Removing Mill Scale from Plate

[ftorleans1]

If looking for the safest way, You found it. If you need a little more power, Try apple cider vinegar. But make sure to keep it sealed tight otherwise, You will have every Nat in the county hanging out at your place. Apple cider vinegar is approx. $1.25-1.49 more per gallon however, it works quicker. I have several 5 gal. buckets with resealable lids from Lowe's which I have White vinegar in some and Apple cider vinegar in the others.

 

[weldermike]

I soaked a piece in red vinegar at work today for about 4hrs. Already started working. Ill ?show a pic in the morn. If all goes well i know a family friend that works at a restaurant supply place and gonna see if she can get me 5 gallons of the 20% stuff. Its already working good on the edges with the 5% acid red stuff in short order, so i know its gonna be a homerun!

 

[aczlan]

The 20% is available at Walmart: Heinz Cleaning Vinegar, 1 gal: Cleaning Supplies : Walmart.com

Aaron Z

 

[weldermike]

Thanks bud!

 

[weldermike]

Well here's my results with the 5% stuff. Worked like a charm and wiped right off. Left it overnight.

 

[dragoneggs]

Well here's my results with the 5% stuff. Worked like a charm and wiped right off. Left it overnight.

View attachment 383638

Wow... impressive. Thanks for posting.

 

[downsizingnow48]

Yep the 5% works pretty well. Am going to check out Walmart today for the 20% stuff and see how that works. Maybe they have a sale on apple cider vinegar! Thanks for those tips. For the time being I am not looking into other possibilities. Vinegar is cheap, safe, and does a good job.

 

[BukitCase]

"Vinegar is cheap, safe, and does a good job"

Plus, you can throw some cukes in while yer at it and get "heavy metal pickles"

 

[dragoneggs]

I should have thought about this method sooner.... I use vinegar to clean salt water pumps and equipment for aquatic tanks and it works great. Why I didn't put two and two together (actually I don't know what that means either... two of what?) :laughing:

 

[downsizingnow48]

I read about using vinegar on mill scale by immersing short items in a bucket. But that won't work on a largish piece of plate. Then I thought, wait a minute, I use paper towels soaked with ammonia to dissolve hardened gunk in the oven overnight. So that was my "two and two", the ammonia/paper towel trick combined with the vinegar/mill scale trick. I am gonna let someone else combine it with the cucumber trick.

Checked out Walmart today, the Heinz cleaning vinegar is 6%.