I thought I'd pass on my findings on several rust removal techniques not involving any abrasives. I think these have been discussed elsewhere on the forum but I have some new info on a simple electrolysis set-up using parts you may already have at home.
1) EvapoRust: works absolutely great. Just soak your parts and a few days later the rust is gone from heavily rusted parts. It attacks the rust, not the base iron or steel. At $20-25 per gallon price it can get expensive if you have a lot of rusty parts to clean.
2) Black strap molasses & water mixture (I bought molasses for feeding deer, at Tractor Supply). It stinks to high heaven. I couldn't take the smell in my woodshop so I dumped my mixture before I had a chance to see results. Now that it's spring in Indiana, I'll try again outdoors. I heard you have to let the parts soak much longer than EvapoRust.
3) Electrolysis: This really works. I'm a woodworker and Wood Magazine had an article and video for cleaning an old rusty steel plane using electrolysis. Go to
www.woodmagazine.com/rust
. The video shows step-by-step how to set up an electrolysis bath from simple everyday stuff at home.
CAUTION! Do this outdoors. It slowly gives off explosive hydrogen gas, which is lighter than air, so it will accumulate at your ceiling over time if you do it in your garage or don't have good ventilation. As long as you do this outside, the gas will just go into the atmosphere without incident.
You will need: washing soda (not baking soda), water, a large plastic tote, some steel rebar, copper wire and a battery charger. They said to set the charger at 12 volts, 2 Amps, but I cranked it up to 6 Amps. Make sure you connect the charger leads just as the video says, or else you will take the rust off the rebar and deplete the metal in the part you want to keep. I cleaned up some heavily rusted brackets from my car and after a few hours most of the rust was gone. I need to give it a couple more hours to get all of it off.
Enjoy!