Tim , beautifully presented concise test. The acids all did well except citric . There is also toilet bowl cleaner which has hydrochloric aka muriatic acid for $2 that does a decent job. Just like i asked Todd at Project Farm when he did his test, it is important to note which rust treatment does the job best without removing too much metal for intricate shaped parts. Please weigh samples before and after to let viewers know conclusively which method dissolves rust without taking too much metal in the process. GREAT JOB !!!
The acids work well. Molasses has sulfuric acid but it's dilute... needs more time to work. Vinegar (and apple cider vinegar) are acetic acid solutions. Citric acid and transmission fluid a non starter as the acid doesn't form a solution with it. Naval jelly is predominantly phosphoric acid. You have a repeat from first video as muriatic acid is aka hydrochloric acid. Many rust treatment products are phosphoric acid based with a small addition of chromium and/or zinc sulfate. Nice job.
I think people are confusing diesel as a rust inhibitor vs a rust remover. In the subsea oil and gas industry, some pieces of equipment would be filled with diesel for storage to prevent rust from forming in bores etc.
Haha best part two vid I've ever seen to this day, kept laughing at the laser part. Love how you can film with no audio and still get a loud crack out of me. Actions truely speak louder then words. Thanks for your time, effort and money spent in sharing your knowledge with us. New subscriber. Was wondering why there were no commercials in this vid. Was planning to let it run to help your channel. Oh and thanks for your analysis. It really helped me to select which option to go for. Take care and God bless
Wow! I'm quite impressed with the results of the apple cider vinegar! Might not smell great, but I'd bet it's a hell of a lot cheaper than most of those other contestants.
Acidic 👍 Same as Ketchup, it works because of the vinegar in it which is acidic. Hydrochloric and Muriatic Acid are the same thing essentially and both Acids. Citric acid as well. The weaker the acidity the longer it takes but less damage risk. The higher the acidity the faster the reaction but higher risk. Some acids perform better then others as well.
@@larrycleary9987 How'd you go with that? There's a guy on RU-vid that based his channel of restoring cast iron stuff. I think he mixed Vinegar and water in a spray gun and would give it a spray then scrub with a scotchbrite pad.
I like both videos but: Can you do a rust removal video with nice parts that only have spots of rust on them to see which removes the rust but does NOT stain or harm the rest of the finish? like for instance with gage blocks or something with a ground/polished, or chrome surface?
That's the big issue IMO. Caustic methods will probably attack the underlying metal - so you have to monitor closely and remove the part before any substantial metal removal happens. That's one of the nice things about EvapoRust, WD40 rust remover and similar chelating rust removers. You can leave the part in without monitoring and not worry about the metal being attacked.
Excellent videos and thanks for your work. It would be greal if you could do another series of videos of mold removers from fabrics as it's often part of our restoration projects !
Do you use phosphoric acid? The one on the market is called Wink!. Many cautions on the label but I've used for years on all manner of fabric and fiber with pretty good success. Never any damage either. I have not ever used it on auto upholstery or carpeting. No real reason other than fear. Restoration is an interesting and complex procedure. Glad you people exist.
Yes the molasses needs time. I have a tub of it sitting in the corner of the garage, and just put whatever in there that needs rust removed. It grows a little mold from time to time, doesn't seem to matter. I scoop it off. I guess I like that it is totally not toxic to anybody, or anybody's pets, and I don't get in much of a hurry any more. After a couple weeks, there is no sign of rust at all.
I just ran an experiment for rust removal. I had a 100-inch rusty bicycle cable that rusted under the plastic coating. I cut the coating off, coiled it up, put it in the pressure cooker with enough vinegar to cover, and pressure cooked it for two hours. The rust was gone and the metal was black. I dried it off and slid an 8-foot length of shrink tube over it and voila a new cable housing. I'm extremely pleased with the result.
Citric acid works well mixed with plain water, and is cheaper than vinegar in the long run. Why anyone would suggest mixing it with an oil is beyond me--that creates a film that keeps the acid away from the rusty surface.
75g Citric acid In Australia costs $2.25AUD, and 2Litres of White Vinegar costs $2.20AUD... I have a hospital water distiller that came with Citric acid, it failed to clean the boiler pot, but the vinegar just covering the floor of the pot with enough water at half an inch boiled for 15 minutes is enough to instantly clean and silver shine the steel base of the pot..
@@TheOzTube Yikes! Why so expensive there? I think I spent less than $5 US on a jar large enough to make 50 gallons. And, since it's a powder, I can mix my own concentration. Added bonus: the house doesn't smell like a cider press.
@@kova1577 I bought mine at a Walmart, but the stuff is actually very common in the US. Find it wherever home canning supplies are sold--it's intended for preserving tomatoes and making pickles. Surely this can't be an activity unique to Americans...we learned food preservation from our foreign friends. Meanwhile, I don't dispute that vinegar does the job; it just ends up costing more, and smelling like...vinegar.
Leave all the samples on the work bench for a week, and then check them again. I ber they all start rusting again - except the naval jelly. Which has phosphoric acid in it. The reason it won't start to rust immediately again, is that the acid leaves a protective layer of phosphate on the metal. Forget all the other stuff! Phosphoric acid - or really any fluid that contains this acid is the way to go. The stronger the acid, the shorter reaction time You need.
Tim, good episode. Back in the day, I always used naval jelly on rusted parts, but if I had none I'd use vinegar. Ketchup has a lot of vinegar in it and with acid from tomatoes I wasn't surprised at the results. Between your two episodes on rust removers, you've covered all I knew of and many I never heard of or tried. You and yours have a safe and happy thanksgiving and cheers from this old retired coot living in Tennessee.💖 👍 😷 🍻 ✌
There's another one that nobody has thought about. Jet fuel. Buddy of mine used to work as an avionics mechanic and he would use it to clean up aircraft gas tanks.
I really enjoyed BOTH videos. It was like a science experiment back in school! I've been looking for something cheap safe and effective to remove rust on cast iron and also on clothing. I bought a bunch of gallons of cheap vinegar to pour over white t-shirts that got rust on them when they were left on wire hangers before being put in storage, (damp storage unfortunately). I guess I'll start soaking them! Looks like a winner to me. I'm not sure about the safety of some of the other chemicals on cotton fabric. Thank you for your straight forward no nonsense videos. They were Interesting. So what's next professor? I hope you'll keep sharing videos like this. I'd never be able to take the time or spend the money to find out what the best solution is. Really appreciated! 🤩😁🤔
@@mikellgroff I do not know, maybe someone else knows and he will write to you . But I left a very rusty (old rust) saw for the night wrapped in a cloth soaked in plain white vinegar. And the saw came out really nice. - I closed with nylon bag that would not stink and dried. For example a bike chain with a bit of rust I left for two hours, came out fine
Excellent trials, congrats.. A couple of comments on the use of oxalic acid : 1) It will work much faster with warm/hot mixture as it will probably also be the case with other acids/products tried in the video. To mention that such hot mixtures produce evaporation imposing open air work. 2) The light green compound produced by the chemical reaction is iron oxalate that progressively adopts a brown colour under sunlight as a result of a photo-chemical reaction. This phenomenom was exploited in the early years of photography.
This video was a great idea. I had no idea that so many products could do the trick. I believe the products that do the complete job and are the safest to use is the way to go. Common sense...
Working on my first restoration project at the moment and been using cider vinegar at the recommendation of a friend. Good to know it's one of the more effective choices! :)
Vinegar is often cited as a good natural cleaner like lemon. Ketchup has a lot of vinegar in it. It was cool to see them work in these experiments though.
Phosphoric Acid is the principal component in acid etch primers. It is easily available as Concrete and Metal cleaner. It is virtually identical to Evapo-Rust and much less expensive. I purchase the C&M Cleaner at my neighborhood Lowe's. The acid removers are far more effective than the old wive's tale removers but have their disadvantages. Leave untreated metal in hydrochloric or citric acid too long and you can return to find all the metal dissolved. Not so with phosphoric acid, which results in a coating of ferric phosphate which as we have just seen is an ideal substrate for subsequent finishing once it has been cleaned and any excess removed.
Great reply! Very educational for me. And I'm the kind of person who usually has to learn lessons like that the hard way. I had allowed a pair of shorts to remain wet for too long ... they developed mold ... a friend said to me, "Vinegar is really good for that." I didn't look up how to do it. I just poured water into a bucket and poured in a bunch of vinegar. Then, unfortunately, I "just let it soak ... and soak". When I pulled the pants out, the mold was gone! ... and the zipper was rendered completely useless. Could no longer zip it up or zip it down. It looked like it had been "chewed on" by the vinegar.
Great video ! Thanks for trying my suggestion about the Naval Jelly, though I did forget to mention the use of Ospho. I began using it when I got into painting motorcycles. Does a great job of rust removal and prevent re-rusting as well !! And you can paint right over it with no problems.
@@brandonr.klrcrazy No, I wouldn't mix the 2 together. The chemical reaction could be bad for your health and possibly the metal you're working on. Best to use them separately.
@@brandonr.klrcrazy I've painted over Ospho many times and it turned out beautiful. Now understand, I've only used it on Motorcycles that don't get ridden in the winter, so the body parts aren't exposed to road salt like cars are, so I have no way to give any report on that subject.
Should definitely compare the white vinegar with the apple sider vinegar. That would be very good to know. Also wondering if a person could mix them with some sort of paste so that it could be brushed on like the jelly or the ketchup but be stronger than the ketchup
Apple cider vinegar was the real MVP here, it's food safe, relatively cheap, and easy to get. I don't have any suggestions, but next time it might be nice to see one soaked in plain water as a control! Sort of like you noted with kerosene, just soaking might have been what did it.
Try cleaning vinegar. It's 7% acidic vs 5% for cooking. Then there's 30% vinegar at home depot, give that a try or industrial hydrogen peroxide if you can get it. Phosphoric Acid is my go to. Easy to find in hardware stores and is the main ingredient in Naval Jelly.
Apple Cider Vinegar also works as a nice degreaser. It’s a combo of the acid and enzymes that will break down lots of things. Also you can make it hella cheap by the truck load with a cider press and some janky apples. Might be useful for derusting large parts that don’t fit in the blasting cabinet.
Pretty sure the molasses treatment involves a fermentation process with wild or introduced yeasts and keeping a controlled temperature conducive to growth.
Hey Tim. Great video series. The acids worked great, as did the vinegar. The naval jelly really surprised me and I would probably pick that as my go to. I would try bleu cheese salad dressing. Not because it would work... but because I ran out. Cheers! ~ John
Vinegar IS an acid - acetic acid. But with all acids, they will start to attack the metal once they've done with the rust, so don't leave them in too long.
Muriatic acid is HCl that has been standardized to be 31.45% HCl by weight. Depending on how you source your HCl the concentration can vary greatly. The active ingredient in most toilet bowl cleaners is also HCl, unless it is one of the bleach based cleaners. HCl and bleach aren't friends.
I loved your comparisons of everyday items you probably already have at home to remove rust from small pieces. However, you didn’t show how to use on large items or items you can’t take apart. I have lawn art figures that have rusted and not sure how to tackle them. Any suggestions are welcome 😊
Uric acid is still an acid, just weak. Better than water, if that's all you have in a state of desperation. 😆 Tomato based products are also actually pretty acidic. Beer salt isn't weird, just a waste of good beer salt! (That stuff has gotten expensive and harder to find).
For the weird versions I would use the cheapest that gets the job done, which is probably white cleaning vinegar which is lower ph than normal white vinegar.
Phosphoric acid is a good rust remover. It is used in auto body repair. Also known as Metal Etch. If you read the label of Coca-Cola it contains phosphoric acid which may be why people think it works, but obviously not.
Very interesting. Apple cider kicked it outta the park...... I'm thinking about being able to afford one for large items..... Sandblaster wants too much money to do all I want to do. . I'll have to figure out which is best for huge stationary items, to, like vehicles. Read that rust converter and inhibitor was not a good way to go which is why I came to RU-vid today and ran into your videos.... I'm no pro. Trying to restore a few things, that's all.
Many fruits and vegetables and products made from them have Oxalic Acid in them which is why they mildly work. Your example of molasses, ketchup and potatoes are good examples. Although apparently potato skins contain more than the potato. So all are really just weaker variations of your Oxalic Acid test.
try lemon juice. I live in Canada and it sold in 945 ml. bottles in Costco or Superstore. It works great for my small applications. Thank you for the video.
I would you were able to try brake fluid. As it is used in automotive industry for the brake systems, keeps all components pretty clean and rust free. There are different DOT number values , but It's been used for 9 forevers in vehicles to stop em. Thank you sir for these attemps of comparison.
Your vedio presentation is good for comparison of different types of chemical reactions. Very informative for beginners. I know phosphoric acid is also good surface cleaner ( for Fe base)
Check weights of each also also try round pipe for acurate and total decays in curve and straight surface Allready done good job very informative videos. Also try tamarind ripe and unripe powder also vitamin C tab pure citrus solutions and their cider vinegar etc.
I have used naval jelly on some very rusty cast iron crockery. It worked very well, but you have to season or seal the pan soon after because the surface is totally stripped. I am amazed cider vinegar worked so well. I wonder what it does to your insides?
made spaghetti sauce in college in a cheap aluminum pot, just put the leftover in the frig...ate all the sauce up eventually and washed the pot....next time I went to boil some water with it the damn stove was covered in water!! couldn't figure what the hell happened?!! took it to the sink to add more water and then I discovered! The tomato sauce had eaten pin holes all though the aluminum pot!!!
I’d say the Cider Vinegar is best option for price point... the Naval Jelly definitely has its applications tho, maybe make a jelly with ketchup and cider vinegar mixed...
I'm surprised the citric acid didn't do so well, I've used it quite effectively before. Maybe it was the transmission fluid that caused the issue? I've always used it with water. And yeah, the various fuels are just people getting mixed up. They work fairly well as a DIY degreaser, but they aren't meant to do anything to rust.
I think so, those fluids lean towards alkaline when new (and makes sense, you don't want your engine or trans corroded by acids) and would impact the citric acid's efficacy.
Excelente segunda parte sobre ¿Qué removedor de óxido es mejor? , para mi el acido clorhidrico, naval jelly y el oxalic acid son los que tienen mejor respuesta al momento de quitar el oxido,mis respetos y saludos amigo.
my first time here... Liked the vinegar look.I use Rustmort since 1978 (autobody). I sandblast heavier metals,like your springs, bolts etc then soak in bath w/rustmort or even the apple cider vinegar might work as well. Always concerned of reaching the roots of rust that one cant see after sandblasting,hoping the rustmort, or vinegar will soak into those tiny leading roots of rust. Might want to look into Rustmort . It has been available only from autobody shops,I think it still is . Good Job BTW whats the diff subscribing personalized vs all ?
I know that these videos are a liitle old, but maybe if you are going to do one mort part of rust removers test - interesting what results would show something like CarPro Iron X which is used to remove iron parts from car body and rims also some wheels cleaners with acid or also with iron removers (bleeding ones). Thanks!
Vinegar is the best. I use it all the time. You cant beat it. 3 days done. To long and it eats it away more so small stuff. the writing on things will disappear for sure
I forgot to suggest tests of : drain cleaner , acteone , liquid gel toilet bowl cleaner w/ 9% muriatic acid, oxy clean with vinegar. There is a European rust treatment called MC-51 not yet available in states which is supposed to work 90% better than most biodegradable cleaners. As a restorer it is important to know which treatment does'nt take too much good metal with the bad. Krud Kutter must for rust also did an excellent job as Project Farm showed in his test. It would be nice to know if all these chemicals from biodegradable to harsh with electrolysis thrown in are better than media blasting.
Greetings from the Ohio Porters. I have an 18 foot trailer that has a rusted roof. I’m thinking that I shall try the Apple vinegar on it, but my other concern is how it may affect the sides and the finish on those sides. How long do you think I would need to give it to work? I thought about sandblasting, but the top would be a big area to work on and maybe quite messy. Any thoughts? It would be a good video, too. Thanks for doing this video. It’s gotten me thinking a bit more about it. 🤩
How would you keep the apple vinegar on the roof long enough to work? I think he let that soak for about 24 hours. I'd check, but I'm afraid I'd lose this comment. Bright side, any AV that got on the sides of your trailer can be immediately washed off and do no damage. If you try/have tried this, I'd like to hear how it went.
Thank You so much I am going to derust the inside my bumpers on the inside of inside my truck and had NO idea what to do I checked the auto part stores big money for there stuff in little bottles and my truck is a 95 ford xl with massive bumpers on front and back, I was going to mix up a batch and brush it on, Any Ideas how long it should set? I wired brushed it down good, I watched both your videos they were great.
Hydrochloric acid? Why didn't that totally dissolve the metal? It has three whole days right? That thing should have been gone in a few hours it was so thin
