Rust removal by using molasses

[Photon440]

Yes, I decided to use fruitcake sweetener as a rust remover.

After reading several articles on different sites that touted the effectiveness of diluted molasses to safely remove rust, I had my curiosity up. Apparently a chelation process in the molasses strips out the oxygen molecules in rust, leaving the base metal behind. Just like Evapo-rust, which I've used with great success but found it cost too much for the amount you get.

Anyway, after checking awhile, I noticed that lots of people had heard of it, a few had tried it (some had good examples pictured) and whether from personal experience hearsay or whatever, there was a lack of anyone claiming that it DIDN'T work. So I thought I'd give it a try.

First step, I went to the local feed store where I usually buy horse supplies, and bought a pail of molasses for $20.

Next, I dumped it into a feed tub, and added four more pails of water. Most articles suggested 5 to 10 parts water, but I stopped at four simply because that's all the room there was.

I had a couple of parts to test, so into the tub went a rusty seat bracket and a rear transmission mount, as well as a small pail of rusty nuts and bolts.

 

[Photon440]

After just a couple of days, I did a quick check on the transmission mount and could actually see some improvement. I checked a few more times and took it out.

I didn't take before pictures of the mount, but you can see the after view in the first two pictures. The stripes at the right hand side of the picture are where the ears were sticking out of the molasses by varying degrees after taking it out and putting it back while checking.

As you can see, the seat bracket is fairly clean. This is after close to three weeks, I sort of just forgot about it for a bit. It came out rather dark, what you see here is after a good blast with the garden hose, and then drying off.

All in all, I'm quite happy with the results, and still have lots of other parts to dip, as there's no indication that the molasses mix is slowing down.

$20 will spent in my opinion. Has anyone else been doing this? Let's compare results!

-=Photon440=-

 

[MarPar]

wow!!! that's interesting! im also wondering if other people have tried this...

 

[Photon440]

By the way, I removed the springs before soaking to enable the track to slide back and forth. The small one was too rusted, and broke. The larger one turned out pretty good, but the pitting is still noticeable.

 

[shag766]

actually thats impressive. the only hard part for me would be the waiting time, go figure.

 

[YY1]

Wow x2!

 

[moparsteve636]

That is some very useful info!Who'd thunk it molasses would do that,kind of scary though,what's it doing to people that eat it on pancakes LOL. Thanks! for the info.I've got seat brackets and small parts to strip!

 

[Bones Jackson]

Wow I have to give that a try!

 

[Northwest]

And the best part is - you can still use the molasses in your fruit cake recipe for added flavor and nutritional value.

Wow - great experiment!

 

[Photon440]

A further note, if you want to try this. Freshly cleaned metal rusts really fast. A couple of hours after I took those clean shots, the parts started to turn gold. The next morning they were brown. So a wipe with muriatic acid was in order...

-=Photon440=-

 

[kdtjb]

And the best part is - you can still use the molasses in your fruit cake recipe for added flavor and nutritional value.

Wow - great experiment!

Yep, no one will ever know.

 

[snakeoil24]

The sugars turn into a form of Phosphoric acid. Which is very user friendly to steel. This method of rust removal is very slow, but highly effective. If you use Muriatic acid "Hydrochloric" or Hydrogen chloride they will remove rust in a few short hours but it damages the structure of steel permanently. when the molasses begins to stink you know it is working the best and you can pur it down the drain with no environmental issues.

 

[2059]

This is why I love this site!! This is totally Awesome! I WILL be using this for my resto... :grin: Thanks.

 

[Lowhound]

That was a SWEET idea. Il have to try it out.

 

[Mesopic]

My old man has a 44 gallon drum he fills with the stuff, but he leaves the parts in for a few months. He uses 50/50 mix deeper the rust longer it takes, but that expected i guess. Glad to know someone else uses the same thing

 

[Ron 73]

Unreal how much difference this made! I will be trying this one, never heard of this home remedy for rust and would work good on parts thats kept around for future use, heck could have a whole cabinet full of things cleaning this way because of the time it would take and parts would be ready when needed.. Thanks for posting it..

 

[Ltlgto]

I had heard of it before from a friend on Facebook who had posted a video of it. You can look up videos on Youtube for it also. Very cool idea! Thanks for sharing it.

 

[Meep-Meep]

Very good trick! Sort of like using vinegar to clean stuff. Thanks for posting.

 

[idrivemopar]

Oh no, the secret is out now, hahahahaha i was wondering if something like that would work.

I have been using Evapo-Rust, like it a lot, but yes, you get flash rust when rinsing off parts, but thats ok, if you only wipe them off, the Evapo-rust prevents re-rusting for a few weeks. I re-dip my parts before going to the powder coater and since they always do a light media blast on them before coating they have turned out great!

Here is how my tranny mount turned out, thought i had a before picture, but it was dark brown with rust and caked with grease, but evapo rust took care of it in about 8 hours.

 

[2059]

Oh no, the secret is out now, hahahahaha i was wondering if something like that would work.

I have been using Evapo-Rust, like it a lot, but yes, you get flash rust when rinsing off parts, but thats ok, if you only wipe them off, the Evapo-rust prevents re-rusting for a few weeks. I re-dip my parts before going to the powder coater and since they always do a light media blast on them before coating they have turned out great!

Here is how my tranny mount turned out, thought i had a before picture, but it was dark brown with rust and caked with grease, but evapo rust took care of it in about 8 hours.

Ya know that's the trade off. Evapo-Rust does the job quickly with chemicals. molasses does the job slowly w/o chemicals. I'm not saying one is better than the other it's a personal choice. I have a ton of time and the molasses is the route I'll take.