Cheap alternative to Evaporust

I have used it. Cleaned up a couple of bins full of rusty tools that really got messed up in a fire and they look as perfect as a formerly rusty tool can. Oiled them back up and back in the tool box. All the tools are rust free now.

And yes, it does exactly what he says it does. It lasts at least several times as long as Evaporust for a given amount and works faster.

Good stuff. I have the necessary ingredients to make about 10 more gallons of it and keep the recipe in the box with the stuff.

It's obviously slightly more aggressive than Evaporust but as he said in the video, the ridiculously small attack rate per 24 hours in solution is meaningless. If you are using chemical remediation in the first place, you aren't worried about 1 micron of metal being removed if it sits in it for a day.

The important thing is that it gets the job done and gets all the rust off in a reasonable amount of time. Which this does do.

I'll be using it again, frequently.

I did get quite a bit of it on my hands while cleaning all the tools up. No ill effects at all. It is fairly non toxic, but I wouldn't cover myself in it intentionally.
 
I've still got the ingredients from making it several years ago. I had screwed up and let the fumes from hydrochloric acid rust some things. I keep my chemicals in a locked plastic garden tool cabinet outside.
 
I just tried this last night. Using Na carbonate.

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I took some rusty screws and submerged them. I got a lot more gas production than you see with Evaporust.
The screws were mostly zinc plated and they definitely got darker from the reaction. This happens with Evaporust but to a lesser degree in my experience.
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The screws on the right are chrome plated and did not discolor.
I measured the pH of my solution and it was about 3 even though I followed his recipe. I don't know how he calculated the stoichiometry but I may add some more Na carbonate and try to get up to 5. Evaporust has a pH of around 6.
I guess what we are making here is really just a citrate buffer system? Would it really attack rust if the pH was neutral?
 
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