How to make it rust?

[Moses Yoder]

My block & tackle evidently was missing a cotter pin on the end of a pin that held the top pulleys in place. It fell apart while I was moving it around to photograph, bearings all over the place. I can get the right size cotter pin and put it back together, I just need to know how to make the cotter pin rust so it will blend in with the other pieces. Spray with salt water and set outside?

[Andrew Fleck]

Salt water would be my first guess.

[Judson Green]

I kinda blackened hardware using white oak shavings and water, not real soupy, just very damp. I did it in a bucket over a few days, you could use a plastic bag. I've heard of folks peeing on hardware to aid in rusting. Maybe the shavings and urine would work best, tannins and ammonia.

[Harlan Barnhart]

Strip the galvanization off with a hour or two in lemon juice or white vinegar. Wet it and let sit overnight.

[Jerry Thompson]

If it were mine I would put in with my hand planes.

[Shawn Pixley]

Salt water or vinegar

[Winton Applegate]

I have never tried the lemon etc., but if you have drive way cleaner that is muriatic acid, can get by the gallon at Home Depot, then that may take off the galvanizing. I know it will take the mill scale off a sheet of hot rolled steel and that stuff is way more tenacious than a little zinc.
Then
let the dog pee on it.
I know the dogs can get the spokes on my wire wheels to rust right through the chrome.
Don't fool around; take it to an expert for the final peeetina (the dog).

[Winton Applegate]

A couple of metal finishing experts






A thought or two :
submerging the metal in water and salt or what have you will do nothing UNTIL you take it out and the air hits it.
After all what you want is the metal to OXIDIZE so you need oxygen right ?


Heat will speed this up so you may be better off warming the steel with a heat gun and brushing on the what ever you choose to brush on, then heating it some more.


Yum ! Out in the drive way making hot steaming clouds of dog pee with her hair dryer.

Your wife will have the guys in white coats come get you for sure.


ha, ha, ha, aaah, ha, ha, ha,

[Zach Dillinger]

Strip the galvanization off with a hour or two in lemon juice or white vinegar. Wet it and let sit overnight.

This should work. You can also burn off the galvanization with a torch but do it outside and do not breathe the fumes. They are quite bad for you. Once the coating is gone, you can accelerate the rusting process by obtaining muriatic acid from the Borg and placing a small open container of said acid in a box with your cotter pin. Do not do this inside your shop or anywhere else where there are pieces of metal that you don't want rusty. The pin will be rusty in very short order.

[Winton Applegate]

Thread


For only $3500.00 at ACE. Yep, if it weren’t so true it would be funny.


Another thread


Or, chemically and technically speaking . . . dog pee


PS: I like the signature : Ordinarily I'm insane, but I have lucid moments when I'm merely stupid.
PPS: (so to speak) at the metal sculpture places I have worked at usually the patina what ever it was for (bronze or steel and many color variations, was sprayed on in a hooded exhaust area with an up draft and heated with a torch up to the size of a weed burner tip). (More accurately the metal was heated and then the patina was sprayed on) some such, I wasn't into learning this and was so busy I never took the time to learn it. The owners always applied the patinas and so didn't want to share the "secrets" any way and didn't want to pay me to stand around and watch THEM work.

Ha, ha.

[george wilson]

Winton,that is one lazy lookin hound dog!!!

[Moses Yoder]

Okay, just to make sure we are on the same page. Since I don't really want to spend any money on this I can strip the galvanized coating off with a few hours in vinegar. Next step, wait until the pee pot we call Vesper has guzzled all the water she wants to then sit down and drink a large cup of coffee. By the time the cup is empty Vesper will be crossing her legs and whining while staring at me. I let her out the back door while running after her like a mad man into the dog yard and as soon as she squats to pee throw the cotter pin in the resulting puddle. Mark the spot and let the dog back in, after a few hours retrieve the pin and set in some safe spot outdoors where it can rust. Sounds reasonable.

Vesper.jpg

[Judson Green]

Anything special about dog pee? Couldn't you just use our own? Usually easier to control where it goes.

[Winton Applegate]

Oh that’s Charlie
Lazy ?
Naw he’s a hard working ranch dog. He’s just taking a brief respite before getting back in the truck to take care of the herds.

No really . . . see

He's even famous enough to have a book written about him.

He lives here

Queenmasteroftheuniverseandbabybunnytrainer follows this site from time to time and keeps me up to date on the important things . . . the dogs.

[Winton Applegate]

Moses,

Oh my gosh ! What have I done ! ? I just saw your post "signature".
With the photo it is very BIZARRE. (I like it).

any thing special about dog P ?

They seem to thinks so. They are always leaving free samples.