We all use best mechanics tool set for the money in our daily life routine. Sometimes, some of your tools might seem to catch rust as they get old. Everyone must be having such tools that have caught rust. You might think it has become useless and you would want to throw it away in trash. However, it is not very wise to throw them away as rust could be easily removed from these tools through various ways.
You could either use a dish wash to remove rust from a tool by soaking it in warm water. Afterwards, you can scrub the tool with a sandpaper. Moreover, you can also use vinegar for this purpose. Other than these two methods, you can also soak your rusty tool in salt, later scrubbing away the rust from tool with a sandpaper. If either of the ways does not seem to work, you can go for using oxalic acid to remove rust.
How to restore your tools from rust?
You can restore your tools from rust via various methods listed follows.
Using dish detergent and sand paper
- Mix a dish detergent in warm water very well.
- Place the tool that has caught rust into the mixture and merge it well into the mixture.
- After a few minutes, start scrubbing the tool with a sponge while the tool is still in water. Make sure all the rust and dirt goes away.
- Take it out of the water and dry it a bit so that it does not slip away when you rust it.
- Start sanding the areas of the tool which are most infected by rust.
- You can also use a steel wool for areas that contains huge layers of rust and later clean it with sand paper.
- Then take a new sand paper to give a final cleansing to your tool. Sand it again and make sure you are not ruining the quality and shine of your tool.
At this point, your tool should be clean and free from rust. But in case, it is still not clean, you would have to take any other method.
Salt and Vinegar
- Place the infected tool in a large container.
- Pour white vinegar into the container. Also, measure the amount of vinegar you put into the container because you will need to put the salt accordingly.
- Add salt into the vinegar in the container. For a liter of vinegar, you have to add one fourth amount of salt.
- Set aside the mixture for three days. The rust will be easily removed if it is allowed to soak in mixture for longer.
- After three days, use a scouring pad to scrub the rust off your tool.
- Next, remove the vinegar solution and add clean water to the container.
- Add baking soda to water. Put the tool into it for about 10 minutes. This will clean your tool completely.
- Dry the tool with a towel. Consider scrubbing the tool with a steel wool to remove any remaining marks. Now your tool is completely clean and free from all rust.
Use Oxalic Acid to remove rust
- Before exposing the tool to oxalic acid, clean it wish dish washing soap.
- Put three tablespoons of oxalic acid into a gallon of water in any container. Merge the tool into the container in the mixture.
- Allow it to soak into the mixture for about 20 minutes. You don’t have to scrub the tool with anything because the chemical is strong enough. It will surely take off all rust from the surface.
- After twenty minutes, take out your tool, wash it with water and dry it.
