most of the time. And it doesnt break any sharp edges

Then followed up with a liberal coat of Johnsons paste wax. Works pretty well when doing cast iron table saw tops too.

Gunner

"The French are a smallish, monkey-looking bunch and not dressed any better, on average, than the citizens of Baltimore. True, you can sit outside in Paris and drink little cups of coffee, but why this is more stylish than sitting inside and drinking large glasses of whiskey I don't know." -- P.J O'Rourke (1989)

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Reply to
Gunner

No, they are zichrome plated...whatever that is.

Reply to
Tom Gardner

I missed the staff meeting but the minutes show Gunner wrote back on Sat, 08 Jan 2005 06:35:13 GMT in rec.crafts.metalworking :

Johnson paste wax was what we used on the table tops for a pin router. Wax up the table, then you could slide the templates around with a lot less effort. Same for table saws.

Reply to
pyotr filipivich

On Fri, 07 Jan 2005 20:56:21 -0500, Gene Kearns calmly ranted:

I can't seem to get onto your site here or the homepage.

Wow, looks like really good stuff.

It doesn't come up on the Walmart website. What's the cost?

--- - Sarcasm is just one more service we offer. -

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Reply to
Larry Jaques

On Sat, 08 Jan 2005 05:54:09 GMT, Gunner calmly ranted:

Well, a fine grit on a belt sandah sure beats a 24 grit 10" disc on an angle grinder, eh? John doesn't deserve to buy used equipment from any of us, the heathen. ;)

--- - Sarcasm is just one more service we offer. -

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Reply to
Larry Jaques

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