Boynet Rust Removal

[Pahonix]

Recently acquired bayonet that I don't want to fully restore or modify, just clean it up a bit.

Was thinking of doing some rust removal and oiling it with gun oil. That's about it.

Was hoping for some recommendations on rust removal. Pros and cons of what I'm about to do? Things not to do

I have some evapo rust that I was thinking about using. Thoughts?

How long to soak?

Basically....advice please.

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[bpyycpyy]

It's been a long time ago (almost before the internet was a common thing), but I think Popular Mechanics had an article about setting up your own rust removal system using a fish aquarium with a salt solution and a battery charger to electrically remove rust from metal objects. I bet a little "Google Fu" would help find this same information and if it's worth looking into.

 

[Moeca]

I would try soaking it in a combination of atf or marvel mystery oil and basic new engine oil overnight. Then try some steel wool might be amazed how much loosens up this way. Probably take afew rounds of it but its worked for me before.
Evaporust or any other would be my last resort. If you do go that way be careful of the scabbard. Some of those will harm scabbard material.

 

[Croat]

I tried an experiment with some rusty bolts last year. Soaked them in a bowl of vinegar. Surprisingly, worked really well, almost perfectly. Next I tried doing the same thing with a rusted bowie knife from around WWII. Definitely helped and knife looks much better, but unlike the bolts did not clean up completely. So that method must be better or worse depending on the type of metal. If it were me, I'd probably soak the bayonet in vinegar for a week just to see how well that worked. That way you're not "polishing" it and potentially diminishing value. If a vinegar soak works to your satisfaction then you're good to go, but if want to go further you can follow up with a commercial chemical solution and go whole hog on it.

 

[Andy54Hawken]

Some KROIL and bronze wool will be your friends here.
Andy

 

[USMC1911]

Ospho is an excellent product also. If the Kroil and good old elbow grease can't get it all then use Ospho.

 

[ZA_Survivalist]

I'm a huge fan of using Evaporust
I let stack of Sten mags sit a day, sometimes two.
Get a cheap plastic tub from the dollar store large enough for the soaked item, fill to where item is completely submerged, take item out after a few hours of soaking,: lightly brush with a plastic bristle brush set back in solution.. the Evaporust does the rest.
Allowed me to refinish a well rusted, pitted Sten mag.

YMMV.

 

[Provincial]

Vinegar and Ospho are acids. Mild, but still acids. Evaporust will convert the rust into a powder that can be brushed off. Unfortunately any of these processes will also remove any of the old finish on the bayonet. If you are going to refinish it anyway, they will work. If you want to keep any of the old finish, do something else. The suggestions of oil and fine steel wool is a good one for keeping the original finish as much as possible.

Parkerizing is a phosphate finish. Phosphoric acid or Ospho may not damage it, but you will be experimenting, since there are variations for all finishes.

 

[Howard1955]

Plain old vinegar is your friend.

Just fill up container with vinegar and submerge the bayonet in it for a couple of days. Then wire-brush it.

Not sure what it would do to the handle, though.

EDIT: Be careful!

 

[ilikegunspdx]

This reminded me of a normal condition piece of blued shotgun barrel I put in vinegar a while ago as a test. Here is what it looks like now.

 

[Howard1955]

The vinegar ate it?

 

[ilikegunspdx]

The vinegar ate it?

Yep just regular household white vinegar. Interesting that even the vapors did damage above the plastic.

I'll just put some duct tape on it and it'll be fine...

 

[Andy54Hawken]

I know that vinegar can be used as a cleaner.

That said...

In regards to using it on firearms , knives and the like...
I have used it...to give an artificial patina on a replacement part or to match / fake a original aged finish .
I wouldn't trust it as a cleaner for knives or firearms,
Andy

 

[ilikegunspdx]

I used some advice from members on here (including Andy) to remove mild rust on an old double barrel shotgun and used #0000 steel wool and gun oil (Eezox in my case). Worked great. To be even milder you can use bronze wool or even brass wool which are both on Amazon. I would go mild first personally and if you don't like the look you can go to more aggressive. 2 cents, I'm no expert.

 

[Howard1955]

Yep just regular household white vinegar. Interesting that even the vapors did damage above the plastic.

I'll just put some duct tape on it and it'll be fine...

Wow. I've used vinegar to remove rust from tools, and it worked great. But I had no idea that it could eat through something like that.

 

[Xaevian]

Wow. I've used vinegar to remove rust from tools, and it worked great. But I had no idea that it could eat through something like that.

Yeah, it's an acid...

 

[bpyycpyy]

Video/instructions to make your own electrolysis system for rust removal:

Electrolytic Rust Removal Aka Magic

Electrolytic Rust Removal Aka Magic: This is a relatively simple, safe and cheap way to remove light or heavy rust from any ferrous object. I used this process to restore an old wood plane that I bought for $1 (it looked totally un-usable because of the rust). As opposed to grinding, h…

www.instructables.com

 

[bionic knees]

Coca-Cola, don't knock it till you have tried it!

 

[Pete F]

If you want to get the rust out of pits, take a #2 pencil and rub/write on the pit and then use the eraser to remove the rust. It will leave it kind of shiny, but it will look better. I was really amazed.

Edit: It really helps to bring out the lettering that gets filled up with rust.

 

[Siglvr]

Project Farm, take a look.