francophile 

Picked up a Campy hub with stuck freewheel. The oil cover was rusty and gnarly as hell and I needed to remove while trying to take off the freewheel, so I figured I'd give a shot at it with some environmentally-friendly Evapo-Rust. 48 hours soaking in a jar I re-use for small parts in the shop and the only rough spot on the entire thing is the tip which is I think is a goner and may require mechanical abrasion.

Before you could barely make out the dimple, surface was pimply. The after pics show after pulling it off and simply rinsing with water, no rubbing at all.

Before:




After:

Spaghetti Legs 

I love Evapo Rust for small parts. I even put aluminum bits in it as it seems to shine them up real nice.

francophile 

I've soaked aluminum large pieces like cranksets it if there's rusted steel (swages, pressed rivets etc) on it and it does an awesome job. I haven't seen what happens with pitted aluminum though. Have you ever tried it? I have a couple of alloy cranksets with some pitting I'd been considering tossing in a bath.

I've had amazing results with this stuff, especially on chrome. Takes any traces of rust out, perfect prep for wax.

I've also noticed on certain (non-enamel) painted stuff - like painted alloy or steel painted QR nuts - it'll not only remove the rust, but take the cheap paint off also, allowing you to use metal bluing on it for a better/more permanent solution. Still haven't tried seeing if it will remove spraypaint. If so, I've got an L Bobet frame sitting in my basement that needs a full soak...

Bikerider007

I'm a huge fan of it. So easy but is costly if you need much.

I wonder how many old bikes or other things it has saved.

dweenk

I am a huge fan of EvapoRust for small parts - if the parts are cleaned and degreased before the bath. I decant mine into a Folgers plastic coffee can. It can handle nearly all the parts that I need to clean (and it has a pretty air-tight lid). For the bigger stuff I still use OA.

ramzilla

I've switched to all plastic snap lid containers for soaking. (The metal paint cans I previously used had bad reactions with solvents).

francophile 

I've been using glass jars. Tall or squat capers jars work really well for different sized parts. I suppose you could sub in ball jars, but the modern pickle/caper jars tend to have the lid bottoms rubberized.

ramzilla

No more glass jars for me since one busted. It was a mayonaise jar. Had some small nuts & bolts soaking in diesel. Decided to shake it up a little to get things going. Bummer. I like plastic coffee containers & tupperware now.

francophile 

Always swirl, never shake

I made the mistake of shaking up chromed parts when I was a teenager working with a neighbor restoring his '70 Corvette in San Diego. Let's just say it's a good thing it wasn't something super important. Shaking them banged/scratched the chrome. Now I just swirl, regardless.

qcpmsame 

"Swirlled, not shaken".... 007 gets a C&V makeover, for his bespoke English bicycle, from Q.

Bill

howellhandmade

Trying it this evening on a Schwinn Voyageur frame, using a long narrow box lined with plastic and blocking to soak one side of the diamond at a time. Really seems to do a great job. Remarkable.

Lovenutz

I love Evapo rust! that stuff is magical.

LouB 

X2. I strain and reuse- try not to pour the sediment back into the jug and I've gotten longer lifebout it. I've also learned that warmth definitely speeds up the process. De-rusting parts on a cold Winter's day outside just doesn't work.

john hawrylak

Is this the Voyaguer with the chrome half stays and half fork (73 to 76??)?? Does it take away any pitting??


John Hawrylak
Woodstown NJ

howellhandmade

No, mid-80s, chrome stays under paint. It is fastest at removing rust on bare metal, and slower at removing rust "in" paint and plating. But given enough time, all the rust disappears. Pitted chrome will still be pitted, but there will be bare metal at the bottom of the pits rather tham rust.

francophile 

Point worth noting: It can have unexpected details on non-clearcoated decals. For example, I used it on the chrome crown caps on a Pinarello, and part of my wet paper towel laid over on the Columbus decals at the top of the fork blade and it - strangely - bleached them white as if they'd been in the sun.

OTOH, I've used it directly on the DT of a couple of different Peugeots with the mid-80s big white blocky letters and it didn't do anything (those are clearcoated). So ... just a consideration.

It won't remove the pitting in chrome. It will remove the rust, so with heavy pitting, in the spots that are red and bumpy, they'll be black and bumpy after. Basically, whatever the surface texture feels like before treatment is exactly what it will feel like after. It's amazing at neutralizing rust; it's not a miracle worker, though, it can't repair rust damage or cause the rust to somehow re-plate the spots it bubble from.

Spaghetti Legs 

I experienced that effect on clear coat. I learned that the hard way recently with my De Rosa. The top tube guides were corroded and I did a 36 hour paper towel and Saran Wrap soak. The entire area under the wrap was opaque/whitish. I panicked and started scraping off the clear coat but I think if I'd have left it alone it probably would have mostly cleared back up. Anyway that was the point when I decided to let a pro do the touch up on the bike.

francophile 

The Pinarello was a 24-hour soak, and I read the bottle after, I swear it said not to leave it on for more than 8 or 12 hours at a time, then rinse, then reapply, but I may be mistaken. After going through two small bottles, I just went out and bought a 3.5 gallon jug 12-18 months ago, it's not as easy to read the directions on