Shopsmith Forums

Welp, I screwed up! I soaked these guys in a 50/50 water/vinegar solution for too long and well...it looks like the finish has been eaten off (if not more than that).

Will these still be operationally useful if I clean the rust off and give them a good coat of paste wax to stop more rust?

The damage:

I dont see why not. May I asked why you soaked them in that to begin with?

Buff it smooth and wax it. It will work just fine. I accidently buffed the finish off my brand new PowerPro a few years ago. No problems...

Hey ERLover, Chris! Thanks for the quick replies!

I made the erroneous assumption that the parts were stainless steel or some other solid hunk of ferrous metal instead of having a protective plating. I figured a soak in vinegar could help get some of the pitted rust that was already there out, along with maybe getting some of the dried grease loosened up for the manual cleaning I'd have to do after.

Lesson learned...

Good to know I can buff 'em smooth and move on!

calvin wrote:Hey ERLover, Chris! Thanks for the quick replies!

I made the erroneous assumption that the parts were stainless steel or some other solid hunk of ferrous metal instead of having a protective plating. I figured a soak in vinegar could help get some of the pitted rust that was already there out, along with maybe getting some of the dried grease loosened up for the manual cleaning I'd have to do after.

Lesson learned...

Good to know I can buff 'em smooth and move on!

Grease cutter, then Evapo Rust would have been the way to go, live and learn. No damage done.

Evaporust takes off black-oxide finish as well. Don't ask me how I know that!

For lightly rusted parts with a black-oxide finish, I've switched to a different process. First I buff off the surface rust with steel wool, using some WD40 for lubrication. The steel wool doesn't ever seem to scratch the black-oxide coating. Then I just wipe it off, and wipe on some Penetrol. The Penetrol seals the rust that's still down in the pits, and darkens it so much that you don't notice the pits unless you look really closely. I've done this on a few sets of SS caster rods, and haven't had any problems with rust returning.

Go to http://www.brownells.com and buy some Oxpho-Blu. Clean the parts with acetone or lacquer thinner to make sure you have all the oil and paste wax off. Apply the Oxpho-blu and you will have the parts back like thery were originally and then apply the paste wax and oil.

May be a little "Blotchey" because the two colors are not an exact match.

or you can soak the parts in Evaporust over night and that will put a blued appearance on the parts.

Don G

dgreen810 wrote:Go to http://www.brownells.com and buy some Oxpho-Blu. Clean the parts with acetone or lacquer thinner to make sure you have all the oil and paste wax off. Apply the Oxpho-blu and you will have the parts back like thery were originally and then apply the paste wax and oil.

May be a little "Blotchey" because the two colors are not an exact match.

or you can soak the parts in Evaporust over night and that will put a blued appearance on the parts.

Don G

?????

JPG

These hand tools were rusty. They were soaked over night in Evap-o-Rust. As you can see they now have a black finish. The arbor was in the same pan with the hand tools, half in and half out, as you can see the original 'black oxide' finish which by the way is a "Rust Blue" process has been removed and now has a bluish Gray finish. I need to resoak it completely so it will not be half and half.

I don't know what kind of finish the rusty hand tools had before the soaking so don't have a clue why they came out with a black finish after soaking.

Don G

OK, Even out the color.

I have noticed that if the evaporust is allowed to evaporate, a dark finish will result.

A far cry from black oxide however.

Thank You for responding.