Best way to clean up an old rusty vice?

[JohnD]

Includes a utube link

surface rust

Pick up a second hand lathe that has stood for many years unloved in a garage, quite a bit of surface rust in places (not deep at all) what is the best way of tidying it up. Bright wool and a light oil/water dispersant does a reasonable job, but is their better stuff to use ?

www.diynot.com

 

[Notch7]

Webrax disc

 

[Odds]

Phil Serrell is always on the lookout for industrial heritage and i'm sure he'd advise you to not work too hard at removing everything back to bare metal, leaving something of the original vice intact. Removing flaky rust and renewing the working parts is a given if you want to use it but i wouldn't go much further than that: oil-soaked rags, wire wool, wire brushes of assorted size and shape for those tricky corners will be fine.
Buy a tin of elbow grease if you need it, feller, and crack on.

 

[Rollerball]

Phil Serrell is always on the lookout for industrial heritage and i'm sure he'd advise you to not work too hard at removing everything back to bare metal, leaving something of the original vice intact. Removing flaky rust and renewing the working parts is a given if you want to use it but i wouldn't go much further than that: oil-soaked rags, wire wool, wire brushes of assorted size and shape for those tricky corners will be fine.
Buy a tin of elbow grease if you need it, feller, and crack on.

Having just watched a few rusty vice restorations on YouTube I don't plan on doing a 'My Mechanics' and making it look better than new, I just want to do enough to make it functional, remove existing rust and prevent any more from forming.

 

[thomp1983]

As you've got a battery charger I'd use electrolysis to do it, big plastic tub from the range is about £10 then you just need some scrap steel and soda crystals whole job will be less than £20 and takes very little effort but works well

 

[Odds]

Having just watched a few rusty vice restorations on YouTube I don't plan on doing a 'My Mechanics' and making it look better than new, I just want to do enough to make it functional, remove existing rust and prevent any more from forming.

Considering the size of the vice then it'd be a labour of Hercules to do anything other than an electrolysis treatment, as advised...would that take everything off with it, though?

 

[lostinthelight]

Builders tubs are idea for electrolysis. https://www.toolstation.com/hand-tools/buckets/c1252
A piece of rebar or a big old file for a sacrificial anode and sit the vice on some plastic spacers to keep it off the bottom out of conductive sludge. If its not a delicate item I hit it with 24 volts so its like a chip pan but do in a well ventilated place or outside

 

[JohnD]

.would that take everything off with it, though?

It will remove rust, but not paint or grease or sound metal.

 

[DiyNutJob]

Why can't you use the vice with rust on it? You just need the functional parts to work. Apply copper grease in the moving parts, it has a slow rust removal/conversion ability. Don't see why it must be a beauty contest with someone else's vice.

 

[opps]

Leave it in a bucket full of cheap supermarket own brand cola.

Years ago, I found a bag full of old coins in my garage, some of which had become rusty. She what scowls at me recommended that I put them in Coke. I said I would use malt vinegar. The coke turned them green, the vinegar left them clean (after rinsing).

I have long wondered of the cola thing is an urban myth.

 

[RandomGrinch]

I have long wondered of the cola thing is an urban myth.

The difference is that vinegar contains acetic acid, and cola contains phosphoric acid.
All acids (when dissolved in water) will release hydrogen ions to varying degrees, which react to remove the unwanted oxides.

The phosphoric acid in cola could be considered better for removing rust than acetic acid - the reaction creates a layer of iron phosphate, and this helps resist further rusting.

 

[opps]

The difference is that vinegar contains acetic acid, and cola contains phosphoric acid.
All acids (when dissolved in water) will release hydrogen ions to varying degrees, which react to remove the unwanted oxides.

The phosphoric acid in cola could be considered better for removing rust than acetic acid - the reaction creates a layer of iron phosphate, and this helps resist further rusting.

Thanks for that.

 

[DiyNutJob]

Vinegar turns brass copper. Haven't tried cola.

 

[Stivino]

Vinegar turns brass copper

Brass is mostly copper.

 

[bourbon]

Thanks, I'll look up how to use electrolysis. The vice is of a reasonable size and weight - I guess about a foot long when the jaws are closed.

Noted re the Hammerite, I thought that stuff was supposed to neutralise the rust.

Hammerite used to be good stuff. Now, by law they have now banned some ingredients and it's crap