Getting Rust off of Knurling?

[Laphroaig]

I found a box of old reloading dies that had been stored improperly and developed some surface rust. I soaked them in oil last night and hit them with some bronze wool this morning. I got most of the rust off of the smooth metal, but some remains in the knurling.

Any ideas of how to get rust out of the nooks and crannies?

Laphroaig

 

[Blue68f100]

I've run them through a tumbler with walnut hulls for several hours. Cleans up most pretty good. May take a wire brush and work it a little harder. The brush will get into the knurling easier.

 

[SleazyRider]

You could also soak 'em in Diet Coke for a while, then scrub them with a toothbrush. The ingredients in Diet Coke include phosphoric acid, which is essentially Naval Jelly, a powerful rust solvent. And to think folks actually drink the stuff!

 

[rcmodel]

An extra fine wire wheel on a grinder works better then anything else I have ever tried.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/BLACK-DECKER-6-in-Wire-Wheel-70-614/100422672

rc

 

[jaguarxk120]

Mix 1 part molasses with 9 parts water, soak rusty parts. The mix will remove any rust, bluing included, if parts are painted the mix will not harm the paint.

Just do a search for molasses rust removal and you will find more info.

 

[Nappers]

I've ran them in my tumbler for hours and they came out good as new. My dads old reloading stuff was in an outside shed when I inherited them. Everything was rusted. I used naval jelly on the worse and tumbled the rest in pieces, one at a time of course. I could never remember which parts go with what dies!

I just did the swage die and parts in the tumbler with corn media and flitz polish. They turned out like new!

 

[Laphroaig]

Thanks guys. I might try and tumble a few and see what happens. I need to stop by the hardware this afternoon and might pick up a fine wire wheel just in case. Its too cold to work in the garage now anyway.

I do know that geologists use coke products to dissolve limestone to free up fossils.

Laphroaig

 

[4v50 Gary]

Thanks SleazyRider - I'll never drink a diet coke again and I prefer Root Beer or Ginger Ale.

 

[LiveLife]

I might try and tumble a few and see what happens.

Whether tumbling with walnut will remove the rust depends on the amount of rust. If it is light surface rust, walnut will remove the rust but if rusting is worse, you'll need to use chemical/mechanical means to remove the rust.

I restored a friend's badly rusted set of dies on this thread - http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=586563


Here's before picture of rusty dies

Dies after 2 hours of tumbling in walnut with NuFinish liquid polish. Most surface rust was removed.

After 10 hours of tumbling with more NuFinish polish. More surface rust came off but not deeper rust.

After picture. I used a chemical rust remover similar to CLR and remaining rust came clean. After 2 more hours in walnut and NuFinish, they came out pretty shiny. The residual coating of NuFinish polish will prevent dies from getting rusty again. I told my friend to tumble his dies again if he saw any new surface rust.

Rust remover cleaned even deeper rust walnut/NuFinish could not remove.

 

[Laphroaig]

I tumbled for about 5 hours, and the dies came out in pretty decent shape. Better than I thought they would and probably not much worse than when I got them. I oiled them up and stowed them away. I've made a note to check them out more often in the future.

Mine weren't as bad as bds', and didn't come out as pristine as his either. Nice job bds! Thanks for all of the good ideas guys.

Laphroaig

 

[RainDodger]

You can toss a lot of stuff into tumbling media. I had some pretty dirty media I was about to throw out, and wanted to do exactly what you're doing - I had some rust on dies. I had a bunch of Hoppe's #9 and put about 2 shots in the media then tumbled the dies for a few hours. They came out very nice, as did the Wilson case gauges. Just like new.

 

[Highcaliber]

Soak the parts in distilled white vinegar. Anywhere from 30 minutes to overnight soaking in white vinegar. You will be suprised at how nice they will turn out.

I prefer distilled white vinegar, but any vinegar will get the job done.

 

[alexander45]

Kroil or rem oil with a stiff old toothbrush or other nylon brush or a brass brush

 

[Drail]

Tumbling dies? Wasn't that a hit song by the Rolling Stones?

 

[Sunray]

"...An extra fine, brass, wire wheel on a bench grinder..." Absolutely. So will plain white vinegar. Eye protection is mandatory with a wheel.

 

[1KPerDay]

Thanks SleazyRider - I'll never drink a diet coke again and I prefer Root Beer or Ginger Ale.

Lots of root beer and ginger ale contain phosphoric acid also, FYI.

The concentration is the key.

 

[dogrunner]

RC said it right. Friend gave me a couple of RCBS sets that looked easily as ratty at the photos posted above. I simply chucked a small wire brush in my dremel and had it it. Less that half an hour later I had some downright new looking dies.................with the exception of the PLIER marks on the nuts!

Seriously tho, the wire brush is without doubt the quickest and least messy method!

 

[J-Bar]

Birchwood Casey makes a Blue and Rust Remover solution...I would just paint it on with a Q-tip. But then I'm lazy.