Molassas Rust Removal

A very good question to which I have no sure answer. From the chemistry it attaches a sulphur atom the the oxide to lift it so probably you'd be ok but to be safe I'd go with Frank's idea and line it with plastic. I've only ever used plastic containers, ranging from 5 gallon pails to 45 gallon drums.

Greg
 
I used to haul molasses years ago. The big storage tanks, pumps, and piping were always just plain steel or cast iron. Never saw any galvanized but that may have been because it was not necessary and would have driven the cost up with no advantage gained.

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I got the grease and oil off some of the parts for the old band saw and got it into a tank of about 10 to 1 molasses. Now it looks like it is slowly bubbling or something does anyone know if it normally does that. Will keep you advised of the progress. Did not have a big enough tank, so part of it is in the solution and part is sticking out but covered up.
 
In my limited experience with the process, yes, it's supposed to do that. Mine developed quit a layer of frothy scum that looked absolutely disgusting. However, others had warned that was to be expected so I left it be.
As to the partial immersion, I've only ever done it with the whole part covered. I don't know if you're likely to get a tide line or not.

-frank
 
Yep it foams and makes some pretty disgusting looking scum as Frank said. It will start to ferment after a while and get a little ripe, I try to keep the tank covered. I've always completely submerged my parts too, read some where that you can get corrosion at the liquid line.

Greg
 
Well pulled the first group of parts out today, Where they were clean of oil and grease, it cleaned the rust real good, even under the paint,/ Some items it even seemed like it turned them blue,
Bad news is that it will eat aluminum/ pot metal badges. I think that they had a bit of corrosion on them and it cleaned it and then some.

Cleaned up the areas where the oil/grease were and also recleaned the other parts. Then put the new batch in the tank. Also had a few rusty tools laying around and threw them in as well.
 
That's very interesting about your experience with the aluminum/pot metal. I would not have guessed that to happen. I will, however, bear it in mind for future experiments. Thanks for mentioning it.

-frank
 
kvt said:
Bad news is that it will eat aluminum/ pot metal badges. I think that they had a bit of corrosion on them and it cleaned it and then some.
Click to expand...
You had aluminum and iron in electrical contact in a slightly acidic water solution. Aluminum is way above iron in the electromotive series.
 
Well pulled the last bunch of stuff out of the molasses bath. I did find out it will strip zinc off (it was a galvanized horse tank and it striped it) It also looks like it will eat pot metal real well (even if not attached to steal. But it does a real nice job on getting the rust off.
 
I dug up this old thread since i had some parts needing de rusting. Anyone know how does the molasses mixture compare with white vinegar? I just put a bunch of rusty parts in a 5 gallon pail in the garage. Dumped in a gallon of 5% vinegar straight. I plan to leave it soak and check every 24 hrs.
 
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