Cure for rusted dies?

ray15 said:

I think if you side-by-side it you'll find Evaporust is more effective and easier. The only time I use naval jelly these days if I can't submerge the part in Evaporust.

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Yeah I agree. ER doesn't etch the metal like Naval J. I also use plain old white vinegar to remove rust and blueing on something I'm going to refinish. It also leaves a etched surface that will rust if not finished.

OP, I'd recommend that you remove the dies from the tool heads, disassemble them and then de-rust, clean and condition as needed. After so many years and rounds the insides of the dies will likely need some cleaning up. So, taking them apart will be a must, IMHO.

I've had some similar results to BDS in cleaning up some dies that had some light surface rust on them. I tumbled in mix of corn cob and walnut. Scrubbed the insides with a scrub pad, some wire brush on the threads and heavier rusted areas. I did not use a chemical remover on them and overall they came out looking very good.

I did run across a few die sets that I picked up in a large batch buy that had been submerged for a while. Some cleaned up, but the ones with pitting and heavier scaling were done for.

Delete

I put a set of rusty in my sonic cleaner. They looked like they had been blued when they came out but have worked perfectly

Thewelshm

For non-destructive rust removal, electrolysis is the best. More here: www.stovebolt.com/techtips/#rust
After cleaning I recommend coating with Renaissance Wax.

This is a little off target but could be useful if your sizing is rough after cleanup.

I once bought a used .357 lee classic loader and the sizing die was rough. Sizing required serious hammering. I trimmed a 12 gauge shotgun swab with scissors, chucked the threaded end it in my cordless drill and polished the hole in the die with the modified swab and brasso - which was the only abrasive stuff I had handy.

It actually worked. The sizing was easier and the cases were still correctly sized.

I never heard of Evapo Rust until I read this thread. Picked up a gallon the other day and tried it out on some used Lyman dies I bought on Ebay several years ago. I tried cleaning the dies after I bought them, but gave up- the knurled parts resisted all my attempts to clean them. I read on the net that it works much faster in an ultrasonic cleaner, so I dug out my Hornady sonic cleaner (I stopped using it when I started wet tumbling). After a couple of 8 minute cycles in the cleaner, all the rust was gone and the dies look almost new. Encouraged, I dumped all my shellholders into the cleaner and repeated the process, following up with a tumble in Lemi shine and Armorall. What little rust was on them was gone and they looked much better. It also works great on rusted bolts, tools, etc. I decided to keep the cleaner loaded with ER on one of my benches so it will handy for use with any rusted parts I come across when working around the house.

Many thanks to ray15 and the others who posted about ER. This is the greatest benefit of this forum on THR- I regularly get very helpful tips from reading these threads, even when I don't have anything helpful to contribute.

My secret weapon is inexpensive and very effective - vinegar.
I used vinegar last year to convert this heap of a drill press


To this

Nice job!

TigerCreek said:

My secret weapon is inexpensive and very effective - vinegar.
I used vinegar last year to convert this heap of a drill press
View attachment 795118

To this
View attachment 795119

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That came out nice. I use white vinegar for stripping rust on a lot of things also. But it generally etches the metal surface so on something like reloading dies I'd use the ER so they won't be etched.