Oxalic Acid. Removing rust from Chrome the very best way! Options

[Ted Carl]

After trying some of the New School techniques listed here at VBMX and other forums, I can say without a doubt, that when it comes to rust removal, that I am going back to the Old School method I have used since I was about 10 years old cleaning beer cans. Aluminum wool, AC-500, Zep toilet bowl cleaner, Evaporust, and others all work, but all pale to the simplicity of this technique.

I have given Evapo-rust a fair shake, and fair share of parts. The stuff works good for some things, but is much slower, and much less effective than Oxalic Acid. Again proof is in the pudding. I have a Sting that I am working on, and here are some interesting results for you guys. This is an 18 hour soak.

Clamp Before

(IMG:http://img324.imageshack.us/img324/1918/clampbefore4ho.jpg)

After
(IMG:http://img82.imageshack.us/img82/9123/clampafterrustremovalafter9rn.jpg)

Bars Before
(IMG:http://img450.imageshack.us/img450/1170/stemandbarsbefore0sp.jpg)
After
(IMG:http://img315.imageshack.us/img315/4310/barsforkspostclampafter2ga.jpg)


Forks Before
(IMG:http://img335.imageshack.us/img335/4207/forklegbefore2zy.jpg)
After
(IMG:http://img448.imageshack.us/img448/2350/forksfront7av.jpg)


Dropouts before
(IMG:http://img159.imageshack.us/img159/2195/forkdropoutbefore4xf.jpg)
After
(IMG:http://img306.imageshack.us/img306/8201/forksdropoutafter8xd.jpg)

[Ted Carl]

Headset before

(IMG:http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/4820/headset8yf.jpg)

Headset after. (Ok there is something fishy about this one! lol)
(IMG:http://img313.imageshack.us/img313/272/edco2polishedwebsized7zr.jpg)

Frame before (original paint)
(IMG:http://img450.imageshack.us/img450/2823/frameinsink8aa.jpg)

Original paint after polish
(IMG:http://img421.imageshack.us/img421/7530/bbpolished3mx.jpg)

The biggest problem with Evaporust, and other products, is the quantity, and price, of the amount needed to do the job. It has to be soaked, and soaked for a long period of time. Therefore, gallons of the stuff are needed and that is very expensive, and it has to be filtered to be reused, and stored.

Oxalic acid is typically marketed as a wood bleach in hardware stores. It costs less than 10 bucks. All you need to do is mix a few ounces of Oxalic acid in a large tub of water, and soak the parts for 12-36 hours. You simply wipe the parts free of the rust occasionally with a white (soft, non-abrasive) scotch-brite pad, and you are done.

Rinse the parts off, and coat the insides of the tubing with LPS-3 rust proofing. Done. On to polishing...

The pitting will never go away, but you have not added any steel wool scratches, or scotch brite scratches, or any other damage. In fact, it will often leave the decals in tact! Especially if you cover them with tape first!

These parts above look completely unusable, but they are now perfectly show-able! Polish-able, paint-able, or ready for use, as is.

I have not decided whether I am going to powder the forks, and bars, black for a unique look, or polish and show chrome them, or use them as it.

I think I will still strip, polish and show chrome them, but I wanted to give you a really good answer to the popular question. "How do I remove rust from chrome?"

Oxalic acid, White scotch-brite, and a tooth brush. Nothing more, nothing less. A couple of dollars, soak it, wipe it, pull the drain plug, and rustproof the parts. Polish to taste, Done.

The results from Evapo-rust are not as good as this, and it does some funny things, like turning steel black, and removing black oxide coatings.

OXALIC Acid. AKA Wood Bleach. Powder form, hardware store.

[ April 01, 2006, 01:35 PM: Message edited by: Ted Carl ]

[Pauly]

Next time I go to Home Depot I'm picking some up. Wood bleach you say? Which department would I look for that in? Paints and Stains??

[Ted Carl]

(IMG:http://img415.imageshack.us/img415/4408/acidjar120hc.jpg)

Dont forget to pick up WHITE Scotch brite pads. NOT the Meanie Greenies, or Radical Reds! Wimpy Whites are what you want!

[ April 01, 2006, 01:58 PM: Message edited by: Ted Carl ]

[DAN]

How do you dispose of it when your done?? I have a couple items I would love to use it on.

[Ted Carl]

Pull the plug in the laundry room sink! It cleans the pipes on it's way out! lol

It is just an Oxidizer. Spray it on your deck, rinse it off. It is not a hazardous material to the best of my knowledge. The container says nothing about it being environmentally unsafe.

Dont drink it, dont wash your eyes out with it, etc...

[Jet Black]

I'll have a look at thru one of our local Hardware stores & see if they stock it & what it's equivalent name is here if it's not the same. I have to agree with you the results are stunning , the price sounds right , especially compared to that Evapo rust snake oil.
What instructions does it give if you ingest it ? Drink milk or induce vomiting.
It says harmful to skin on the bottle , whats the burn factor like if you get splashed with it , it's obviously going to be proportional to the mixture....speaking of which "a few ounces in a large tub of water" is a bit of a vague mixture ratio

Looks awesome , a slow non abrasive rust (or anything) removal method over large surface areas is always preferable to a fast concentrated cleaning , makes for an even lift over the entire piece.

thanks

JB

[Motor City Mongo...]

I used that stuff BITD to clean rusty beer cans for my collection. It would remove the rust and leave the paint on the cans, even as thin as that paint is. Of course, that was before most cans were aluminum! You can also get Oxalic Acid at a pharmacy. If they don't have it in stock they can order it for you-I had to do this BITD. You get some pretty strange looks from the Pharmacist when you are 10 years old and ask for Oxalic Acid......

[Jet Black]

I would have been about the same age when I was asking for Potassium Permangenate to make Salamanders evolve into land lizards (they don't evolve anymore using this method now what I've read) & change the colour of swimming pools. In all my searching on rust removal Oxalic Oxide has never turned up , Molassis & water was the only clean/green "soaker" method that showed up to remove the iron oxide from chrome.
I'll punch Oxalic Oxide into google , some other internet archive search engines & maybe even look through the hidden internet....pending on how interesting it looks & have a read up on what ppl have been doing with it over the years. It's obviously not a new technique or method , just another conviently forgotten method/technique in a world where brand names / hype / glitter & advertising
continue to dumb down the population into knowing what a wide variety of simple cheap OTC products can be used for.

I'll ask at the hardware store for Oxylic Acid first & see what sort of reaction I get , then I'll ask for "wood bleach" , blank stares are usually the norm for questions like this , hopefully I'll find a chemically minded person in the paint section , but I'll probably end up having to read the content labels on a lot of bottles before I find what I want.Failing that the local Pharmacy should be able to supply me with some primo grade Oxylic Acid , fortunately the staff are used to me asking for stuff by name & if they don't know of it they will ask the Chemist there direct for guidance....
I think I still have some old rusty beer cans here that still have the enamal paint & rust spots on them too No ring pull tabs on these ones , just 2 screwdriver holes punched into the top of most of them.....

JB

[gregnh]

i have a nickle frame to clean some light rust & oxidation off of, will this stuff work for it?? (Oxalic acid)