Try white vinegar. It eats rust away. Very cheap if bought by the gallon. Test some rusty junk parts (nuts bolts) etc and see what happens.

UPDATE:

Ok, I checked the parts and found that the rust is less but not gone yet. I'm going to let them soak two more days and check them again.

Next update, New Years Day!

Dante

Looking forward to your results. We would also like to get an update in summer to see if your bicycle is attacked by killer ants.

UPDATE:

And the results are in!

http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...ukiedit002.jpg

http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...ukiedit001.jpg

http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f.../Kabuki005.jpg

Not too shabby! That was after a four day soak. I'm impressed with the results.

Sadly, a group of killer ants attacked the bike and eat the molasses soaked parts. :D

Dante

Looks pretty nice. One question, did you disassemble the parts or soak them as is? If the latter, was there any effect at all on the aluminum alloy parts? I have a Simplex suicide shifter from the early 1950s with an aluminum knob I want to soak in oxalic acid and don't want to find the knob half gone in the morning.

I would love to see what the results would be if you soaked those rusty cogs, some in molasses and the rest in white vinegar. would be curious to see which prevailed. The parts you are showing really look good.

They were soaked as you see them. I don't think AL parts will be affected but I would err on the side of caution and soak a junk AL part as a test first.

Dante

I ran across this site by coincidence yesterday...

(scroll down about 25%)
http://lanternnet.com/faqs.htm

Apparently molasses has been used on brass for ages!

OA is really only meant to be used on chrome and/or steel pipes. It probably won't hurt non-anodized aluminum, but it really won't do it much good either. Use Mother's instead, imo.

Ketchup works really well on brass and copper....according to my mother!

Sounds like Karo corn syrup.

:DThis is a cool trick and I can't wait to try it.Especially on pedals and derailers and all those little bits.

Ugh!

[East Hill wrinkles nose in disgust at the thought of ingesting low quality slop like Karo Corn Syrup]

:p

East Hill

I am going to give this a try myself. Picked up a pint of molasses for $2.11 at the Food Lion today. I have several small parts to try it on. I think I will use one of those plastic coffee cans, as I have couple laying around.

This page reckons you should immediately bathe the part in phosphoric acid after you remove it from the molasses, otherwise the rust will come back very quickly: http://virtualindian.org/projrust.htm

It does not matter what you use to derust, you need to immediately protect the metal or it will rust some more.

I put a couple of 3-speed brakes in last night, I left the blocks on because I want to see if it will eat away the rubber or not. The plastic Fodgers coffee can was perfect. It took 9 cups of hot tap water and one cup of molasses with enough room not to over flow when I immursed the parts in it.

I checked out the local Lowes Hardware store and they had Navel Jelly at $5.42 a pint, no Oxalic Acid at all. The molasses seems to be a cheaper and safer method than either of those in any case.

Yeah, I've been hearing about oxalic acid over and over again in these forums, but no hardware store or building supply I tried had ever heard of it. Closest I found was some stuff to remove rust stains from concrete containing phosphoric acid and it wasn't cheap. I finally got some oxalic acid crystals from a mail order taxidermy supply. (I guess we stuff more mooses than bleach wood decks in the Great White North.)

Try asking for wood bleach. OA is used for refinishing hardwood floors too, so your hardware store probably has it under some other name.

I asked for Wood Bleach, thinking it would be Oxalic Acid, bought a box, but after I got it home, found out it was a different chemical compound. Not ALL wood bleach is Oxalic Acid. I hope you read the labels better than I did. I wound up buying online, since NONE of the hardware stores, paint stores or big boxes in my area had OA. Good stuff, even if ants don't like it.

Dante, Just for clarification, it looks like that front derailluer is a mix of alloy (presumably aluminum) and plated steel. From the photos, it looks like there was no ill effect of the molasses/water on those parts. That's great news, as it means no further disassembly required. Just toss it in....

Correct. I'll post pictures of the final rebuild once the remaining parts arrive. Should be this week. :)

Dante

I want to thank Machin Shin for bringing this stuff to our attention.

--

66 hour update on my try with molasses.

It is clear that it will work well on lightly rusted parts as the light rust is completely gone.

On heavy rust and pitting it is still up in the air. One of the brake adjusters is now free, the second is still rusted tight. Raleigh brake adjusters are the pits for corrosion, I had one that I could not break loose after soaking for a year in PB Blaster, so this is a serious test.

No noticible damage to the brake blocks, and I was able to remove them from the calipers at this point. The nuts were froze solid to start with.

It is nice to work with something that is not poisonous, but still seems to do the job. It does take some time but you do not have to do anything while you are waiting, although I took off some of the loose rust with a small wire brush at this point.

Kind of rambling but I guess folks will get the idea.

--

A couple of slightly related things.

I went to the Lowes store looking for an oil can, you know the old-timey trigger kind. They had one but while I was standing there wondering if I wanted to pay $6 for that piece of junk, I noticed a strange looking bottle of 3 in 1. SAE 20? That is what you want to put in your Sturmey-Arher 3-Speed Hub... Just the right size to stick in your tool kit too. <$2. So 3 in 1 makes something heavier than sewing machine oil now.

After I had broken those nuts mentioned above my English Wrench was wet, so I wiped it with a paper towel and was getting some canned air out of the utilitie closet and saw the can of WD-40, I though that ought to be just the ticket and sprayed it on the adjustable wrench and wiped the excess off. After all it is supposed to be a water dispersant.

Greywolf, 3 in 1 bottles straight weight non-detergent oils such as the SAE 20 as a lubricant for larger electric motors with oil caps over the end bearings. The blower motor on a home furnace, air conditioner motors, etc., need this stuff once a year or so.

My pleasure Graywolf. I was surprised and delighted to find a non-toxic solution to our common enemy and I thought if anyone, the good folks in the Classic and Viintage forum would appreciate it. :)

Dante

You need to agitate the parts in the solution and scrub them with a stainless steel brush to expose fresh rust to the solution. If the parts were ever soaked in oil, you need to thoroughly degrease them, or the water based solution will have no effect. Once the rust is gone, you will have pitting left because steel has been consumed.