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Kevin
Kevin
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Vinegar in USC?
Old thread, but figured you might be the guys who know.
Anybody tried vinegar in an USC to remove rust?
I have some NOS pre-sets and tie straps with some light rust that I was looking to save. Thought that this might damage them less, and get closer to the rivets, than some other methods.
Thanks.
Philbert
Old thread, but figured you might be the guys who know.
Anybody tried vinegar in an USC to remove rust?
I have some NOS pre-sets and tie straps with some light rust that I was looking to save. Thought that this might damage them less, and get closer to the rivets, than some other methods.
Thanks.
Philbert
Experimental Results!
Since no one said 'No', I decided to try this (post above). Sorry - no pictures: my camera is not good at close up photos.
Batch 1
These were 'nothing to lose' pre-sets that had enough surface rust on them that a normal mortal with other things to do would simply have thrown them out.
I swished them around in some white vinegar and let them sit for a couple of hours. There were suspended particle of rust (?) in the clear liquid.
The black tie straps with silver rivets turned into mostly all silver in color.
I placed them in a glass baby food jar filled with vinegar in a water bath in my HF USC and set it for 8 minutes (max) with heat. Hit it for another 8 minutes and went out to cut the grass. Apparently, my USC keeps the heat on even after it finishes (?), cause a couple of hours later it was still hot! The liquid was all dark in color and the tie straps and rivets had all turned black. Holy pickled pre-sets Batman!
Some of the black coating came off when rinsing with water and a light brushing with an old toothbrush and a light scrubbing against a Scotchbrite pad on the table. Hit them with some WD-40 to prevent future rusting.
Results: All visible rust is gone, with little surface damage visible: appear to be fine for work chains.
Batch 2
These were in much better shape, but had some light, cosmetic rust around the rivet heads that I thought would be hard to fully remove with brushing.
Swished them in white vinegar in the glass baby food jar for just a few minutes, then gave them one, 8 minute treatment in the USC with the heat 'Off'.
Rinsed, brushed, and WD-40 as above.
Results: Tie straps are lightly lighter in color than when they went in. Rivets remain silver in color. Rust is gone.
Conclusion
Seems to work. Soaking in vinegar alone for a long enough period of time may have done the trick, but hard to know if it would have cleaned around the rim of the rivets. Only tried the USC because I had one.
Watch out for over-cooking: try it first without the heat.
Philbert
Since no one said 'No', I decided to try this (post above). Sorry - no pictures: my camera is not good at close up photos.
Batch 1
These were 'nothing to lose' pre-sets that had enough surface rust on them that a normal mortal with other things to do would simply have thrown them out.
I swished them around in some white vinegar and let them sit for a couple of hours. There were suspended particle of rust (?) in the clear liquid.
The black tie straps with silver rivets turned into mostly all silver in color.
I placed them in a glass baby food jar filled with vinegar in a water bath in my HF USC and set it for 8 minutes (max) with heat. Hit it for another 8 minutes and went out to cut the grass. Apparently, my USC keeps the heat on even after it finishes (?), cause a couple of hours later it was still hot! The liquid was all dark in color and the tie straps and rivets had all turned black. Holy pickled pre-sets Batman!
Some of the black coating came off when rinsing with water and a light brushing with an old toothbrush and a light scrubbing against a Scotchbrite pad on the table. Hit them with some WD-40 to prevent future rusting.
Results: All visible rust is gone, with little surface damage visible: appear to be fine for work chains.
Batch 2
These were in much better shape, but had some light, cosmetic rust around the rivet heads that I thought would be hard to fully remove with brushing.
Swished them in white vinegar in the glass baby food jar for just a few minutes, then gave them one, 8 minute treatment in the USC with the heat 'Off'.
Rinsed, brushed, and WD-40 as above.
Results: Tie straps are lightly lighter in color than when they went in. Rivets remain silver in color. Rust is gone.
Conclusion
Seems to work. Soaking in vinegar alone for a long enough period of time may have done the trick, but hard to know if it would have cleaned around the rim of the rivets. Only tried the USC because I had one.
Watch out for over-cooking: try it first without the heat.
Philbert
