Magic Eraser Bath with Gain Original Scent from Mr. Clean is a powerful tool for removing stubborn rust stains from various surfaces, including kitchen sinks, refrigerators, and delicate surfaces like leather seating. It can effectively scrub rust at a microscopic level, lifting stains while leaving fixtures’ shine intact.
For efficient rust removal, use a damp Magic Eraser and gently rub away rust stains, repeating the process as needed. However, it is not recommended for stainless steel surfaces as it can cause scratches and dull the shine, making appliances less shiny and less pretty.
If time is limited, use a magic eraser to swipe the affected surface with the eraser, breaking down rust residue and making the work easier. Wipe off the surface with a clean cloth. Magic erasers are ideal for spot rust in small areas, but Barkeepers Friend is recommended for larger amounts of rust removal.
Measuring melamine foam, Magic Erasers become abrasive when wet, scraping away stains like fine sandpaper. This quick and easy hack can restore your shower’s fresh and vibrant appearance. For those who try this method, be sure to reapply polish or wax after using the Magic Eraser.
📹 Magic Eraser For Removing Rust
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📹 Adam Savage’s Favorite Tools: Safe Rust Remover!
Adam Savage shares their favorite rust remover, Evapo Rust. They demonstrate its effectiveness on a rusty tool and a heavily rusted spring, showcasing its ability to remove rust without damaging the surface. The product is reusable, non-toxic, and safe for skin contact, making it a great option for tool restoration.
Evaporust is awesome. While my dad was in the hospital, a water leak filled the drawers of his tool chest. All of his nice socket sets were fully submerged for weeks. As soon as i discovered it, i bought a big jug of evaporust and let them sit for a few days. They all came out completely rust free and good as new. He has since passed away and I inherited his tools. I’m reminded of good memories working in the shop with my dad every time I use those sockets.
The non-uniformity of the Evaporust action that occured on Norm’s blaster barrel happened because you let the part become partially non-submerged. Evaporust is mostly water, so it will evaporate and decrease in volume. The water/air interface of the evaporust is intensely reactive, and will etch a strong line into steel parts. I learned this the hard way, when I etched a hard hard line into a set of 1895 Starrett Jenny calipers by letting them sit half submerged in a ziplock bag. If you care for the finish to remain uniform, you MUST absolutely ensure that the part stays submerged during the entire process. Keeping the part in the Evaporust for 3 days is fine, but not if you let it evaporate to the point where the part breaches the surface.
Adam, from the bottom of my heart, thank you for this tool tip. This stuff is ridiculous. I bought a small bottle to test with and oh my god. I used it on miscellaneous tools and it worked great, but then I tried it on a pair of linesman’s pliers that my daughter had dug up in the back yard that looked like it had been in the ground since the early 70’s when the house was built. Totally covered in rust, frozen solid, surely a lost cause…it took a few nights in the Evapo-Rust, but other than some pitting in the handles, the thing works like new. Now I’m running around looking for rusty things. I know I sound like a commercial, but so what? It works.
I discovered this stuff about a year ago and it has become my go-to whenever I have anything that needs to be made rust-free. I’ve even had good luck soaking paper towels in it and then wraping the towel around rusty objects and waiting several hours. In most cases you don’t need to wait overnight, just a couple of hours will remove all but the thickest, most stubborn rust! Obviously it won’t fill in pits, but it will remove the rust that caused them!
I’ve used white vinegar for years on everything you can imagine and find it worked better than anything else. Sometimes it may take a few days but it’s always returned the metal back to being rust free. Try something like that spring in some vinegar and see what ya think. Miss you guys, thank God for reruns lol!
I’ve had terrific luck with rust removal using electrolysis. A $5 garage sale 3 amp manual battery charger, a piece or two of steel plate, and $4 worth of Washing Soda is all that’s needed and it is super effective. Also quite satisfying to watch the process occur. I’ve come to realize that metal isn’t really rusty. Rather, the rust is growing on the metal, and eating away at it. And with minor electrical persuasion, you can literally get that rust to jump off of your part and onto that steel plate. It’s a car restorer’s dream. I think the Evapo-Rust might be a perfect compliment to this process, for smaller parts like nuts and bolts.
Over the past few years I’ve been using vinegar for rust removal and have been happy with it. Recently I’ve used Evapo-Rust. What I’ve discovered is that if you had taken the heavily rusted spring out of the Evapo-Rust after a few hours and worked on it with a wire brush for a few minutes to loosen the heavy rusted areas and returned it to the Evapo-Rust, your results would have been even better and faster.
Hey Adam I’ve been using this evaporust since 2020 doing restoration work on a 1974 Porsche 911 and I’ve used it on numerous parts and it really works great go and let them soak and sometimes some of them I scrub with a steel brush and then put back in the evapo rust solution and it works great to get rid of the rust before painting. It works great for me that I found.
I’ve been using this for years, I got it through Lee Valley and it’s a great product. I’ve suspended items in solution so that the chemical can react with the maximum surface area. Your rusted spring might be better if you had a way to either extend it during immersion or place it in a glass beaker with solution, and then inside an ultrasonic cleaner. I would have liked it if you mentioned that the solution is finally expended when it becomes ‘black’. It helps to know that.
I used to work at a hardware store and about 2007 I had found this stuff. I wanted to make a good demonstration piece for the store so they would stock it. I used an old iron pipe flange which had been outside for several years and was pretty rusty. I left it suspended in the evaporust about halfway on the diameter and brought the piece in to show my coworkers, They were amazed at the difference and the plumbing dept. woman even noted that the crayon that she used to mark the price on the flange had been exposed again, without any harm to that writing. I wasn’t even aware that I had bought the flange there in the first place but she recognized her writing! it has been stocked in the store ever since. love this stuff
I rescued two very hard to find panels for my 1968 double cab that separate the gas tank to the rear cab with this stuff. I put the panels in vacuum bags and poured the evaporust in. They came out perfect. I even got back the original paint and just ended up sealing them with a clear coat. Love this stuff too.
“When you work with steel, you have to deal with rust.” I am a Corrosion Engineer, and the number of people I encounter who don’t grasp this idea saddens me. Also, for anyone who happens to read through here – most metals and/or their alloys corrode in some environment or another. Not using steel isn’t necessarily a valid corrosion management strategy for a given service application.
My specific restoration-video proclivities lie mostly with “Odd Tinkering”. He mostly fixes up old, hopelessly aged and filthified article game things, but the articles are beautiful, nearly silent, and calming in a way that feels like I am being actively drawn into a meditative state of mind. Highly, highly recommend Odd Tinkering.
I came across this article by accident, but since I like Savage and I’ve been removing rust from 70+ year old Griswold cast iron, so I wanted to see what you had to say. Low and behold, it’s the Evaporust that I’ve been using. Yes, it is completely amazing and has proven safe to easily get off stubborn rust from the cast iron, wash with dish soap really well and begin seasoning.
Evapo-Rust is amazing! I’ve tried out so many different rust removers (and preventers) since moving to coastal Texas, where the unrelenting humidity has sometimes even started to rust brand-new tools prior to even opening the packaging, and there’s nothing I’ve liked better than Evapo-Rust…it outperforms even those products that burn any unprotected eyes and lungs that dared to venture too close to an open container of them, and yet it’s not irritating to handle or be around at all. If you haven’t tried yet, I recommend filling up an ultrasonic parts washer with undiluted Evapo-Rust at a warm, but not too hot (like some others have mentioned, it has a high water content and is prone to evaporation), depending on the heat-sensitivity of the material that you’re restoring, I’ve found that ≈35-50ºC tends to be a good temperature. In my experience, when soaking in an ultrasonic washer, you’ll remove the same amount of rust in about 30 minutes to 2 hours as you’d remove in a traditional soak in 24-48 hours, while still leaving the finish unharmed (save for any etching from the rust itself, of course). It takes care of most of the post-soak wiping/brushing for you, too. Within moments of turning the ultrasonic machine on, visible clouds of rust start to rise off the part’s surface, which is a satisfying bonus to watch, haha. Also, if you are okay (or would prefer) with a little bit of surface refinishing, I’ve found that the Roloc-style bristle discs, along with their rotary tool equivalent for tight areas, are an absolutely incredible for rust removal (as well as polishing, heavy cleaning, and deburring), with minimal removal of the base material, especially on irregular or intricate surfaces that are normally time-consuming to get good coverage of (like the spring in this article).
i friggen love this guy!!! He was THE soul of the show. He and imaharra and Kari made the show sooo awesome! I still dont know why he was paired as he was with the world’s…….well, lets just say the man was a TV show martyr for a long time, lets admit it. You all KNOW what im talking about!!! His enthusiasm and love of the craft is undeniable!!Best personality this side of Tom Hanks!!
For some items, the Evaporust is great, for some other items such as that spring that is heavily rusted, I prefer to use electrolysis. Evaporust is quite expensive, but it lasts quite a long time. Electrolysis is quite cheap, but the setup and cleanup takes time.(Doesn’t everyone have a 12volt battery charger and some washing soda?)
I tried it. yes it is a great product. It is a water based chemical. Read the directions on the container and call their tech support if you have questions. Something to remember, I was given a “heads up” warning that “Flash Rust” could occur with freshly treated steel. I treated the Jeep gas tank skid plate for 4 hours, the solution was rinsed off the tank with water and immediately dried. In my process of drying the tank I made sure all moisture was driven off the steel surface (like hot sunny day) and then applied a good steel primer (Rust-Oleum.) after thorough drying. I look forward to using it again on some of my metal Garden ornaments.
I have used this on a lot of rusty body panels, etc for car restoration. Amigos. This works incredibly well, has saved me a ton of time on having to prep/restore parts, panels & tools. I have saved money by using this as well, because I didn’t have to trash items that might’ve been too much trouble to clean up. Ask for cleanup and Disposal this stuff is pretty easy to deal with as well.
I’ll have to give this a try, I have soaked parts in vinegar in the past to remove rust. Vinegar will eat rust very quickly but it will turn parts a dull grey after awhile, it also will eat off the finish on some parts. I have had old tools that rusted slowly over the course of years that I then soaked in vinegar only to have them rust in days afterwards. I have found thoroughly rinsing the parts with water, then thoroughly drying the parts and reapplying some sort of finish to work the best.
I’ve been using this stuff for about 6 years. Really good. Some parts I thought would never come apart eventually did after soaking for a few weeks. It’s also really good for getting at rust you can’t physically get to like rust down in holes. It’s called “rust chelation” if you want to learn more about this chemical process.
While reusable, it’s not infinitely reusable, longevity depends on how much rust you are removing. I would also pour mine through a coffee filter when putting back in the bottle to filter out the sludge that accumulates near the bottom. For larger items I still prefer to do the electrolysis method as it is much cheaper than buying gallons of Evaporust. But for smaller items, evaporust is hard to beat.
I’ve been using this extensively for several years now on vintage mopeds and scooters. My best advice is to pre-clean your parts beforehand. I generally use it to salvage rusted out gas tanks, and a pre-clean with soapy water works wonders. Evaporust is not a degreaser or cleaner, but on a surface with only rust, it will work amazingly well. Agitation during soaking helps, too. I’ve managed to rescue 40 year old gas tanks and parts that were covered I’m flaky rust chunks. Usually I let them soak a few days and they come out as clean metal.
Speaking of ultrasonics, years ago I worked in a lab and had the use of a very good ultrasonic. I had done some work on my car so my tools (a hodge-pudge of mostly old, some new, and all a bit specked with rust) and decided to put them into the ultrasonic in our “standard” cleaner of sodium hydroxide and turn on the heater. Went back to work on something and forgot the tools for maybe two hours! When I came back, they were not only clean of grease, gunk, etc., but all the rust had been removed and the tools, dull from years of use, were now almost shiny as new. Really eager to try again, but can’t afford a top notch ultrasonic like I had the use of back then. Can you try that?
Love the stuff and been trying to NOT buy the 5 gal bucket. It’s great that it’s safe and reusable but when there’s heavy rust or I need quick results, krud kutter must-for-rust (which feels some solution of phosphoric acid) is a clear winner. I’ve done weeks on a heavily rusted part with minimal success. Having both in the shop is the move.
I have a friend who is an artisan blacksmith and according to him, rust is something that you want as a blacksmith. If he had unlimited time on each project, he would let his creations rust on purpose, then mechanically remove excess rust and hit it with Phosphoric acid. He says that layer gives better protection than any regular thickness of zinc plating or alternatives, especially if you also hit it with paint.
First I want to say that I could watch a article Adam showing the proper use of using a shop broom and be totally enthralled. He is just so amazing to waych and listen to and I learn something with every article of his I watch. Regarding this rust removal article… I just watched Adam’s article and a few articles where I people where getting similar or better results using vinegar. Has anybody else experimented with vinegar?
This stuff is badass and it’s definitely got its place on my tool shelf it actually replaced a handful of other chemicals that I used for the same reason. Another chemical that I’m going to have is (Citristrip) paint and adhesive stripper. And I mean it strips good…. I once removed a bed liner with this stuff. It is going to save you a lot of Labor and a lot of time. The best part is you don’t have to worry about dust when you put this stuff on it strips the paint and you don’t have to grind or wire brush. One additional plus to Citrus strip is it’s all natural and it doesn’t poison the soil. It’s not going to hurt you if you get it in your eye or on your skin. I wear gloves anyways cuz it helps save time on cleanup but it’s peace of mind
We (CMU Costume Studio) had a heavy metal chain mail cowl that was rusted. I was looking for a solution that required the least amount of work and smell to remove the rust. Came across your article on Youtube about Evapo-Rust and how it work by just soaking the item. It was Biodegradable and reusable. Sounded like the product I was looking for. Purchased a quart of the liquid form. Soaked the Cowl for about 2 1/2 hours. It worked beautifully. A quick rinse, rub down on a towel and 15 minutes in the oven, it is a wearable item. Thanks for the article on the product.
I spent a lot of time in a hackerspace machine shop that acquired a lot of tools from machinery auctions. My fondest memory of using Evapo-rust (what a weird sentence) was throwing many tens of pounds of old, rusted taper shank drills in a bucket of the stuff — and ending up with a huge assortment of > 1″ diameter drills that looked really damn nice and were, more importantly, basically ready to be used.
Been fighting rust all my life, winning some battles and usually losing the war. The nozzle left the Evaporust solution looking pretty good, but the rusty spring did discolour the solution. Would you recommend running the latter through a paint or coffee filter before returning it to the original container to extend it’s longevity? The product is also available in a gel for vertical surfaces at about four times the cost. Do you have any experience with the gel? I would also assume the gel would not be reusable?
I realize this is an old post. I use Phosphoric acid(Klean Strip Concrete and Metal Prep} for wiping down large surfaces. Yes, it’s an acid and care should be taken but is work great. For small parts and for the inside of gas tanks I use Electrolysis methos using Arm & Hammer WARSHING soda(Sodium carbonate). Electrolysis method only removes the rust and does not harm the other surfaces. It is biodegradable and harmless to you skin. Both give great results. Nice article as always.
I found this stuff a little over a year ago the same way, perusal articles from people like Hand Tool Rescue with his giant magic cauldron of rust remover. I’ve used it on a couple of my own article projects since (also inspired by HTR and others). I love it! like you said, not a miracle fluid but a great tool! Wait till you fall down the rabbit hole he started about Japanning!
❤ soaking the rusty stuff in white vinegar for a couple of days and then making an abrasive paste with baking soda and water to easily white what rust isn’t already just gone off❤ and of course rinse with clean water and lubricate properly all the articles make this method look super easy inexpensive and extremely environmentally safe
The same company now makes a similar product called Thermocure, for automotive cooling systems. If you have a cast iron block, it cleans out the coolant passages very nicely after about a week of driving. Takes some flushing afterwards but leaves the cast iron gray, and with a protective coating or something or other.
I keep a small container of the stuff on the bench in a capped paint cup. Drop small nuts and bolts in there, cap it, put it out in the sun… lol… we dont have california sun so be careful. When the sediment collects I filter it through a paper towel or paint funnel and reuse it… it removes almost all of the blackness. I have never reached the point where it stopped working :p it was lost by the amount that clung to the parts or evaporated.
Adam, your website is the bees knees! I have just been bitten by the restoration bug. I have been binging on vintage tool restoration articles here on YouTube. I have restored a junk screw driver and I made a brand-new wood handled ball peen, hammer look and feel like it should autta feel. I sanded the shiny shellac, or whatever it was, I used my blowtorch to bring out the grain, sanded it just a bit and applied boiled linseed oil. Then I removed the paint from the head and buffed the beegeebers out of it. I digress (as always). Rust removal! that seems to be the most common aspect of the restoration process, so that was the focus of my search and you and I have come to the same conclusion on this product. Anyhoo, I always feel compelled to comment on your great articles, but when I see 2,464 comments, I think, Adam will never see my comment. Ahh, what the hell, I give it a shot. Live long and prosper, my friend.
I recently inherited my father-in-law’s grandfather’s anvil- and part of the provenance was some dingy, barely visible red paint. As the story goes, Grandpa Batliner would paint his tools in his machine shop (c. 1910s or 20s) to identify them as his. So salvaging the original paint was a must. Evaporust did a beautiful job with it- even the paint is bright fire engine red again.
Not sure how i missed this when it came out. I use Evapo-Rust when restoring cast iron cookware. 2 gallons and a Walmart tote (with a lid) to dump it in and I have an easily movable, easy way to remove rust. I can’t set up a E-tank where I’m at so this stuff in conjunction with a lye tank is a great alternative. It’s super safe on the cast iron, washes off easily, can be used for quite some time, and is pretty darn safe. Definitely worth the cost.
I have been using phosphoric acid for rust removal for years and and it works nearly instantly, although it has the consistency of water. It is the main ingredient in Naval Jelly rust remover and works much faster but doesn’t stay put if applied to a part instead of soaking. It can be had at Home Depot usually. Caveat: don’t use any rust remover on blued firearms unless you like them in the white.
#Adamsavagestested I really like using Molasses in a container. 10% molasses 90% water. Your rusty whatever will come out black as charcoal, rinse off with water & your steel whatever has returned to like new. No scrubbing, no grinding, can pour the contents down the drain without hurting the environment..
Hi Adam, from the Thai jungle. Have you tried simple white vinegar? Where I live you can’t get a lot of these kind of products, but white vinegar is cheap, plentiful and safe. It takes a little longer, but I’ve saved old tools that were rustier than your spring, for pennies, not dollars. It’s also great for removing mill scale on new steel. After an adequate soak, scour lightly with a Scotchbrite pad, clean water and some baking soda to neutralize the acid. I think you will be very impressed. Before moving to Thailand in 2006 I was the Exhibit Specialist at SF Maritime Museum NHP for 10 years. I saw lots of rust there, but didn’t know about vinegar until I got to the jungle. Best wishes, Grit.
Great demonstration! It works even faster when periodically agitated or brushed with a stiff brush like a bronze brush. As others have mentioned you have to keep the part submerged. Also works well in vibratory/bubble cleaning tank I built. If all the rust doesn’t come off the first time, brush the part as clean as you can get it and throw it back in for round 2. I used it to clean some anodized parts/fittings from 80-20 that been badly rust stained from the hardware bolts rusting in the open outside weather. The mount plates and corner angles cleaned up nicely but getting rust soaked into anodizing finish is a tough case. I need to find a source of stainless bolts to work with the 80-20 or T-Slots systems for outside use.
Thank you Adam. I’m perusal this in 2024 and I’m just now hearing about this product, which is ALSO available on e-bay. I’ve got some tools that were in a “waterproof” tool box, NEVER believe that! So, they are pretty rusted. I’ve tried bleach in a container for a couple of days and surprising enough it got the little sockets and pliers clean, but not the pipe and crescent wrenches, sooo maybe I’ll give THIS a try!
My go-to rust removal solution is 1 part molasses and 4 parts water. Though it takes a couple of weeks, it’s completely nondestructive and does a perfect job of removing rust. You can leave steel in the mixture for a month or more without ill effects. If you are not in a hurry, give it a try. You’ll be pleasantly surprised.
I love this stuff, I have been using for years!! Sometimes that soak takes time… days, maybe a week in some very rusty cases. I make sure after the removal of the rust that I run the piece under clean water, dry it off well with a cloth and blow dry it, then quickly dip the item back in the EVAPO-RUST and dry it off… bang!! The next protective coating I use in the process on the item is called BOESHIELD T-9. Try that on bare metal, I think you will thank me 🙂 … there is nothing like it to stop the forming of rust on an item. I use it on my cast iron tool beds (band saw, table saw, etc, it leaves no oily film) it is better than paste wax, WD40 or anything else I have tried, all my wood chisels get a very light coating on them as well. My main woodshop is in a non-climate controlled shed, so moisture can be an issue in our crazy Canadian winters… Thanks Adam, glad to see you found this amazing product!
I have used that stuff for years and it works well. No matter what the bottle says I won’t get it on my skin. Muriatic Acid works even better and much faster although it is dangerous to both you and the stuff you are derusting. It all depends on the particular job you are doing. For small parts the Evaporust is good. For large parts Evaporust is very (too) expensive and muriatic Acid is relatively cheap. In either case I dilute the used product before disposing of it.
I used this stuff in a weird way last summer. Im from michigan so im not a stranger to rust, I put evaporust into a sprayer like you spray weeds with and sprayed it onto some rusty hard to reach spots and some chunks of the frame of my car. Had to spray it on every ten minutes for about 4 hours and brush what i could reach but it actually worked out pretty well. Probably would have been better off sand blasting but i dont have a sand blaster or know anyone that does to barrow one.
So I work in a hardware store. We have this product on our shelves and I’ve used it myself. Works wonders on light to medium rust. Only issue is I can never seem to sell it. Customers read the label and they say they’re skeptical. I explain to them how it’s used and how well it works but 95% of the time they choose something else that I’ve never used and/or heard of until getting a job here. Some of them say “if it’s so safe for skin then how’s it gonna do anything to rust?”. However, the store is in a somewhat small town full of older people that are too stubborn and aren’t willing to try new things.
It was interesting to juxtapose your article against Project Farm’s article on rust removers. He rated Evaporust second to Krud Kutter which is pretty high. Personally I’ve never used either one. What I have used is white vinegar which takes a while to work, on the order of days, but worked very well on a pretty rusted dutch oven. Keep the good stuff coming Adam.
I don’t know if one of my hand planes that I was trying to restore was already pitted bad from rust, but I felt it the stuff ate into the metal on a very standard older Stanley hand plane after like 2 days. I mean it isn’t bad enough to be bad, nor was a 10 dollar vintage plane a big loss (always can use it for parts), but kind of an odd result. I notice that it’s always a good idea to check your babies after Evaporust goes to work so that it doesn’t “overwork”. My two cents, put it in for 24 hrs and no more. Give everything a clean, rinse and dry before reattempting.
Hi I have been doing research on rust removal for a while now and evaporust has made some noise, As I kept looking I found that it can be overpowered by a DIY method. Well I also believe at first as a clickbait, but to my surprise it seems to work. It’s using citrate ions to chelate ions in rust. It’s made using citric acid and washing soda and effective than any acid as per the demonstration. The article was published only two weeks ago by “‘Beyond Ballistics” as “The Ultimate HOMEMADE Rust Remover (Better than EvapoRust)” and I recommend to check it out. I am going to try it and let you know the results. (But where I am from there is no evaporust to compare against though)
This would be so handy to have right now. I accidentally left a pack of drill-bits outside when my family was evacuating for Hurricane Ida, and when we came back we found them and my dad was kinda upset, obviously, since these wonderful drill bits are now caked in rust. I’m gonna ask him if we can get some of this, since there are more than a few tools of his that me and my older brother have accidentally left out over the years, would be nice to repay him.
very nice. i learned a trick for rust removal from a model t ford restorer for bulk and large objects, its 10 parts water to one part blackstrap molasses. soak it for a week and hit it with a garden hose, and it wont rust for at least a week in florida, more in other dryer places….its good for pre priming for painting metals
Adam, try molasses. 9:1 water to molasses ratio. Overnight soak, hit it with scotch brite and repeat as necessary, and rinse. Hit it immediately with WD-40 after you rinse and dry your part, or you’ll have oxide starting to form within a half hour. I restored a completely rusted over Atlas/Craftsman lathe using this, and it looks like new.
If you use evaporust in an ultrasonic cleaner (a glass jar is a good idea to not have to use a full tub) it is a magic combo that works wonders. Basically because the ultrasonic cleaner will provide the gentle scrubbing action that the liquid itself cannot do – it can work though any thickness of rust and come out perfectly clean without any need to brush or scrape. It also speeds up the process dramatically. To further speed up the process you can use heat, as this will multiply the chemical reaction speed many times over compared to room temperature. My only gripe with evaporust is price,and they dont sell it as a concentrate. A lot of it is just water (which is needed as a medium). Some competitors do sell concentrate, and it seems to work almost identical but works out to be a lot cheaper.
I use this for large industrial products, 55 to 100+ gal at a time. Awesome stuff, but you have to be careful on soak time on hardened steel. Hardened steel can get embrittled if soaked too long, ( in the micro structure). awesome stuff though!!! They also make a gel. You may like metal rescue too it’s another type of de rust.
This stuff works well. At various times during the year, Amazon will offer significantly reduced prices on gallon-sized jugs and the 2.5 gallon tubs (which include plastic drain baskets for ease of de-rusting small parts in the solution and then draining the solution back into the bucket); for Prime members the shipping is free. I have used this stuff for years; I can’t say exactly how long it lasts, but its workimg strength can be measured with a hygrometer, similar to what battery acid in a 12 V car battery is tested with. Be sure to oil derusted parts immediately after any rust scum has been wiped, brushed or washed off, and the parts dried off with paper or cloth towels, to prevent flash rusting, which can occur in one or two minutes.
Okay, so… I’ve watched a few articles on rust removal. Went to Harbor Freight to get a few hand tools and some rust removal gunk. All they had was Evaporust– not my first choice. Got it anyway. I’m glad you made this article, Adam, because I’ve been hesitant to use that stuff. Main thing: I need to use this on a large flat surface (my band saw table). Any ideas how to do this? I can’t actually soak it in a tub.
I had a sewing machine that had been in storage supposed to be away from moisture. Unfortunately moisture got to it and rusted some of the internal parts. We used this and worked great on those parts. Unfortunately, used it with another machine that had some rust, did take the rust off, but the rust left the parts so pitted that those parts are unusable. Which is a shame because those parts are vertically impossible to find. But worked fabulously, just the same.
That spring looks like 2 weeks would have it dead clean. However you can get the same results over that time with molasses and water for a fraction of the price. Cleaned up several old tools and rusty cast iron barbecue elements to a perfectly clean light grey finish. You must degrease items completely first though if there’s any oiliness otherwise you waste your time, and make sure it’s always fully submerged or it’ll rust badly at the surface. Tip 3: after a few days, give it a quick scrub with a nylon brush and turn the item over to make sure no air bubbles get caught, leaving bad spots.
Old military ammo cans are great to keep Evaporust in. Make sure that the rubber gasket is still in the lid of the can. Another option I often use for rust removal (also good to clean brass and copper parts that are corroded or tarnished) is citric acid and hot water. I add a table spoon full or two in a gallon of water in a crock pot. Leaving steel parts in this too long will discolor and pit the metal. But checking your part every five or ten minutes will save you some headaches. I use this mixture a LOT when restoring old Coleman stoves, lanterns and lamps. 🙂
Hey Adam, greetings from Mexico! you know, perusal your article in the part of the spring when you said there is no scrubbing action from the liquid… since you have the product and I´m pretty sure you have an ultrasonic cleaner unit, have you used together? if you don´t, can you try and show us the result??? Best regards, Paco.
This product also removes any blackening that was on the part. I put some lug nuts in it and while it removed the rust and they were clean, I put them back on my truck in the winter and probably a month or so later, they ended up having more rust on them than before. Do you know of any good products for blackening? If I have to reapply it. Eastwood used to sell some, but now the only version they have is just a spray paint.
Adam, I tried so many rust removers and honestly Evapo-rust is not very effective. My go to rust remover is food grade 20% phosphoric acid bath. And for really deep rust, using the same bath is 10X faster with electrolysis where the 12V negative terminal is attached to the part you are cleaning, and a stainless rod or plate for the positive terminal. Your spring would be down to bare metal in ~10 minutes. The fumes are harsh, so only do electrolysis outside. Works on corroded aluminum as well, but it will slowly dissolve the base metal.
Toilet bowl cleaner (i.e. Ty-D-Bol) is a great rust remover. Pour cleaner in a plastic container, stick your rust item in and let it sit. Depending on how bad the rust is you may have to brush but often none is required. The item will generally be clean in about 15-20 minutes. Simply rinse in clean water, wipe and you’re done. In addition, the bowl cleaner can be reused. The downside is that its toxic and you need to wear protective eye wear and rubber gloves. But it works well and is a relatively fast method.
I am in the process of de-rusting an old tool box full of junk I got at a flea market, mostly 35 pliers and wrenches of various sizes. It works ok, I have to wire brush the worst ones afterwards. I got a quart at Autozone, and had to get a gallon to finish. The used liquid is pretty black in one pan, and has gray gunk floating in the other. I found it is better to wire brush the heaviest rust, like Adam’s rusty spring, before you soak them, and it only makes sense to clean them faster. It says you can re-use it, but how do you know when it is spent??
After you’d shown the result of the first item (obviously put on a coupla toothpicks next time), I was waiting for you to say “and now it’s spring time”! You mentioned you’d like to see photos of how we got on in the comments section — I presume your enthusiasm got the better of you (!) since such a thing ain’t possible as you know, or you’re talking about a comments section of your website. I’ll take a look.
What always gets me is the stink when you pull a piece of high carbon steel out of its Evaporust bath….blech. It’s a bit spendy is the only problem with it. I still use white vinegar as well because of the price difference. You can also try their radiator formula Thermocure, it works a treat as well.
I’ll have to get some of this. I have some railroad spikes that I was planning to make into a coat rack/wall hook thing. They were rusty already but they were in a bin with some automotive fluids and somehow my bottle of coolant leaked everywhere and that added to the rust significantly. I kind of liked their original rusty look but they are beyond rusty now. Probably removing the rust and then painting them black is what I’ll end up doing.
Hi, thanks for the article. What if you make another article, but instead of waiting only 24 hours, you leave the spring or another piece of the same state of corrosion for some 3 to 7 days? You could give a few lapses of time to see differences between each day until the end of the 7 days . From what I have read, it takes many hours to get the job done as it is at rest and there is no movement causing minimal turbulence contact friction. I hope you are encouraged to make the article and show better results. Thanks, greetings from Puerto Rico .. Success! 👍🏻
In case anyone is interested: I discovered a new method today. If you’re planning on bluing a steel part after removing the rust via Evaporust, you can actually just use Alumanew (or any aluminum brightener). It will remove the rust, degrease AND pickle/prepare the part all in one step! It also removes zinc plating so you don’t have to use citric acid or Deox-C
this evaporust has exactly the same properties as citric acid dilluted in water. They both leave the metal a little blackened, they both work a hell of a lot faster if you heat them up, they are both odorless. I strongly believe that they are the same thing. citric acid is available everywhere and it is a lot cheaper.
Here are a couple other ideas for using this. I would get an old piece of terry cloth or a cellulose kitchen counter wiper and wrap the part in it if you can. Submersion is important, but this would be a safety where the cloth will wick up the liquid and keep it moistened if the level drops. I also wonder what the results would be if you used this solution in an ultrasonic cleaner. It seems like it could be a really good combo approach.
Do you think this stuff would be safe on a firearm? Just recieved 3 beautiful firearms, “colt military GI 1911, ruger 22/lr and Beretta pistol”. They desperately need some care and some rust removal. There’s so much conflicting information online for rust treatment when it comes to firearms that I’m afraid to do anything at this point….
I wonder – would this product be gentle enough to remove bits of rust from an antique lamp base without harming the original finish? – Not sure if it’s cast iron or steel, but guessing it was coated with some sort of antique gold finish… bits of rust here and there where that finish was more worn, and a little more on the unfinished underside…
Most of these products are, or use borax as their primary ingredient. We use Deox-C, which is similar and will remove rust incredibly well at room temperature. As it removes the rust, there will always be pitting as the rust is formed from the base material. Still – a very efficient and safe way of de rusting items.
Somewhere else someone mentioned that you must fully immerse the steel part or there will be a distinct line at the surface of the liquid. Have no idea if that’s correct or not but would rather not find out the hard way. Also, can this be wiped onto a part? I’m thinking about rust removal when you don’t want to disassemble something.
Holy she-ite, Red Ryder! That is $33/per gallon while you can get white distilled vinegar for about $4/gallon down at Walmart and the vinegar does a great job, maybe even faster. The wife probably has all the vinegar you need in the pantry so no need to drive all over looking for the expensive stuff. Big plus is you can safely dispose of the used vinegar down the drain (cleans the drain too…) but when the expensive stuff is used up, you will have a disposal problem.
This is good stuff.he could have gotten the lightly rusted part cleaned up in about 20 minutes of soaking by wrapping a paper towel around it and wetting it. This stuff will leave shiny machinist tools with an etched matte gray finish. Don’t let the greenie weenie stuff keep you from trying it, it does work pretty good.
I have a watch with a band that is silicone with some rusted metal inlays. The face of the watch is, however, is in pretty good condition, with only a few spots showing rust. But if I were to submerge the whole watch in the Evaporust for a day, would that have any adverse effects on the parts that aren’t rusted?