Here’s the best heavy rust dissolver for smaller parts like nuts and bolts that you’re probably not aware of and is probably in your kitchen.

[BlazerBill]

I try to use less chemically harsh solutions for dissolving heavy rust and old paint through soaking parts like nuts and bolts and I’ve tried darn near every rust neutralizer and acid chemicals on the market that are also harder to dispose and of course have used diesel fuel. Several years ago, I poured 10% common Vinegar into a rusty 1980’s motorcycle gas tank and after about a week, all the rust was gone. Well, I recently saw 80% strength vinegar on Amazon. Lower % strengths are also available. I ordered the 80% to see what it would do so I soaked some very heavily rusted bolts and washers. The washers were solidly rusted onto the bolts. I also soaked some other old heavily painted over bolts. I soaked them all in the vinegar for a whole week and to my amazement the rust was 95% dissolved and the old paint was loosened. With additional very light hand wire brushing all the loose corrosion and paint was removed. Before, soaking them I had even tried powered wire wheel brushing (which is a PITA and can literally be painful) with no significant removal of the heavier rust under the loose surface rust. This 80% vinegar is serious stuff and the smell will knock your socks off and be damn sure to use goggles and heavy rubber gloves. Vinegar is the next best method without having a media blaster or a parts tumbler or solvent tank for smaller parts. The vinegar even removed the rust in the rust pits. See pics attached. I didn’t think it would work to remove this level of rust so I didn’t take before pics but took the after soaking pics and after light hand wire brushing and water rinse to remove the gunk. You could try to spray it onto vertical surfaces like with Fast Etch but of course it won’t stay on very well. Keep in mind the vinegar was clear colored before soaking the rusty parts.

 

[78C10BigTen]

I use vinegar for my gun restoration projects but you cant use it on bluing because itll eat it off. Works very well for removing rust and helping loosen stuck parts.

 

[78C10BigTen]

Heres some results ive had... this gun was literally pulled from a dirt driveway in a mud puddle. It was rusted solid and unrecognizable.

Before:

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After:

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[Chevy 88]

I agree, Vinegar is a great cleaner. From my understanding, many good cleaners are acidic. The only thing I have found that works better than vinegar is battery acid, which can be used in much fewer situations and is far more hazardous to work with.

On a side note:

- Short version: Vinegar is a deodorizer/neutralizer.

- Long version:

I did find one very strange thing about vinegar. For something that smells so bad, its an excellent deodorizer / neutralizer. For example: I took an entire household of stuff and put it in a huge shop. All this stuff had been subjected to heavy cigarette smoke for many years. Two people chain smoking and they never opened the windows. A lot of the stuff had a "tacky" feel to it, and everything was slightly brown. Needless to say, it all REEKED of cigarette smoke. Walking into the shop was like a punch in the face of odor. If I took an item from the shop and brought it into the house, it would stink up that corner of the room - so I had to send the items back to the shop. I tried leaving the main shop door open for days with fans running, which did not help at all. So after Googling the problem, I wound up putting a cereal bowl of vinegar in the corner of the shop to solve the odor problem. Needless to say I was very skeptical. I figured that I would just be covering up the cigarette smell with something that smelled worse. So after a couple days, I went back into the shop to get some tools. Did the repair I was working on and then went back to the shop and put the tools away. After leaving the shop, I realized that I had not smelled smoke at all. I went back into the shop, and sure enough- the cigarette smell was gone! I took an item out of the shop and gave it a whiff - just the slightest smell of smoke, but it was very very faint. I checked the bowl of vinegar and it was strangely completely empty?? So I refilled the bowl just for good measure. I had some of the items stored at a different location, so I went there and that stuff still reeked of smoke. So I put a bowl of vinegar with that stuff, and sure as **** it worked! I have no idea how vinegar could not only eliminate the odor in the air, but also neutralize the source of the smell. Does the vinegar evaporate, and then stick to the source of the stink? I don't know - but it sure works great. So if you have a room that smells bad, just put a bowl of vinegar in there and apparently it somehow solves the problem. I would not have believed it if I had not seen it with... Uh.. if I had not smelled it with my own nose... And then not smelled it with my own nose.

 

[HotRodPC]

I know a buy who says he uses Vinegar in one of those HF sonic parts washers. I've seen a few of his items and they are clean as brand new.

 

[Ricko1966]

Citric acid works better than vinegar. Used in canning and soda pop etc. But you can buy it cheap online I just buy it at Walmart. Do your own research,but I think once you try citric acid,you won't use vinegar anymore. Not that vinegar is bad,just citric acid works better and is more versatile.

 

[BlazerBill]

You might want to compare it to the 80% strength vinegar that I used to see which works best on heavy corrosion. Common vinegar is only 10% although citric smells much better!

 

[emoze]

bodyman buddy says Pool muriatic acid is superb - can get it EZ at any Home Depot or Lowes

 

[Selo]

Regarding removing rust from parts......Evaporust is fantastic stuff for parts of a size that can be submerged. Here's the web page for info.<https://www.evapo-rust.com/> Nothing on the web page is BS. I have used this a lot for my 84 C10 and my 85 Jeep CJ7 parts and it is awesome. It ain't cheap, but it is reusable and non-corrosive. You don't even have to wear gloves! The one thing to know is the stuff must be warm to work well. The company says works between 60 and 90F. I find it works best closer to 90. I have put containers with submerged parts on a heating pad when my garage is cold. Warm it up, submerge the part, give it a few hours (I like over night) and you will be impressed with what it can do. It works on rust only and will not begin to corrode the metal like vinegar. Forget it for a couple of days, and it will do no harm to the base metal, only the rust. When finished, put back in the jug to use again when needed. It costs about $28 a gallon!!, but 30% vinegar (acetic acid) costs about $20 a gallon and is corrosive as hell and ain't exactly safe. I know I sound like I work for them. I do not. I use this stuff a lot. I have been disappointed with YouTube videos about it. The youtube dodahs never give it sufficient time to work and seem never to warm it up so it can work properly. I understand there is now a gel available, but I have yet to use it, but plan to. Cheers, Selo

 

[PrairieDrifter]

Regarding removing rust from parts......Evaporust is fantastic stuff for parts of a size that can be submerged. Here's the web page for info.<https://www.evapo-rust.com/> Nothing on the web page is BS. I have used this a lot for my 84 C10 and my 85 Jeep CJ7 parts and it is awesome. It ain't cheap, but it is reusable and non-corrosive. You don't even have to wear gloves! The one thing to know is the stuff must be warm to work well. The company says works between 60 and 90F. I find it works best closer to 90. I have put containers with submerged parts on a heating pad when my garage is cold. Warm it up, submerge the part, give it a few hours (I like over night) and you will be impressed with what it can do. It works on rust only and will not begin to corrode the metal like vinegar. Forget it for a couple of days, and it will do no harm to the base metal, only the rust. When finished, put back in the jug to use again when needed. It costs about $28 a gallon!!, but 30% vinegar (acetic acid) costs about $20 a gallon and is corrosive as hell and ain't exactly safe. I know I sound like I work for them. I do not. I use this stuff a lot. I have been disappointed with YouTube videos about it. The youtube dodahs never give it sufficient time to work and seem never to warm it up so it can work properly. I understand there is now a gel available, but I have yet to use it, but plan to. Cheers, Selo

I'm a believer in evaporust. It really is a set it and forget it product. Dump your rusty crap in and forget it, then it comes out perfect.

This had some rust and pitting and paint on it, did nothing but soak it in evaporust.

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[Radiohead]

I seem to run across rusty tools a lot lately and for my first batch I used standard household vinegar. Soaked for a few days then as I pulled each piece out I scrubbed the crap outta them with a brass brush. Damn if it didn't impart a coating of sorts deposited onto the surface. Haven't had anything re-rust yet. Climate control in the bread truck is hit and miss, can't keep any cardboard or paper goods out there over winter and the treated tools look as they did when they were cleaned. Next batch used 30% vinegar with much quicker results (overnight) and I wondered about muratic acid too. Good info, I want to try the evaporust too.

 

[Trucksareforwork]

My experience:

Household (5%) vinegar is good. I have used it to de-rust a lot of parts over time. Messy. No protective layer.

Cleaning vinegar (I think I bought a 5 gallon pail of 25% a few years back) is very good. Works fast. Messy. Leaves no protective layer. Your parts start rusting the moment they hit air.

Evaporrust is good. Not cheap.

Phosphoric acid metal prep (ospho) is outstanding for large area treatment. Cheap. Easy, and leaves a protective layer.

Muriatic is too aggressive for my taste. I can leave something in vinegar for days. Not so w muriatic.

I’m intrigued by electrolysis for delicate parts but haven’t taken the plunge. I use a sonic cleaner with pine sol and it is suprisingly good.

I have a pouch of citric acid that I used to remove stain from butcher block that I’ll have to try rust removal with. Didn’t know that use.

 

[vr1967]

I’m intrigued by electrolysis for delicate parts but haven’t taken the plunge. I use a sonic cleaner with pine sol and it is suprisingly good.

I like electrolysis for a lot of stuff. This is an old plane of my grandfather’s that I found a few years back in a bucket in back of the barn. Completely frozen / rusted up.

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I could have just glass bead blasted it, and been done, but stuck it in my small electrolysis tank (5gal bucket setup) and a few days later, was able to easily disassemble.

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I just assembled it back and put on the mantel, so it’s dusty. I could probably have done a little more “restoration” work to it, but I have others I use, and the last person who probably used this one was my grandfather, who passed in the early 90s, so I’m content with it.

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Lots of good ideas in this thread on ways to clean parts. I’ve got several others I use, but am taking notes, as I am willing to try new ways.

 

[Johnny Atomic]

I'm still liking the Evaporust. it still shocks me how well it works and doesn't remove any metal (except that which is already gone).

 

[SquareRoot]

I'm a big fan of throw that Sh*t away. If ya really need it, buy another one. If they don't make it anymore, you don't need it.