Rust Removal

Hi, 
As a newbie I guess I haven't yet gotten to love rusty cuffs the way so many of you here have. I have resurrected a number of cuffs and leg irons that looked like hell. I bought them on the chance that Metal Rescue (a bath) and Ian's keys would bring them to life. So far so good.
Metal Rescue takes about 24-36 hours. It removes about 1/2 lb of rust per gallon. And you can keep putting in new cuffs until it no longer works.
https://www.carbibles.com/best-rust-remover/. This is a review of various rust removers.
You have to take a sponge like sander to them to remove the coating left by the Metal Rescue.
I also dumped old padlocks in and then lubed them up and have had good results.
Mike

Why thank  a character in a  myth.  Just as insulting as thanking the same fictional character for the hard and dedicated work health care workers are doing around the world and not thanking them directly, Instead of middle eastern goat herders answers for the world around them. Same pathetic character that has killed over 50,000 world wide and more to come. 

There is a fine line between rust and patina! I like cuffs that have a dark brown to black looking patina, as I find the character of them very unique and in fact beautiful.  I generally only like chrome/nickel plated cuffs if the plating is in good (90% or better) condition, although I am also a fan of bluing/oxide finish, and my favorite finish is plain steel, with its various patinas.

I learned from a good friend once a day, that you must be careful with rust removing... Some old cuffs are "holding together" by rust and some parts of them (springs for example) can be lost if you remove this rust... That's because the rust hold they on place and without they just fall out of the lock.

Lira’s comment is very true. Proceed with caution.

That said, sometimes you just have to move ahead. If you just have a blob of rust you need to have a look at what you have and hope for the best. Such was the case for my Adams legirons from day 4 or my Captain Hook Darbies from yesterday. You just have go for it.

Mike for a couple years now I have just been using white Apple cider vinegar, gallon jug from the grocery store.

Use it straight, drop in the item completely submerged. Anywhere from a couple hours to couple days rust will be mush, card it off with ss brushes under warm water. Rust goes away completely, does slightly etch base metal so the less time soaking the better.

Brad


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This is Mike again, I changed my email preferences.
Thank you Brad. I've got some pieces of metal to try.
With respect to the new forms of rust remover, they are not based on acids or alkalis or solvents. Non dangerous to environment. I dump my hands into the mixture to turn things over. It is strictly a reaction with iron oxide only. It floats away. If the rust has not dug into the metal, then more or less home free. There will still be a patina (at least for me), it will definitely not be shiny. All I do is take is a 3M ProGrade sanding sponge to the surface. I use a very fine grade and litely go over things to just remove the coating. Then I use Otis gun cleaner and then Otis gun oil. So far the irons look like they have been in continuous use. Nothing fancy.
Mike

I can never seem to write well the first time. I must stop hitting send.
In the above, I meant to say that you soak first. And only afterwards do you use the sponge.