Thread: Evap O Rust

I went to a garage sale on Saturday (golly my area had so many!!!) and I was there before the sparrows broke wind and scored a trailer load of fantastic tooling from an old bloke who had passed aways deceased estate. He had worked at BHP at Wollongong for 50 years the son said that was selling everything and the son was down for the weekend to move everything out, he's a software engineer and doesn't like tools and just wanted it all gone.....I obliged for the princely sum of $50.00

Everyday this old bloke worked in those 50 years, when he knocked off, he must have really KNOCKED OFF!!!! He must have left with every pocket full and his lunch box full as well every single day to accumulate what he did.

I'm not kidding, I have virtually a trailer load of P&N EVERYTHING!!! It's all old Aussie steel and lots have the Dept of Defense mark as well.......for $50.00 it's one of those mornings that I'll talk and remember for the rest of my life!

Some of it is a little rusty, nothing bad at all, but I don't fancy spending the next two years cleaning it up one at a time, so I finally bit the bullet and bought 5 Litres of Evap O Rust.

Has anyone ever used it before? Any hints? If I use it in an ice cream container, can I soak items in it overnight, remove them and then add more items into the same liquid? Will it be as effective not being fresh?

Good work on that pickup i have some PN turning chisels and love them. Evaporation is my go to solution for cleaning up old tools. I soak them overnight depending how bad the rust is sometimes days. Then I use some steel wool to clean up the gunk and rinse under water. I strain the used liquid and place rare earth magnet in container yo pickup any excess metal and then good to go the next time.

I swear by it and has worked everyome for me. Great Aussie product

Originally Posted by Jim Ferrous

Everyday this old bloke worked in those 50 years, when he knocked off, he must have really KNOCKED OFF!!!! He must have left with every pocket full and his lunch box full as well every single day to accumulate what he did.

I'm not kidding, I have virtually a trailer load of P&N EVERYTHING!!!

Sounds like my old man.

When they did the annual stock take, that's what he did - took the stock

Gotta laugh, those old guys were incredible.

I must have a zillion nuts, bolts and spring washers in the shed that went walkabout.

Rob

Hi Jim,

I have used the product. It's great stuff. I have left rusty stuff in it for a week at a time to remove deeper rust, as an experiment. I don't recommend that though. It is really good for light rust. For heavy pitting I'd recommend a wire brush or similar first. This is because it cost me $70 for 5 litres and using it to remove heavy rust is not the most economic idea. Unless the item I am removing the rust on does not allow me physical access due to it's shape, etc.

Be aware that it will lift chrome plating and hot dip galvanising if there is rust coming through or under the chrome or gal.

I have spoken to the importer and he tells me that if you want to dissolve rust from vertical panels you can create a three sided pocket with a piece of plastic and duct tape , trap some absorbent paper or the like between the plastic and the panel and then fill the pocket with enough evap o rust to keep the paper wet. He has sold quite a bit of this into the Coal Seam Gas industry as apparently the gas is quite corrosive when it comes out of he ground.

It goes pretty murky when it is spent and you can sort of tell it is not doing much at that stage. It does slow down as the chemistry is used up. Some items can take a couple of days to remove all the rust, so some patience is required.

Cheers

The Beryl Bloke

Jim

Be very careful --------- don't get any of that stuff on yourself, you will dissappear forever

Originally Posted by morrisman

Jim

Be very careful --------- don't get any of that stuff on yourself, you will dissappear forever

hahaha..that might not be a bad thing...we can then share that trailer load of tools ...if it really happend...without photos it didnt happen

Dont use in metal container is my only advice. Otherwise it is excellent for light/moderate rust removal. Wirebrush/steel wool for heavier deposits.
Wash with warm water to clean off and dry. Drillit.

Received my 5 litres on Friday by courier and was using it yesterday.

So far I have discovered that for best results its best to clean the objects in boiling water first to get all traces of oil and grease off for the stuff to do its magic.

Originally Posted by Jim Ferrous

Received my 5 litres on Friday by courier and was using it yesterday.

So far I have discovered that for best results its best to clean the objects in boiling water first to get all traces of oil and grease off for the stuff to do its magic.

I have not tried boiling water to clean anything with.

Just a note to let you know some steel will take on a permanent black colour after being in the Evap o rust. Seems to be a spring steel behaviour. The only down side to this is if the tool's size is printed on with black ink. You can't read the size afterwards. Somethings, like spring loaded calipers, can look really good with some black parts.

Cheers

Th Beryl Bloke

Many thanks to all you coves for this very interesting thread, Bill.