Rust removing with lemon juice

[David M Anderson]

Heads up on the use of any solutions used for rust removal.

This mourning was cleaning up the shop, and decided to dump my Lemon juice solution in the grass.
Must of missed a brace bit which was in the juice, was cleaning a bunch of them I got in a sale.

This surprised me, for I promote rust removing with lemon juice.

This is the brace bit before clean up
drill bit before (Large).jpg

And when I dumped the lemon juice, this is what was left.
DSCF3154 (Large).jpg

Wow....!
Was in the juice for about a month...

[Lonnie Gallaher]

David, the links do not work.

[David M Anderson]

Do they work on your side now..?
Thanks in advance if they do Lonnie..

[Andre Packwood]

Hello David,

I use citric acid in a slow cooker ("crock pot") as the heat speeds up the process a lot. However, I once forgot a Union 4 1/2 iron at the bottom and only fished it out after two hours. It was a butt welded iron were the lower half is hard steel and the top is of a softer steel (laminated iron usually have the lower part made of hard steel only halfway through the thickness). The hard steel was more affected than the softer metal; it definitely lost some thickness and developed an ugly, uneven, darker surface. While you couldn't differentiate the two metals before, now it stands out as an eye sore.

Yes, citric acid, be it from fruit or a commercial product, can be very potent at chewing up steel, as your experience proves.

[Allan Speers]

Just so folks understand -

Any acid, whether citric, the stuff in naval jelly, etc, is slightly destructive. The huge advantage of electrolysis is that it actually makes the micro-layer of "rust" (it has a specific name, but I forget it) hard again. This can be critical on something like a screw or threaded hole, or two pieces that have to mate tightly.

It should also be noted that some folks have reported less-than-stellar results with electrolysis. However, I have found that most of the time (when you can tell) these are the SAME folks who say "you don't need a fancy voltage generator, just use a car battery charger." - Which is a big mistake.
When set-up correctly, electrolysis is fantastic.

I like acids, too, for less critical items & when I'm in a hurry. One big advantage of phosphoric acid (especially, in my experience) naval jelly, is that it will parkerize a rusty tool. - Wherever there was light rust, you end up with that nice "black" surface which then will never again rust. From David's pics, it looks like citric acid also does this, to some extend. I find that surprising, but good to know. Still, there are chemicals in naval jelly that probably do this process better, since true parkerization (as used on firearms, etc) requires the presence of manganese, nitrates, chlorates, etc. I doubt those are in citric acid. - Someone should do a controlled test one of these days to compare the results of using various chemicals.

BTW- the best way to stop the acid from doing any further eating is to dunk or wash the piece in a solution of baking soda & water. This will neutralize any acid deep in the pores and tight spaces, within a few seconds.

[Mark Stutz]

Allan,
The next time you do an electolysis project I would love to see your set up. I've done a little bit with the battery charger set up and have to say I've been quite pleased with the results, but maybe I don't know what I'm missing!

[Hilton Ralphs]

It should also be noted that some folks have reported less-than-stellar results with electrolysis. However, I have found that most of the time (when you can tell) these are the SAME folks who say "you don't need a fancy voltage generator, just use a car battery charger." - Which is a big mistake.
When set-up correctly, electrolysis is fantastic.

Ok, I'll bite.

I don't understand the difference between my dumb battery charger supplying a constant 12v or a voltage generator supplying a constant 12v. I think I understand that a smart battery charger may not be the best.

Ideally I'd like an explanation if this is at all possible.

Thanks.