Iron Out

[us56456712]

Anyone try Iron Out for rust removal? There is no info on the net about this. It's only for rust stains. I got an extremely rusty bent bike at a dump and because I had nothing else I am trying Iron Out powder. I'm using about a half cup in four gallons of water and about a quarter cup of Spic and Span to help remove all the Blaster soaked into the rust. In about 6 hours most of the staining was gone and the deep pits had turned black. I scrubbed the parts with a hand wire brush and more of the black junk came off. So far this is fast for surface rust but I still don't know if it will penetrate the deep rust. If anything it will be a good pretreatment for vinegar. A bonus is that it is 22 F out so it is soaking indoors and and doesn't smell bad. I'll post final results if no one has tried this. Too bad I didn't get a before picture but the handlebars, stem and kick stand were solid rust with some visible deep pitting on the bars, shallower pitting on the stem and rust on the kick stand.

 

[RustySprockets]

From the Material Safety Data Sheet, this compound appears to be mostly comprised of sodium salts. It is primarily a bleaching agent. Heed the warnings about combining this mixture with acids--toxic gases are released.

https://summitbrands.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Iron-OUT-Powder-English-GHS-Rev-02-12-2018.pdf

 

[us56456712]

From the Material Safety Data Sheet, this compound appears to be mostly comprised of sodium salts. It is primarily a bleaching agent. Heed the warnings about combining this mixture with acids--toxic gases are released.

https://summitbrands.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Iron-OUT-Powder-English-GHS-Rev-02-12-2018.pdf

So far it is way faster than vinegar and the soap made a nice Blaster oil scum on the top of the bath. I'm going to deer camp on Tuesday for about a week. When I return I will use an electric wire brush, wash it in soap and water and probably use vinegar to finish it. These parts are very very ratty so I'm not worried about scratching up anything, just cleaning it up. Interesting how all the rust color disappeared in just a few hours. I use to use powered Ph Down, which was phosphoric acid. That works the best but I can't find it anymore. Because it was powered it was cheap to ship. Oxalic acid leaves a green discoloration that won't come off. I used cheap on sale cola on a seat pan once. That worked well. Animal feed molasses works good. Both molasses and cola contain phosphoric acid but work much slower than the powered phosphoric acid used to balance aquarium Ph. I looked at buying powdered molasses at the farm store but I don't need 50 pounds for an experiment. The cola and molasses get mold and a thick blanket of floating rotting scum by the time the rust is gone. I need a cheap rust remover to dip frames and bigger parts in. I had it for awhile with the powered Ph down.

 

[us56456712]

Wow! it's working. 24 hours and bare metal is starting to show when you hand wire brush the black gunk off. I's only been 24 hours and looking pretty good. I hand wire brushed it in 6 hours and 24 hours. I think this is going to take all the rust off quickly and inexpensively. I'll keep posting to let everyone know if it works. It hasn't stained the metal. There is a ton of chrome flakes everywhere though. The 4 gallons of water it's soaking in now looks like black ink. Almost all the chrome is gone from the bars and about 30 % off he crank and stem. The kick stand was zinc coated so that is looking good. These parts were too rusty for most of us to deal with as they came from a dump bike that had been outside for at least 30 years. just an experiment.

 

[RustySprockets]

I saw the jug this stuff comes in and assumed it was a liquid--not so. Most rust busting concoctions rely on acidity to do their dirty work. This one appears to be a strong base. Opposite end of the Ph spectrum, but if it works, who cares?! I'm curious to see the results.

 

[us56456712]

I saw the jug this stuff comes in and assumed it was a liquid--not so. Most rust busting concoctions rely on acidity to do their dirty work. This one appearsc.fView attachment 86261 to be a strong base. Opposite end of the Ph spectrum, but if it works, who cares?! I'm curious to see the results.

Me too, I didn't think it would work. I thought it might take the rust color away but not eat the rust. I'm not sure why the pictures got scrambled? The before picture is a picture of a picture taken from a post on another site. I didn't take a before picture.

 

[us56456712]

40 hours of soaking and almost all the rust is gone.

.

 

[us56456712]

48 hours, amazing. $4.00 for 28 oz of powder on Menards web page. Deep pits still have a little black stuff to work out. I guess that's the chemical conversion still going on. So we know it works mixed with Spick and Span. Next question is will it work without the Spick and Span. I have no more rust removal projects right now so I'll leave it up to other forum members to figure that out. I use it in my toilet tank and on rust stains on my sink. We have rusty water, even with treatment. I had some around so I thought I would see if it removed rust on bike parts.

 

[us56456712]

How come there is no info on the net regarding using this product to remove rust from steel? I can't be the first one to come up with this. There are no original ideas anymore, too many people for anything to be original.