What to do with rusted tools?

[markyscott]

Ok - first off , I recommend you treat your tools better than this. But what do you do when you'll accidentally leave your shears on the bench? And why the heck does this work?

Poor rusted shears ...



Alka-Seltzer (original strength) ...



A nice alka-seltzer bath ...


One hour later and the rust is all gone ...


Say what? Would extra strength work twice as good? I don't know how this works, but it's really effective at removing rust. Not as good as avoiding getting it on there in the first place, but in a pinch it really works.

 

[wireme]

Wonder if it will work for my truck?

 

[markyscott]

Wonder if it will work for my truck?

Probably need extra strength for something like that.

 

[Vin]

Can't wait to hear someone's edumacated explanation of why Good thing to know though.

 

[Tieball]

I'll try this out soon...I have scissors that need this treatment. Do you coat the scissors afterwards....like with a linseed oil or some other covering?

 

[petegreg]

Hi, I use Camelia oil to clean and protect my black steel tools. Some folks use WD40 and similar products, but I don't know...

 

[Anthony]

Next the baby oil saturated soft cloth wrap. to never have to do the Selzer thingee again.
Nice idea.
Good Day
Anthony

 

[markyscott]

I'll try this out soon...I have scissors that need this treatment. Do you coat the scissors afterwards....like with a linseed oil or some other covering?

Hi Tieball, post your before and after. I'm no expert, but once they're dry, I've always sprayed the pins with WD40 to remove any remaining bits of rust. Sometimes I've just left them with the WD40, but when I'm really sorry for leaving them out I've rubbed them down with 3 and 1 oil.

Scott

 

[jeanluc83]

I would have just taken a oily cloth and rubbed off the rust. It's just a thin coating and not going to hurt anything. In fact once this layer of iron oxide is saturated with oil it will actually protect the underlying metal. This is how firearms used to be treated. Firearm browning was a thin layer of rust with oil was applied for protection after. Bluing is the same but it is boiled in water before applying oil to turn the rust a blue black color. Acid was used to encourage an even coating of rust.

I'm not sure that the Alka-Seltzer removed the rust but converted it from brown rust to blue rust. Since the tool was already hot blued by the manufacturer you don't notice the rust anymore but it is still there. The chemical reaction going on takes FeO2 and converts it to FeO3 (that is from memory so it could be wrong). The first oxide is red the second is a blue black color.

 

[jk_lewis]

Of course, these shears are not very good for bonsai, anyway. They're usually used for ikebana.

 

[jeanluc83]

I finally looked it up. I was close red iron oxide is Fe2O3 blue iron oxide is Fe2O4.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluing_(steel)

 

[markyscott]

I finally looked it up. I was close red iron oxide is Fe2O3 blue iron oxide is Fe2O4.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluing_(steel)

That's interesting - thanks for, looking that up.

S

 

[markyscott]

Of course, these shears are not very good for bonsai, anyway. They're usually used for ikebana.

I use them for root pruning during repotting. Large shears are good for working the root base flat.

Scott