# Vinegar Works  !!!



## ARM (Dec 21, 2016)

Hi Guys
We tried Mr Pete 222222's suggested method of using ordinary Household White Spirit Vinegar to remove RUST, and  Man, were we most pleasantly surprised.
It worked like a charm.
U only need good ol' Mr Patience to accompany Nephew Elbow Grease for a while, and Bob's your Uncle  !!!
Soaked the pieces for a couple of days, then gave them a good wire brushing under running Water, and Man, the layers of years of crud just got scrubbed-off.  
You can eyeball the original piece in the background of the pic.
Note the heavy gross pitting from Years of lying around and nobody wanting this hidden treasure, literally.
It was indeed a most pleasant and enjoyable experience to bring this chunk of rusted iron back to gleaming life as it required hardly or no polishing at all.
Hidden treasure no doubt.  And all it required was some effort on our part.
So don't disregard that ol' crusty rusty chunk of junk.  
You have the ability and the Tooling to will it into personal treasures for posterity.
Just our two cents for the day !!!
aRM


----------



## randyjaco (Dec 21, 2016)

I agree. I have been using it for years.  It seems that everyone else would rather pay for Evaporust.  I sure can't tell the difference between the results of the two.
 If I want faster results I use pool acid. 

Randy


----------



## Subwayrocket (Dec 21, 2016)

After reading so many people going on about Evaporust I tried it ...It works just ok ...and for the price I won't buy it again .
I'm going to try the Vinegar , thanks for sharing . My buddy runs a scrap yard where I get alot of alumin and steel stock , he's got another pile where people dump what looks like garage and basement cleanouts ...that pile has always got alot of
good tools , many hardly used but with light rust . Will be trying the vinegar soon !


----------



## ARM (Dec 21, 2016)

randyjaco said:


> I agree. I have been using it for years.  It seems that everyone else would rather pay for Evaporust.  I sure can't tell the difference between the results of the two.
> If I want faster results I use pool acid.
> 
> Randy


Hi Randy.
Thanks for telling us about Evapo and Pool Acid. We use Pool Acid to etch our Blades and Damasteel Blades. Is it not a bit too aggressive ???
aRM


----------



## savarin (Dec 21, 2016)

It also works great to remove mill scale from hot rolled mild steel.


----------



## ARM (Dec 21, 2016)

Subwayrocket said:


> After reading so many people going on about Evaporust I tried it ...It works just ok ...and for the price I won't buy it again .
> I'm going to try the Vinegar , thanks for sharing . My buddy runs a scrap yard where I get alot of amlu and steel stock , he's got another pile where people dump what looks like garage and basement cleanouts ...that pile has always got alot of
> good tools , many hardly used but with light rust . Will be trying the vinegar soon !


Aye, aye,  Cap'n or is it Major  !!!
Only a pleasure, Sir
I even included a few Brass hinges in that lot, and surprisingly, they look like new
Yes, have seen that U Guys across the pond have tremendous access to very usable, good quality, cheap sources for Tools. Can only drool over Your Flea Market buys as well.
All the best and Stay Safe
aRM


----------



## ARM (Dec 21, 2016)

savarin said:


> It also works great to remove mill scale from hot rolled mild steel.


Thanks for that
Will give that a go
aRM


----------



## silence dogood (Dec 21, 2016)

I use vinegar  for removing both rust and zinc.  Yes, vinegar is slow and may take up to three days to remove zinc.  On large pieces of metal, I lay vinegar soaked paper towels on the metal and then cover that with some plastic wrap.  However that makes it easy to monitor, unless you forget about it for three months, its hard to over do it. The other thing is that its about as safe as you can get.  The only thing that I'm not sure about is would there be a problem in making springs more brittle.


----------



## Charles Spencer (Dec 22, 2016)

I've been using vinegar as my go to for things I can fit in a coffee can or plastic tub.  I get it for $1.69 per gallon.  I tried Evapo Rust.  It's OK but the cost vs. speed factor is not sufficient for me.


----------



## savarin (Dec 22, 2016)

pic 4 and 5 to see vinegar in action during and after
http://www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/a-vertical-slide-for-a-9x20-lathe.49724/


----------



## randyjaco (Dec 22, 2016)

Yes pool acid is both aggressive and dangerous.  But it is  cheap and works very quickly.  I can take all the rust off a badly rusted file in about 15 minutes. For heavy rust and scale you just can't beat it.
 Just be safe.  Wear the proper protective equipment and remember the safety rules. 

If I have surface rust on a good tool, I'll go with vinegar. Much less of a safety risk and much less damage to fine surfaces. 

Randy


----------



## q20v (Dec 22, 2016)

savarin said:


> pic 4 and 5 to see vinegar in action during and after
> http://www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/a-vertical-slide-for-a-9x20-lathe.49724/



If I read that correctly, you had the vinegar warmed up? I just went through de-rusting a bunch of parts but hand (wire wheel, sanding, cursing, etc) and it was a pain. I like this vinegar idea.


----------



## savarin (Dec 22, 2016)

Nope, just as it comes, mind you with an air temp here of 33'C its warm already.
The cooking reference is just my warped sense of humour as I used to be a chef.
It was a two day soak in that thin plastic butchers tray some steaks came in.


----------



## q20v (Dec 23, 2016)

Thanks for the info!


----------



## 428Bird (Dec 25, 2016)

This works great with no etching. It will however strip chrome right off. I treated a badly rusted 4 jaw chuck body and with some intermediate scrubbing with a brass brush, it came out looking almost good as new. Can't beat the price either.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S7 using Tapatalk.


----------



## LsSix (Jan 9, 2017)

I did this with some odds and ends off my Vernon and liked the results well enough, Im still biased towards electrolysis though as enough vinegar to do face plates and other large parts would get a bit spendy compared to a box of soda and tap water.

Incidentally, both options seem to continue working even when the liquid is fairly frozen.

I have to thaw the T slot plate out of a block of ice on my coming days off

Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk


----------

