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Post by BigBruvOfEnglandUK on Feb 26, 2024 22:31:08 GMT
It may sound a bit silly to let them rust again but I wanted to try a phosphoric acid rust converter (Check the label) on them that forms a protective black or brown layer but it does not work on rust free metal. The phosphoric acid has to react with rust. It looks good on rusty metal but sometimes goes a bit white on painted surfaces which is ok if you plan to repaint but not so good if you don't so it's best if all the paint is gone and a coat of rust has formed. A trick to cover up the white marks sometimes left by rust converter on painted surfaces it to use a tiny amount of virgin olive oil on the plate to clean them up with a rag. The white marks disappear and the plates will look great, m8s.
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Post by mr potatohead on Feb 27, 2024 2:46:43 GMT
I get molasses from the livestock/feed/grain place. They sell it by the gallon - bring your own jugs. Soak the rusted steel for a couple weeks in a tub or tote. Rust comes off.
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Post by BigBruvOfEnglandUK on Feb 27, 2024 5:50:39 GMT
Yeah, Mrs BigBruvOfEnglandUK often has loads of molasses for her horse. Not tried that yet. I soak weights and small things in buckets or a bowl of citric acid and water but I didn't want to rig up some sort of trough for bars. I wanted something I could brush on and leave it to do it's work and then rinse it off.
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Post by mr potatohead on Feb 27, 2024 12:50:05 GMT
Citric acid is cheap too. I buy it by the pound at the country bulk food store. They have all the canning supplies. Probably more economical to use than molasses.
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Post by BigBruvOfEnglandUK on Feb 27, 2024 19:50:26 GMT
I've got a cat litter tray in the garage that I use for citric acid. About 3 weeks ago I threw in a 75 g pack of citric acid (AUD$3.00) with water and have been using it on and off since then to clean up weights and dumbbell handles after I bought about 400 kgs plus some bars and handles off a guy. Not all of the weights have had to be cleaned off with citric acid but I have used this quite a few times and this same batch is still going strong. I'll probably throw it out now as I don't need it at the moment and I can make up a new batch easily enough if I need to.
I've been selling off the weights and bars. It's not a big money maker but it's something to do on days when we can't go to work and it's usually nice chatting to the people that come over to buy them.
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Post by BigBruvOfEnglandUK on Feb 28, 2024 22:48:55 GMT
I tried ketchup on a very rusty curl bar the other day. It works surprisingly well at removing rust. I bought a rust removal gel from a motorists shop. It was not cheap (AUD$34) for 500g but I wanted to see if it's any good. I tried it out on half of a curl bar yesterday. I left it on for about 2 hours. It worked really well and was easy to clean off. Ketchup works well but takes longer to act on the rust and is a lot harder to remove.
Top half was not treated. Click on the pics to enlarge. Top half was not treated. The pics make it look a lot better than it really is but a lot of the rusty marks were just staining rather rather than rusty metal. I'll have to put rust converter on everything though which will turn the rusty areas black but it will be a great improvement over what the bars were like before. I wouldn't use it on weights. It would be too expensive. A citric acid soak or just a wipe over with virgin olive oil and vinegar mix is the way to go for them, m8s. We couldn't work today so I've just coated two very rusty curl bars, two long bars and put a coat on the other half of the bar in the pic below and used about 3rd of the pot so about $10 to clean up 5 bars.
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MBS
Caneguru
Lean, lithe and feral
Posts: 1,300
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Post by MBS on Feb 29, 2024 4:42:25 GMT
I tried ketchup on a very rusty curl bar the other day. It works surprisingly well at removing rust. I bought a rust removal gel from a motorists shop. It was not cheap (AUD$34) for 500g but I wanted to see if it's any good. I tried it out on half of a curl bar yesterday. I left it on for about 2 hours. It worked really well and was easy to clean off. Ketchup works well but takes longer to act on the rust and is a lot harder to remove.
Top half was not treated. Click on the pics to enlarge. Top half was not treated. The pics make it look a lot better than it really is but a lot of the rusty marks were just staining rather rather than rusty metal. I'll have to put rust converter on everything though which will turn the rusty areas black but it will be a great improvement over what the bars were like before. I wouldn't use it on weights. It would be too expensive. A citric acid soak or just a wipe over with virgin olive oil and vinegar mix is the way to go for them, m8s. We couldn't work today so I've just coated two very rusty curl bars, two long bars and put a coat on the other half of the bar in the pic below and used about 3rd of the pot so about $10 to clean up 5 bars. Great tip on the citric acid. I buy a 10 lb bag to have to descale my 1 gallon water distiller. Drop in a tablespoon, fill it up with room temperature tap water, let it sit a couple hours, and just dump and rinse out. I have a bunch of rusty plates with an orange rust hue I want to clean up. They used to be in my backyard but now I’m doing trap bar deadlifts in my garage, and want to clean them up. How long do I need to soak the plates, and can I skip the scrubbing phase, and just coat them with olive oil?
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moxohol
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Biohacker
Si vis pacem, para bellum
Posts: 3,328
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Post by moxohol on Feb 29, 2024 16:43:22 GMT
I have thum tips too!
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Post by BigBruvOfEnglandUK on Feb 29, 2024 20:50:12 GMT
I have a bunch of rusty plates with an orange rust hue I want to clean up. They used to be in my backyard but now I’m doing trap bar deadlifts in my garage, and want to clean them up. How long do I need to soak the plates, and can I skip the scrubbing phase, and just coat them with olive oil? You don't need to soak them in citric acid at all and can just go with the olive oil. You might want to just oil part of one plate without using acid and see if you like the look? The less thick rust they have on them the darker they will look when oiled. I only rarely acid soak plates now. It's not worth the bother to me but if you do then check on them every hour at first and if they are really rusty then you might need to leave them overnight or even for a few days. They will need a scrub though to get the gooey mess off them. It comes off easy with a plastic scrubbing brush but make sure you are not flicking the stuff all over yourself and on the floor and walls.
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Post by BigBruvOfEnglandUK on Mar 1, 2024 2:58:11 GMT
Virgin olive oil and vinegar. There's probably 75% vinegar. You can just use the oil on it's own but it's quicker mixed with vinegar as it cleans up easier. I just dab a very small amount around any numbers and letters with a paint brush and then spread it from there with a rag. Takes no time at all. Wear rubber gloves if you don't want your hands looking like you've been working on diesel engines. Before After.
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brothersteve
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Post by brothersteve on Mar 1, 2024 14:18:10 GMT
Virgin olive oil and vinegar. There's probably 75% vinegar. You can just use the oil on it's own but it's quicker mixed with vinegar as it cleans up easier. I just dab a very small amount around any numbers and letters with a paint brush and then spread it from there with a rag. Takes no time at all. Wear rubber gloves if you don't want your hands looking like you've been working on diesel engines. Before After. Do you think something like this is good for old, slightly rusty bullworker springs?
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Post by BigBruvOfEnglandUK on Mar 1, 2024 20:51:02 GMT
Yes, but don't use vinegar. Just use the olive oil. 3 IN ONE would also work, m8
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Post by whiffet on Mar 1, 2024 22:32:40 GMT
Last summer this thread inspired me to remove the rust from my trap bar. It had been in the leaking greenhouse and was badly rusted.
I used white vinegar. I had to soak paper towels in it then wrap them all around the bar and cover it tightly in plastic. After 24 hours I then removed the wrapping piece by piece, and used a wire brush on the bar. Finally I had to spray it with an alkaline mix quickly before the oxygen got to the bar.
Worked a treat. Unfortunately I couldn’t use the bar for long because my lower back just doesn’t like deadlifts anymore.
This was one of the mostly manly tasks I have undertaken for a while.
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Post by BigBruvOfEnglandUK on Mar 2, 2024 0:15:19 GMT
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Post by Spud on Mar 6, 2024 23:05:01 GMT
I get molasses from the livestock/feed/grain place. They sell it by the gallon - bring your own jugs. Soak the rusted steel for a couple weeks in a tub or tote. Rust comes off. I was wrong. What I have is ascorbic acid, NOT citric acid. Citric acid is more acidic than ascorbic acid, so it would be more powerful in this application.
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