peripatetic

Major ingredient of Tobasco is vinegar. Vinegar kills rust, as does Coke and any number of things containing Citric or Phosphoric acid. May as well keep the Tobasco for your food.

bikemeister

I use a chrome cleaner made by Turtle Wax. Stuff has been around for years, but it works well. I beleive it's still available. Needs alot of elbow grease, though, and I can't speak about the toxicity concerns. V

fender1

For small parts I soak for a couple of days in white vinegar in a seald tupperware container. Rust melts right off. I then wash, dry and give light coating of oil/wd-40 to seal. I have used the copper scouering pads for larger parts. Anyone ever try the mixture sold by Old Roads for rust removal??

J T CUNNINGHAM

Any , ' Abrasive Polish ' , Will Destroy The V E R Y Thin Layer Of Chrome ( .0005' ) So That What You Have Remaining Is The Nickel Plate Only . Yes , It Will , ' Shine ' , But With A , ' Nickel-yellow ' , Cast .

Bikedued

Chrome is also a V E R Y hard material, that 's why abrasive cleaners don't usually remove it, at least not in my experience. The only time I've ever seen a chrome plate down to nickel (without rust anyway) is on Schwinn one piece crank arms. After 20 plus years of blue jeans rubbing them down.,,,,BD

Are you related to William Shatner by any chance?

Sprint75

I prefer a brass brush and then sometimes aluminum foil for the hard to reach parts. I save the WD40 (or any liquid) for the end of the process because it will make rust particles stick to the chrome surface and can cause abrasion. Neverdull and some other chemical cleaners remove metal and I use those sparingly.

TimJ

Oxalic acid!!! someone linked to a BMX forum where a guy used oxalic acid, I tried it and all I have ot say is

OXALIC ACID!!!!!!

It's sold as wood bleach in hardware stores in a powdered form. You mix it in some with water (I'd say roughly 1/4 or less as strong as the instructions reccommend for bleaching wood) and simply soak the chrome (or whatever) that has the rust on it. Depending on how strongly you mixed it will determine how quickly it works, but basically you just need to kind of brush off the rusted area maybe once or twice while it soaks and after a while the rust is simply gone. I had two wheels, fenders, steel calipers, steel brake levers, handlebars and stem coated in rust, they soaked for a couple hours in a plastic tub and the rust is completely gone. It doesn't do anything about pitting of course, so the chrome now is completely shiny but textured in an odd way.

I will never scrub rust away again. There was virtually no labor involved. This was a complete bike I'm rebuilding to sell- every bit of chrome coated in rust- it's totally shiny now and I spent maybe an hour or two total dealing with it.

I'm telling ya' - Oxalic acid!

J T CUNNINGHAM

' CHROME PLATING ' , . . .
Or Any Plating For That Matter , Is Probably The Most Misunderstood , ' Finish ' ,
That Has Ever Been Developed .
Check Out Some Quality Platers , - Online , ( Bicycle Platers ) & You Will Find
That The , ' Chrome Plating ' , Is , ' The Icing On The Cake ' , Hardly Even Worth
The Mention . My Last Post Refered To The Thickness As .0005 ; It More Than Likely
Should Be .00005 ! Yes , It Is , ' Hard ' , But W A Y Too Thin For Any Practical
Purpose Beyond , Making The Nickel , ' Look Good ' .
The , ' Real Deal ' , Is The Prep & Plating , Prep & Plating , Prep & Plating , Prep &
Plating , Plating , & Then A , ' Post Op ' , Of , Baking ! Very Lab(o)ur Intensive , And ,
Not Too Much Time , ' In The Tank ' .
The Part To Be , ' Chromed ' , ( Through The First Prep ) Must Appear As Perfect As
The Finished Article . It Is Then , ' Struck ' , With , ' Copper ' . This Copper , Must
Then Be , ' Preped ' , Again To , ' Level It Out ' . Another , ' Copper Strike ' , But Thicker ,
May Be Applied , With Another , ' Level Out ' , Buff .

( Not Even Half Way Through Yet ! )

Two More , ' Strikes ' , With Nickel , Each A Light Buff , & Then , & Only Then , ' Chrome ' .
The , ' Chrome ' , Is Not Polished / Buffed ; It Being The , ' Brilliant Finish ' ,
That We Know & Love .

( Not Done Yet ! )

Always . . . . . Remember This . . . . . Always . . . . .

The Part Must Be , ' Baked ' , To Drive Out The Hydrogen Gas Which Has Been Trapped
During The , ' Plating ' . . . ( 300' F , For About 3-4 Hours )

If This Is Not Done , Or Done Incorrectly , The Part Will Fail As If It Were A . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Glass Pretzel !

Now , Do You Want Your Bike / Fastners / Anything , Entrusted To Anyone Other Than
A Quality Bicycle Plater ? . . . I Think Not !

( No , I Am Not , ' In The Business ' , But I Do Indeed Have The Most Glorious Set Of
' Oxweld ' , Torches That I Did In My Friends Shop ! )

Ps . The , ' Plating Does Not Rust , It Is The Steel , ' Parent Metal ' , That Rusts
Due To The Fact That The Plating Is , . . . . . Wait For It ,

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Porous !

And You Want To Use , ' What Kind Of Abraisive ' , On It ? !!

Regards ,
J T

McDave

Shhh... you're going to drive up the price of rustbuckets.

splytz1

It is absolutely, positively impossible to take this seriously, let alone comprehend it.

CV-6 

Purely to keep our info straight, it appears Simichrome is an abrasive. According to this website, it has abrasive particle size of 8-10 microns. Whichever it is...it works well.

coelcanth

i kindof like it !

Bikedued

It's got, a "Captain Kirk" kind of, "quality". JT, you must be the "bicycle plater" you commonly refer too, correct?

Just noticed the part where mentioned not being in the business. Older bike parts were done with the process you speak of, and they still rusted. Copper/nickel/chrome is not the end all be all of plating. Lack of care will make any steel rust, Chromed or not.,,,,BD

ollo_ollo

+1 on the Oxalic acid crystals. Also excels at removing any kind of black iron stains from wood & removes rust stains from bathroom fixtures, dishwashers etc. Just mix up a solution & let it soak. Only takes a few hours to remove the rust effortlessly. Always available at a pharmacy. Don

eastcoaststeve

Looks like all my posts got wiped out in the crash...


here's the link to the ultimate oxalic acid thread:

https://www.vintagebmx.com/cgi-bin/ul...c;f=4;t=004702


Steve

J T CUNNINGHAM

YES , ' BIKEDUDE ' , YOU ARE CORRECT ; THE WHOLE IDEA , IS TO PROTECT ( WAX , OR SOME
OTHER SEALER ) THE FINISH THAT YOU HAVE , RATHER THAN ABRAIDING IT WITH A POLISH .
FINISHED PLATING NEVER GETS , ' BETTER ' , WITH TIME , ONLY , ' WORSE ' , AS THE SURFACE
DETERIORATES , OR THE PARENT METAL CORRODES . PLATING , AS IT IS , IS NOT SIMILAR TO A
PAINT - A COATING THAT CAN BE , ' FLATTED OUT ' , & POLISHED , AFTER THE FACT .

THE , ' ACID TREATMENT ' , ( DECK CLEANER ? BY ZEP CHEM ) HITS AT THE RUST WHICH WAS
FORMED BENEATH THE PLATED SURFACE , AND DEPOSITED ON THE , ' FINISH ' . OXODIZE THE RUST
& SEAL THE SURFACE ; IT CANNOT GET ANY , ' BETTER ' . IF ONE IS LUCKY ENOUGH , THE ,
' PIN HOLES ' , IN THE SURFACE , WILL BE SMALL , & UNOBTRUSIVE .

' PLATING ' , IS AN , ' ART ' , AS IS , ' PAINTING ' , BUT TO A LESSER DEGREE ; I SAY THIS BECAUSE
' PLATING ' , IS SOMETHING THAT WE CANNOT , ' IMPROVE UPON ' , ONCE IT HAS BEEN COMPLETED , AS OPPOSED TO A PAINT COATING WHICH WE ARE ABLE TO , ' CUT DOWN ' , THROUGH POLISHING .

REGARDS ,
J T

new_dharma

ummm...ok!
is it me...is it late...did I drink too much...does anyone else see all the caps and commas? What about the little elf on my computer desk?

good plating is an art...bad plating is like a quick rattle-can paint job...looks ok from the distance, but upon closer inspection...

nope...the little elf is STILL there!

Bikedued

I just wish he would STOP typing like that. The only thing I can think
of is that he wants everyone to read like he talks, and that is pretty odd if you think about it.
He's also seems to know everything about chrome, more than all of us combined in fact.,,,,BD

Katzenjammer

For those looking for a fine abrasive, try MicroMesh, available in grits down to 12000 (yes, 12 thousand--used by the airline industry for restoring transparency of their dustblasted-at-500-mph windows).

keemex

try the old school way ...vinegar!!!!

tuckervill

::Bump:::
This thread has been very helpful to me in getting the rust off the wheels of my son's John Deere Racer. It's like a miracle! All the parts look brand spanking new. I didn't know his FD was a Suntour Spirt until I soaked it.

I have a question about paint. Another bike I have (the Fuji in another thread) has rust on the bottom of the bottom bracket (the part where the cup and cone goes in). I suspect that the serial number of this bike was scraped off at one point, because this rust goes the whole width of the BB, and I can't find a serial number.

Anyway, can I put painted parts in the oxalic acid? I'm going to repaint this bike anyway, but I really need to evaluate how bad the rust is there before I proceed.

Thanks!
Karen

miamijim

Back in the day I resorted vintage bikes and reconditioned modern bikes. yhe only product I ever used to de-rust chrome was Naval Jelly. It works extremely well. I worked the product in with a tooth brush then let set. After rinsing it off I preserved the surface with car wax.

As far as polishes for oxidizable metals....I always had the best results wit Happich simichrome. Recently I've tried Mother's Billet metal polish. Its expensive at $14 for a 4oz. container. that may be less than simichrome but it works better.

sample pic....

McDave

Yes you can. It won't hurt the paint or vinyl decals. If there are already rust bubbles under the paint go ahead and break them open so the acid can get to the rust. Use a no-scratch pad from time to time on the worst spots while the frame is soaking. Don't forget to pickup some heavy duty rubber gloves while shopping in the paint department.

When you're finished with the acid bath, blow dry the frame thoroughly then spray it inside and out with a metal protector. I use Amsoil HD Metal Protector.

Once you are ready to touch-up or paint the outside of the frame, wipe it down thoroughly with a Wax and Grease remover first, then wax the frame after the paint has dried.

sunofsand

who cares if he types like that? Why?
I used to type
and still sometimes do
like this
where I seperate thoughts by lines or to add stress

All writing is an artform
It doesn't matter if the words are read
left to right
or tfel ot thgir
Neither is incorrect, really.
It's only wrong if you choose not to accept anything else besides what you're used to

He never said chrome plating
Is not an art, either

But it isn't.

splytz1

seperate = separate

artform = art form

The rules of English grammar exist for a reason. This is a bike forum, not a poetry forum. The internet is destroying the English language. I don't know why anyone would have a problem using proper sentences, punctuation, and diction. If JT has pearls of wisdom regarding chrome plating, I'd love to know what they are, but, unfortunately, his posts are almost impossible to read. Unless you are a fiction writer or poet, writing is NOT an "artform" - it is a means of communication, like speech. Do people talk backwards? No. Why? Because if they did, they wouldn't be understood.

When I want to go someplace, I consult a map, I don't look at a Georgia O'Keefe painting.

Back to chrome.