Hidden underneath all this nasty red metallic bullshit, you’re going to find something beautiful.
High carbon steel.
As wonderful a material it is, holding a better edge over the inoxydable stainless steel, it does react with oxygen if exposed to humidity. Basically unless you oil your tools they’ll eventually go to shit. But not to worry! With just a quick look in the kitchen you’ll be able to find everything you need to bring back some life into those rusty pieces of steel.
before we continue let me get this out of the way, would it be better/easier/faster to use electrolysis/sanding/grinding/sandblasting? probably, but until I have the equipment to do that, this is the best way to go about rust cleaning with what most people have to hand. So! up above we have a good example of a before during and after
So what do we need? Well for a basic solution, you just need some white vinegar and salt. Ingredients? About a cup of salt per gallon of vinegar or just pour it in until it stops dissolving.
For this demonstration I have a pair of old old axe heads that my father in law had lying around in the barn. These axes came from a elderly gentleman who picked them up from his wife’s grandfather’s farm, so there’s a good chance they’re at least 50 years old. Lots of rust develops in half a century, but nothing that we can’t get off with a bit of chemical assistance.
Rust is essentially the reaction of the element iron and oxygen in the presence of water or humid air. You leave those shiny tools around with no oily protection and eventually the whole thing will rust to nothing. Soak the rusting object in vinegar and the acid will begin to work on the rust reacting with it and creating bubbles of hydrogen, the rust will dissolve and weaken allowing us to scrub it off with much less effort. You can see above the pattern of hydrogen bubbles on the surface after a night’s bath.
So after it’s had a day or two take it out and give it a scrub in fresh water, use a scouring ball, scotch pad, just something abrasive to take off the rust flakes. You can see after a day this axe’s rust just isn’t coming off, so it’s back into the vinegar
