Rust questions

[thekkfan]

Wire wheels do a nice job but do wear safety glasses with them.

... and a mask.

 

[EddieWalker]

Sand it with a 4 inch palm sander just like you sand wood. I even use regular 80 grit sandpaper that I use on wood. It doesn't last very long, but it works. Then I clean it all up and coat it with a rust inhibitor from Sherwin Williams. There are a lot of brands to chose from. I read that Rustolium was founded after discovering that the reason steel fishing boats don't have any rust on them is from the fish oil after a catch. Now there are so many products out there that I wouldn't worry too much about brand, just get it from someplace reputable. Then paint it the color of your choice.

 

[Scrambler82]

Wire Wheels for removing rust... caked u rust will come loose when using a wire wheel... good, but when attempting to remove surface rust that is not caked... a wire shell will polish the area and can appear to be good metal.

Watch the metal if you use the wire wheel, fast it is, but watch what is left over, you don't need the rust coming back once you thinking you have all the rust removed !

Luck on the project, hope it works out !

 

[lilranch2001]

That is why a rust converter is so helpful, after clean up and flash rust, apply the rust converter.
Maybe not for a classic car, but surely for a farm impliment

 

[PILOON]

Some 7 years ago I bought a snow blower that I completely sand blasted and within hours I primed with grey Temclad primer.
Well the red finish coating wears away seasonally but that grey primer still holds up.
My home built tractor cab frame was acid etched and primed B4 painting.
That was also 8-10 years ago and to this day no rust anywhere.
The trick is primer sticks to metal and paint sticks to primer.
No real shortcuts, both are needed.
Any prepared metal surface also helps, read etching or sand blasting..
Etching is simple, an acid solution you apply and rinse off shortly later on, acids 'pickle' the metal for 'toothy surface'.

 

[Tractor Seabee]

You can use muriatic acid which is basically hydrochloric acid. There are youtube videos out there showing how to use it. It's cheap and I believe that Lowe's sells it for under $10 a gallon. Ace Hardware is another one that sells it but more pricey.

What you buy at the big box stores is use for cleaning masonry. It is diluted heavily for safety in that trade. What you need is a lot higher concentration sold only a chemical supply vendors. I would go to HF and buy their cheapest sand blaster and media. At the end sell for half the cost. I have one of those and they work pretty good but slow.

Ron

 

[Rock Crawler]

I may be the odd man out, but I got this many decades old rear blade for $100 2 years ago. It was sitting out behind a barn, not a spec of paint on it. It was covered in mainly surface pitted steel, surface rust (tightly adhered) with some loose scale. I knocked the scale off with a painters scraper, washed it with Dawn and hot water, pulled it into the shop to dry a couple days and went at it with a 3" paint brush and Kubota Rustoleum paint. It pretty much looks as it did the day I painted it aside from where the rocks and dirt gouged the paint off. I spent minimal time and effort on it and got maximum results. I would venture to say that I will have it another couple decades... or more. Maybe I'll paint it again in 10 years. Maybe not.

 

[3Ts]

Regards the acid etching of iron/steel. Either acid (Hydrochloric or Phosphoric) should be available at ACE hardware, or possibly any other general hardware type store.

Ospho is Phosphoric acid and reacts with iron oxide to form iron phosphate which adheres tightly to the underlying iron and forms a good primer. (Note - it reacts with iron oxide not plain iron so a light coating of rust is needed for it to work completely.) It converts the rust to a different chemical.

Hydrochloric acid also reacts with iron to form iron chloride (and hydrogen gas). However, I've not been able to find whether it can be used as a primer - I don't think so. The iron chloride is a chemical that is used to etch copper based metals. The hydrochloric acids purpose is to etch the iron to give it more tooth for paint.

 

[fried1765]

What the other posts said about using chemicals is quick and easier and it will Get It Done, but the problem is RUST ALWAYS comes back !

I have used POR15 with their prep-coating, and I thought it was done and over with... NOT ! The rust came back and like other things, once you touch it, it spreads.

Sand Blasting, and if necessary replacement of metal, IS the only real answer, any chance you can rent a blaster/compressor, it would... clean the rust, prep for paint, and the fix will last longer.

Good Luck on the Rust Fight !

^^^^ NOT TRUE!

Grinding/aggressive sanding all loose rust, and then OSPHO, will hold a quality paint (2 part epoxy is best) just as well as a sandblasted surface.

 

[EddieWalker]

I may be the odd man out, but I got this many decades old rear blade for $100 2 years ago. It was sitting out behind a barn, not a spec of paint on it. It was covered in mainly surface pitted steel, surface rust (tightly adhered) with some loose scale. I knocked the scale off with a painters scraper, washed it with Dawn and hot water, pulled it into the shop to dry a couple days and went at it with a 3" paint brush and Kubota Rustoleum paint. It pretty much looks as it did the day I painted it aside from where the rocks and dirt gouged the paint off. I spent minimal time and effort on it and got maximum results. I would venture to say that I will have it another couple decades... or more. Maybe I'll paint it again in 10 years. Maybe not.

Pretty much how I do things too!!! Clean it up, make it the color that you want and use the heck out of it. I've used paint brushes, roller and rattle cans. I also have a couple grand into spray guns that I use for spraying cabinets for clients, so it's not that I don't have the tools to do a fancy paint job, it's that there is no reason to.