[AT] De-Rusting

[charliehill]

Sandblasting heavy caked rust requires a lot of pressure, a lot of large 
grit blast media and a lot of time.  Meanwhile you are destroying the areas 
around the heavy rust that have already come clean.  This is what we do on 
structural steel with heavy caked rust.  It might not work on your stuff 
without damage but it's worth a try.  Get  a BIG hammer.  On steel beams, 
etc. we would use at least a 10 lb sledge and knock the crap out of it. 
Hard enough to make it rattle.  A lot of the rust will pop off.  Of course 
you would need to use a hammer small enough that it wouldn't bend, break or 
deform your cultivator.

Charlie Hill
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Stephen Offiler" <soffiler at gmail.com>
To: "Antique tractor email discussion group" <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Sent: Wednesday, July 01, 2009 1:54 PM
Subject: [AT] De-Rusting


> It's a bit of a stretch to relate this to old tractors, but I still
> think it's a fitting topic.  Here's the situation:
>
> My boss lives on a 300-year-old farm in Massachusetts.  Recently,
> while excavating in a corner that hadn't been disturbed in a long,
> long time, they began to unearth some iron artifacts, some down as far
> as 3' below ground level if I understood correctly.  A few of these
> miscellaneous hunks of rust remind me of something that might have
> been part of some old horse-drawn cultivator or something.  My task is
> to clean them up a bit, with the intention of perhaps putting them on
> display in his home if they appear interesting enough.
>
> They are heavily encrusted with rust and a fair amount of soil.  I
> started thinking about sandblasting or tumbling (because we have that
> equipment here at work) but then I started thinking electrolytic
> de-rusting instead.  I am looking for comments from anybody who's been
> there, done that... and that would be pretty much every antique
> tractor enthusiast, wouldn't it?
>
> - if I go the electrolytic route, how much pre-work should I put into
> them before they go in the tank?
> - how to pre-clean them, soap and water, mineral spirits, mechanical
> means such as wire brush, sandblast, etc?
> - is electrolytic the best choice?
>
> Thanks,
> Steve O.
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