Pics: before, during, & after. Shows how Vinegar & Salt works.

All · Jun 3, 2013

Here are some pics of the results of vinegar and salt derusting. Before and after comparison at the end of this post.

No boring videos waiting for water to boil or watching grass grow... just a few pics of pauses along the way to see interesting turning points in the process.

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Just to remind you what the before was like, without you having to scroll back up...

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I've tried Evaporust. Heck, I've put my money where my mouth is and bought 6 gallons of it. It doesn't work like vinegar & salt does.

And the cost? Vinegar $2.00 + salt $1.00 = $3.00 a gallon. Compared with $30.00 a gallon for EvapoRust at Harbor Frieght. Or on Sale? Vinegar $1.59 a gallon compared with the current and rare "hot deal" of $15.99 a gallon.

Please pass me the salt, thank you!

:thumbup:

930dreamer · Jun 3, 2013

That looks and worked great. :thumbup:

wnstwolf · Jun 3, 2013

Very slick.. If you were to boil it in used motor oil or something would it hold off the rust from coming back?

jimmyhugh · Jun 3, 2013

Pretty cool. What is the timeframe of the pictures?

pendragon1998 · Jun 3, 2013

Will that not start to aggressively rust again unless oiled?

J king · Jun 3, 2013

Too cool.gotta try that now.. What's the measurements for the two ingredients.

patrickn · Jun 3, 2013

What is the mixture ratio and time frame it took for those results?
Awesome

Kevin54 · Jun 3, 2013

Damn!!!!!

How much salt to how much vinegar?

Thanks for posting that and I will be using the recipe :thumbup:

shiftdrift · Jun 3, 2013

Heres some of mine. Picked a bunch of stuff up at a garage sale that was Rusty, put it in vinegar and salt for 3 days, took them out and wiped off with rag, put in soap and water and then wiped off. No wire brushing.

DanarchyCustoms · Jun 3, 2013

Awesome pictures and write up. Definitely going to use this in the future when needed.

jtbinvalrico · Jun 3, 2013

Bookmarked.

:beer:

Haveblue · Jun 3, 2013

I should have taken pics, but after reading about this method here before, I tried it on some VERY badly rusted channelocks, and pliers. I used about a quart of white vinegar and a few tablespoons of salt in an aluminum baking pan. I set the pan in the sun to warm it a couple of times, then left it to set in the garage for a week. You could see the foaming action, and the rust just falling off, I am still amazed! I cleaned the pan and soaked them in about the same ratio of water and baking soda. I just pulled them this weekend, and washed them with soapy water. The rust had already taken off the chrome plating, but they arent pitted, and look pretty good! I didnt even use a wire brush on them, and the rust is gone! I havent decided yet, but i may just try polishing them, and see how that goes.

sophijo · Jun 3, 2013

Here's another that works. Examples can be found on YouTube. About $9/10 gallons. One part feed grade molasses (Tractor Supply) to nine parts water.

goodboy · Jun 4, 2013

i just finished using the same idea to remove the black crust/slag thats on hot rolled steel...

i didnt add salt though.. but ya it worked...and much faster than i thought i would... an afternoon of spraying on the vinegar (keeping the 2'x8' foot sheets for a bench top wet with vinagar) the slag was almost all gone... and what twas left was no problem for my tiny 1/4 sheet sander

I read muriatic acid was the stuff to use...but when I went to home depo and asked if they had any the looked at me like I was a terrorist...lol

Big-Foot · Jun 4, 2013

Very cool...

I read on another site, that the ratio of vinegar to salt was controlled by how much salt you could get to dissolve in the vinegar. IE mixing in salt until the vinegar would no longer dissolve the salt.

I have a jeep wrangler with a rusty chassis, I don't want to tear into the whole jeep and try to submerge the chassis, what I would like to have is something that I can spray on and hose off, or just spray it and it turns the rust into a hard coating to protect the steel underneath.. I'm probably dreaming though..

Automatic Slim · Jun 4, 2013

, thx

spongerich · Jun 4, 2013

That's great, plus when you're done, you can use put the salt and vinegar on potato chips so there's no disposal issues.

willbrown82 · Jun 4, 2013

Would this work for a motorcycle gas tank, rusty inside?

Big-Foot · Jun 4, 2013

spongerich said:
That's great, plus when you're done, you can use put the salt and vinegar on potato chips so there's no disposal issues.

Uuuuurp!

got2boostit2 · Jun 4, 2013

I'm in......

Iron-Iceberg · Jun 4, 2013

goodboy said:
I read muriatic acid was the stuff to use...but when I went to home depo and asked if they had any the looked at me like I was a terrorist...lol

muriatic acid is outdoors in the pool section. U just got a lazy employe.

mayday0017 · Jun 4, 2013

Great idea for cleaning inside of rusty motorcycle gas tank, wish I would of known about this when I was a kid and always had problems with filters and what not clogging on my old hand me down dirt bike with the rusted gas tank!

IndyGarage · Jun 4, 2013

The only problem is the smell. My 5 gallon bucket of vinegar/salt practically knocks me down when I open it.

InPrimer · Jun 4, 2013

about muriatic acid,be careful nasty stuff , eats skin, lungs, etc does a great job, but will "flash " into surface rust right away, in other words, dry object asap

Mandres · Jun 4, 2013

Cool! Any chemists around to explain exactly what's happening here? What role does the salt play?

mod600 · Jun 4, 2013

Any idea if this would work on Black Oxide coated impact sockets without taking the Black Oxide coating off? I've got some with some surface rust on them.

kams1973 · Jun 4, 2013

mod600 said:
Any idea if this would work on Black Oxide coated impact sockets without taking the Black Oxide coating off? I've got some with some surface rust on them.

If you soak as long as the op did the chain, the oxide will be gone.

Lhorn · Jun 4, 2013

wow, I was fixin' to throw up about half way through those pictures. Glad I stiffled the urge. Looks like a cool process.

nonhog · Jun 4, 2013

never heard of the salt part. Thanks for that. :beer:

I did this brand new 454 balancer that has been sitting for 20 years.
Just a day (or two?) in the vinegar bath. Quick wipe down and WD40.
Could have spent more time and made it perfect. As is was good enough.

zcar751 · Jun 4, 2013

willbrown82 said:
Would this work for a motorcycle gas tank, rusty inside?

No it only works on the out side of metal.

Big-Foot · Jun 4, 2013

willbrown82 said:
Would this work for a motorcycle gas tank, rusty inside?

zcar751 said:
No it only works on the out side of metal.

Yeah right.... Metal knows when it's on the inside verses the outside... :lol_hitti

p_mori7 · Jun 4, 2013

zcar751 said:
No it only works on the out side of metal.

What ?

I would leave the cap off and do half the tank at a time, flushing the goo out thoroughly after each half.

All · Jun 4, 2013

For my next trick, I'm making an electrolysis tub, and using vinegar and salt as the electrolyte.

I just need to get it far enough away from the house, but not too near any neighboring properties, to allow enough air space to dilute the hydrogen gas.

And I need the right cartridges for the respirator.

And now I need some rusty metal, 'cause I temporarily ran out with all my other experiments.

NHBandit · Jun 4, 2013

Does anyone know if the vinegar & salt solution will hurt plastic ? I have some old straight razors that were wrapped in newspaper & then stored in a damp basement and the blades have alot of surface rust. Would like to try this but I'm concerned about it hurting the handles. Some of these razors are over 100 years old and have some collector value.

Wingnut65 · Jun 4, 2013

Thanks for posting this procedure. I had learned of the vinegar on GJ a while ago here: Vinegar For Rust Awesome! , but I had never heard about adding salt to the mix. I've got plenty around...

And for the electrolysis, I've used just water in a 5 gallon bucket and kept it in my garage. Never had an issue with fumes. But using vingar and sugar could cause issues...

Mike Miller · Jun 5, 2013

When your done with the salt vinegar solution you can add a little liquid dish soap to it for a wetting agent and use it for weed killer.

countrytech · Jun 5, 2013

pendragon1998 said:
Will that not start to aggressively rust again unless oiled?

I'm curious about this as well.

Anyone know?

Kevin54 · Jun 5, 2013

All said:
For my next trick, I'm making an electrolysis tub, and using vinegar and salt as the electrolyte.

I just need to get it far enough away from the house, but not too near any neighboring properties, to allow enough air space to dilute the hydrogen gas.

And I need the right cartridges for the respirator.

And now I need some rusty metal, 'cause I temporarily ran out with all my other experiments.

If you have neighbors, you MAY just want to inform them as to what is going on. I really don't think you would want the SWAT Team and Hazmat to show up thinking that you're cooking some crack :lol_hitti

HTGTS350 · Jun 5, 2013

I had a neighbour who was cooking crack and when I reported it to the police I got investigated, turns out the cook was selling 2 sorts of crack to the police.

930dreamer · Jun 5, 2013

Does it matter if it's white or cider vinegar?

Pics: before, during, & after. Shows how Vinegar & Salt works.

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