How to remove rust from parts... Interesting

A friend stopped in work today and he asked me if I have ever heard of Molasses removing rust... I said, "No I haven't, but sounds interesting"  so he went on a bout a friend of his who said he saw on the internet that molasses mixed with water will remove rust, so he thought he would try it to remove rust from some parts  on an old panel truck he is restoring and .  So we did some research and were amazed this can actually work, so I thought I would share the information with you guys... Now this is not an instant removal this process will take a few days up to a week or two depending on the amount of rust...

So here it is along with a  I found on youtube demonstrating how it works.


Molasses

Rust is the oxidation of iron. Sometimes it's a good thing, like the iron oxides used in polishing compounds and jeweler's rouge, but most of the time it's a bad thing. The most commonly recommended way to remove rust is by sanding until the rust is removed and you've reached clean metal. This can be with sand paper, wire brushes or even aluminum foil dipped in water. Sanding also removes some of the good metal while getting rid of the rust and can leave some of the rust behind. Using Black Strap Molasses instead converts the all of the rust on the surface with minimal loss of the good metal.

Which Molasses for Rust Removal

Molasses is a by-product of processing sugar cane and sugar beets into granulated sugar. Cane and beets are milled (washed, cut, shredded into a pulp). Water is added to extract the sugary juice (cane juice). The cane juice is boiled then cooled in tanks where water evaporates leaving a thick syrup. The process is repeated until sugar crystals begin to separate from the syrup when spun in a centrifuge. At each step, the liquid spun out of the centrifuge is molasses. First molasses is from the first processing and has the highest sugar content. Second molasses is from the second processing and is slightly more bitter. Black strap molasses is from the third boiling and contains relatively few sugars and a concentrated spectrum of minerals like copper, calcium, magnesium, potassium, and iron. This concentrated combination of minerals creates the chelating process to remove rust. So, it's important to get Black Strap Molasses. Small quantities can be found in some grocery stores, most health food stores and restaurant supply shops. Larger quantities can be found at feed mills.

Molasses Bath

Mix the molasses at a rate of 1 part molasses to 9 parts water. Mix enough to cover the object that you're cleaning entirely. As an example, if you're cleaning the head of a hammer that has a chrome handle, you need to cover the entire head (but not the handle). Soak your item in the molasses bath for several days to two weeks depending on how rusted the item is. You'll want to store your molasses bath where it won't freeze. Warmer temperatures will give quicker reactions. You'll notice bubbles on the surface in the shape of the item as the process works. Once you've done it once or twice, you'll get a feel for how long the reaction takes to clean different levels of rust. The reaction causes an odor that you wouldn't want in your main living areas so choose an area where your molasses bath is out of the way.

Cleaning The Rust From Your Item

When you remove the object from the molasses bath, the rust will have been turned to a black substance that easily scrubs off using a plastic scrubby and hot water. Most of the black should scrub off leaving the good metal as dark grey. Longer scrubbing removes more of the blackened chelated material, but if it's hard to remove, consider putting it back into the molasses bath.

Keeping Your Item Rust Free

Once the chelated rust is removed, dry the object completely (it's water that create the rust in the first place), then coat the object to prevent future rust. This can be with a paint designed to prevent rust or with a water-displacing oil. WD-40 is the best water displacement oil (can you guess what the 'WD' stands for?). Thoroughly coat the object and let it stand until "dry." Once you've had rust that's a signal that you'll need to keep preventing rust in the future. Recoating with WD-40 on a routine basis is the easiest way to accomplish this.