Best way to remove light rust ?

[Hammer]

.

Occasionally, would find some metal parts, perhaps some steel pins or bushings, that had developed a light rust on them.

I would take them to my local 80-year old Greek gunsmith.

He always dropped them into an open pail of liquid he kept next to his work bench.

Later, he would pull them out of the pail and run them across a spinning soft pad with some powder on it.

It removed the rust, polished the part a little, and it was good to go.

Unfortunately, my gunsmith has passed away.



Any thoughts on what the liquid in the pail was ?

Any thoughts on the material or source of the soft wheel on the grinder was ?

Or the powder he added to the soft wheel ?

[stomp442]

I have always found rem oil and a fine steel wool works well.

[SFLEFTY]

Hammer; good to see you on here. Are you talking salvaging blued parts or just shiny steel parts?

[Hammer]

There may be some blued parts, but I am not worried about recovering their blued finish.

Just want to halt the light rust from growing and remove the current rust.

[barrel-nut]

Maybe a product called CLR? Stands for Calcium, Lime, Rust remover. It's advertised on tv and comes in a grey plastic jug. Available at most any hardware store or big box store. I have a jug of it, but have never tried it. I think it's a mild acid, so I'd try it with something of no value, maybe a rusty nail, before putting gun parts in it.

Can't help with the polishing wheel or compound though.

[barrel-nut]

I have always found rem oil and a fine steel wool works well.

This works very well for larger pieces.

[Stockrex]

http://www.boomershooter.com/forums/index.php/topic/11116-gun-oil-corrosion-test/

[thomae]

Ok, to really answer the original question, here is some background. There are two ways to remove rust, or any other type or oxidation from a metal (Rust is Iron Oxide). The first method is to use "Kinetic" energy to physically remove the rust. A wire brush, fine steel wool, an abrasive pad are examples of this method. Adding oil, simply provides a medium to float the displaced rust that has been removed from the base metal.

The second method is to use a chemical reduction (the opposite of oxidation) reaction to remove the rust. (Something acidic (such as Hydrochloric acid, for example that sets up a reduction chemical reaction and changes the rust to (another compound: depends on the acid used. In the case of Hydrochloric acid, the rust is reduced to Iron Chloride and water.) The caveat with this method is that once the rust is gone, the acid will start attacking the base metal. This is why you don't want to leave your part in an acid bath longer than necessary.

CLR see one of the prior posts is an acid. Vinegar is an acid, Coke is acidic. Tomatoes and thus Ketchup are acidic. Naval Jelly is a phosphoric acid suspension. All of these will work to remove rust...some take longer than others.

What your old gunsmith probably did was to drop the part into an acid bath and then after removing it and drying it, buff it using a cotton buffing wheel and some "rouge" or "Jewelers Rouge" AKA: polishing compound.

One of my most used tools is an inexpensive grinder I picked up some years ago. I also bought 6 different grits of Mibro abrasive sticks (http://www.mibro.com/ProductCategories/75) (polishing compound in a wax stick that you hold against the buffing wheel to get it somewhat abrasive so it can polish). I purchased six different buffing wheels and numbered them 1-6. I use wheel 1 with polishing compound 1, wheel 2 with compound 2, etc...

Compound 1 is for removing burrs, rust, and heavy polishing, and they get finer and finer until number 6 which is for soft metals and final polishing. If you are slow and careful and progress from 1-6 (and have patience) you really can get a mirror shine.

Mibro is no longer carried by Lowes, but I am sure you can get different grits of polishing compounds. You could use auto polishing compounds, but because they are much more liquid, they will fly off the buffing wheel and make a mess.

You can get all sorts of compounds, but I would first try soaking the part in white vinegar. It's inexpensive and readily available. The buffing simply cleans it up and removes and discoloration of the acid on the base metal.

Once you are done, I would make sure the piece is completely dry, either by using denatured alcohol, which is extremely hygroscopic. WD-40 is also very good at "drying" because it displaces water. I don't recommend it as a firearms lubricant, but to dry metal parts, it works like a champ.

I hope this has been helpful.

[JCalhoun]

As Thomae posted,

White vinegar, active ingredient is acetic acid, will dissolve rust. It will also pit steel if left submerged too long. This is what I use for old rusty Garand clips.

[Jamie]

I have used the softer Stainless steel wool to remove light rush and retarded home spray paint jobs. The softer stainless did not harm the bluing at all.

[Willoughby]

atf on a rag
rub -
repeat as needed

[DaveD]

I know Im new here but Im with Willouughby on this one. I would never use steel wool or any other abrasive on parts that are corroding. A course rag with a solvent is what Ive use on everything from my knives to my motorcycles to clean up a little surface rust. The steel wool will score the surrounding finish and expose more area to the elements. A shop rag with some CLP works too. you just need to put a little more elbow grease into it.

[J.Baker]

I find the best way to remove rust is to simply paint over it. Out of sight, out of mind. :thumb:

[barrel-nut]

I find the best way to remove rust is to simply paint over it. Out of sight, out of mind. :thumb:

Do you run a used-car lot on the side? ;-)