Thread: Cast & ordinary iron restoration

Hi Peter,

I've used mollasses to strip rust off some of my car panels ( 1930 Ford ) and I had problems with the almost immediate rust tinge that forms on the metal after washing the mollasses off.

I did a lot of experimenting trying to solve this problem. I couldn't use oil, because I needed to be sure that I could paint the panels. I also wanted to be sure that the mollasses reaction would actually stop, and not continue to cause damage after I had done the body work. That got me thinking about something to neutralise the reaction.

The answer is bicarb soda. It seems to stop this dead in its tracks, and the resulting surface is stable for at least a year if kept dry.

For example, I dipped a door in it, in a kids wading pool. It had to be hosed off, because the internal surfaces couldn't be reached any other way. So I hit it with the pressure washer, followed imediately by a hose over with a car wash gun, with dry bicarb in the detergent holder. Let it dry naturally.

It's still bare steel, it's got some surface rust now, about 18 months later, but I did leave it out of the shed and it got damp. The other panels I did at the same time are still OK, last I looked.

I tried to do a panel one half at a time, and I found that the bit sticking out of the mollasses rusted very quickly. Also, the frame on the wading pool rusted away very quickly. I doesn't seem to hurt any good metal that is completely submerged though.

I also noticed that it works much faster if you give the metal a quick scub with scotchbrite, then rinse it off with water once a day. I think the reaction builds a film on the remaining rust that slows the reaction down.

regards,

John