How To: Rust removal

[Pete Ashby]

It's very much a case for 'horses for courses' and the size of your wallet.
I've tried all the the available methods over a restoration period spanning 45 years some are better than others for specific tasks others are quicker but perhaps more aggressive to the remaining surface material and some are quick but expensive.
I use virtually the whole range now on projects depending on the degree of corrosion, size of the work piece and base material these include the following:

Crushed glass high pressure blasting,

Good for frames and large chunks of body work, very quick and leaves a good finish but can be a problem if access to areas of the work is limited. Needs to be done by a commercial company if you don't own a large blast facility and all the kit therefore expensive but job done with no mess or hassle other than getting the work there and back, this is not a process you want to have done in you back garden I have a barn and no neighbors and a mobile man comes but there is a lot of dust and noise and fair bit of clean up afterwards.

Mechanical abrasion with various wire wheels on high speed grinders,

Good for small areas but creates a lot of dust and noise that can be a problem for the neighbors if you have any, not good for small delicate items and can be difficult to get into small spaces effectively.

Electrolysis,

Works well providing the anode and cathode are in line of site of each other, fairly quick doesn't make any noise or dust but does generate Hydrogen and oxygen off gas that's needs to be vented it's not a good idea to do this under the stairs in you house for example

Molasses

Excellent for all round performance and dead cheap, get's in everywhere and does it's stuff particularly good for cleaning up internal threads and small parts stinks a bit after a while though. But it is slow with capital S and works best if the temperature is above 15C I keep my bath in the poly tunnel I have toyed with the idea of heating the brew up to 100C as this should speed every thing up

Pete