And the winner is ?

[pontiac428]

Where do you get the sulfuric acid powder. I am thinking that the Evapo rust might be safer.

No, no- absolutely NOT sulfuric acid!

Go to Amazon and search for sulfamic acid. Sulf-am-ic. It's a completely different chemical. It is in my mind, without doubt, the "sulfur bearing" ingredient in evaporust. You can feel the slipperiness and smell the sorta-antifreeze-like odor. It is widely used. You might have some already if you have any "dip" type tarnish removers, that's a two-ingredient product, sulfamic acid and water, costs a nickel to make.

I expend great effort in studying what products are made from, it's my job to be the one who knows the answers on these things when the phone rings. I don't believe that things are out of reach of the home shop laboratory until you encounter economies of scale. Remember, Fritz Haber synthesized ammonia (fixing of nitrogen) for the first time in public with a suitcase portable exhibit on a card table he carried with him to show Robert Bosch. It's a big part of the reason WW1 was so bloody, the Germans had a quick ways to make nitro propellants and explosives that never existed before that. TNT, nitrocellulose, even ammonia gas were weaponized as a result. We think of those things as the domain of big industry, but really, they're stuff we can make at home for cheaper than Home Depot brand TNT. I mean, Evaporust.

Kilo sacks of tannic acid and sulfamic acid can be bought at Amazon for a lot less than one gallon of evaporust costs. When my current supply runs out, I'll give it a go. The EDTA certainly can't hurt, and most likely helps by picking up smut from the base metal.

 

[pontiac428]

I would have to disagree. I e used vinegar on dozens of projects and it’s never failed me yet. Unless you throw in some spring steel. That’s a no no! When you add the costs vinegar wins. Availability to some
If it removes mill scale then it’ll remove rust.

i use vinegar as well. Mainly on mill scale but i use it on rusty stock too. I already have it and it's cheap. It does stink so i let it sit outside.

Have not tried evaporust, i assume it isnt cheap. How long will a gallon last? Is it re-useable?
Joe

Anyone want to guess why they call removing scale and surface rust from metal "pickling"? Most machinist's textbooks and books on plating cover different pickle baths for metal. Usually acetic with hydrochloric acid, and often nitric acid are specified. That is one of the reasons I think hydrogen embrittlement is a running joke around here.

 

[jwmay]

 

[MyLilMule]

I would have to disagree. I e used vinegar on dozens of projects and it’s never failed me yet. Unless you throw in some spring steel. That’s a no no! When you add the costs vinegar wins. Availability to some
If it removes mill scale then it’ll remove rust.

A wire wheel works, too. So does a toothbrush, WD-40 and ATF. But EvapoRust works the best out of all of them. Including vinegar.

 

[ltlvt]

A pretty good video comparison

 

[MyLilMule]

The prices he gives in that video are woefully outdated. Price per oz. might be less with the home brew kit, but you'll spend more just to get started.

 

[ltlvt]

The prices he gives in that video are woefully outdated. Price per oz. might be less with the home brew kit, but you'll spend more just to get started.

 

[ltlvt]

I agree. And also, the DIY takes an additional 24 hrs. to work compared to Evaporust. But he admits all of this. As he said the Evaporust recipe is as well guarded as the recipe for Coca Cola. I don't even do that much rust removal it is just the curiosity issue that drives me, and others like me. Curiosity can and has been the mother of invention for many hundreds of years. I guess it is in our DNA to be curious.

 

[strantor]

A lot of people are singing the praises of Evaporust (which I agree with, none better) on a thread supposed to be about home brews so I'll join the mob. But on the sub-topic of insect poison.

I am surrounded by rice farms and the mosquitoes out here are unbearable. Before moving here I thought mosquitoes were mosquitoes were mosquitoes. Turns out there are different types, just like there are different types of cats. The different types have different sizes and temperaments. What I had known all my life were the "house cat" type of mosquito. What we have out here are Lions, but their attitudes are more like that of the honey badger. They are called "Shaggy Legged Gallinippers." They are around an inch or longer and have a mean streak a mile wide. They will fly through a black cloud of citronella smoke to get to you, and you can smack them out of the air (they're big enough for you to see and hear the impact) into the ground, they will get right back up and fly straight at you.

There is no "safe" or "natural" cure that is effective for these things. At least not that I've tried, and I'm pretty sure I've tried them all. I hate to use anything that can impact bee populations, but I do anyway, because to do otherwise would mean my property would be useless for several months of the year. You cannot get anything done outside when this scourge is in full swing. There will be a literal cloud of them at the front and back door, and as soon as you open it, they get sucked in and attack. Those that don't get sucked in, follow you from the time you walk out, and torment you wherever you go. This is what it looked like after I sprayed the first year; these were swept up just from my 4'x6' concrete landing outside my front door:



I rigged up a sprayer to spray for them. Not your typical hand pump sprayer, and not even the "professional" backpack sprayer. It's a 55gal drum connected to a gasoline powered pressure washer with a turbo nozzle, that I move around with my tractor.







I spray the whole property with this setup (2.5 acres) paying special attention to the areas known to be hot spots for mosquitoes. I do NOT spray the rose bushes or any other flowering plants, and I keep the lawn cut regularly enough that no flowering weeds have a chance to grow. The last thing I want is bees getting tangled up in my mosquito defenses. The next day after I spray, no mosquitoes. This lasts about a week, then they start gradually being replaced by younger immigrants, but just at a trickle, and the number is manageable. I've never needed to spray more than twice in a year, and it seems like every year there are less.

This or this is the stuff I use; which ever Tractor Supply has in stock when I go; either one works as well as the other but the first one leaves a milky residue on the house and cars while the second one dries clear like water. If you're going to spray this stuff, please be aware that it's absolutely apocalyptic on the scale of little critters. It kills them all, even the beneficial ones. It kills crawfish, and if you let it get into ponds or streams it kills fish too. It kills ticks and fleas which is awesome if you have pets, but it can kill your pets too, so don't let them out until it's had a day to dry. It kills mud daubers, wasps, spiders, everything. Please be responsible and do everything you can to avoid killing bees!

 

[pontiac428]

Man, you're not messing around with the equipment. I get it, malaria is a killer. But what's with the N95 particle mask? That stuff you're spraying doesn't look like particulates to me. Fumes, mists, and vapors call for a real respirator with a chemical filtration cartridge. A lot of pesticides cause nerve damage, aka the funky chicken, the dying cockroach, the ginger jake, or my fave, the Harlem shake. Eek!