Removing rust is not as complicated as it may seem. There are a few ways of doing this. First, you can get a commercial grade rust removal product. Second, you can opt out for everyday items and ingredients that you have in your home. We prefer to remove rust by using natural ingredients. This not only saves you money but it’s also good for your health and the environment. Whether you’re looking for removing rust from painted metal, metal furniture or tools, below you’ll find what you need for the job.
How to Remove Rust
Vinegar as a rust removal
Vinegar is a one of the most effective cleaner. It will remove rust and can be used for other cleaning tasks around. To remove rust from tools or metal parts, simply take your tools or the metal piece and put it in a tray or a bowl. Pour vinegar into the bowl making sure that it covers the items you want to clear completely. Let the tools soak overnight.
Once you leave this overnight, take the tools out and scrub them with a metal brush. Rinse this and dry it out with a cloth. If your metal parts are too large for a bowl or a tray, you can soak a cloth with vinegar and then wrap that around the rust area. Let this sit overnight. Clean with a metal brush or steel wool.
Lemon juice as rust removal
Similar to vinegar, lemon juice does remove rust due to its acid nature. Given that it’s a natural product, we prefer this over commercial grade rust cleaners. In addition to using lemon juice you’ll need salt. The salt will need to be applied onto the rusted parts that you want to clean. Rub the salt onto the rested areas. After doing this, take a lemon and and squeeze its juice onto the surface that you put the salt on.
Once the lemon juice and salt are onto the rusted area, let this sit for a few hours. You can then use a metal brush, steel wool or a soft-bristle brush or cloth to remove the rust. Lemon juice and salt can also be used for removing rust from fabrics such as carpets. Just apply the juice and salt on the rusted area and let us sit for 30 minutes. Clean it with water and wipe it dry.
Baking soda as rust removal
If you don’t have vinegar or lemons available, you can also use baking soda as this is also a great ingredient for rust removal. So how to remove rust using baking soda? It’s very straight forward. Place baking soda in a bowl and add enough water to form a paste. Once the paste is made, use this on the rust surface and let us sit for a few hours. You can then use a regular brush to scrub it off. Rinse with clean water and dry the area with a cloth or towel.
Commercial rust removal products
You can also opt out for commercial rust removal products if you wish. For example, you can pick up CLR Calcium and Rust Removal for about $15 at Home Depot. Eastwood Rust Dissolver is another product that’s got good reviews (at the moment it has 97% positive reviews out of a total of 268 reviews). Price wise you’re looking at about $22.
Here you have it. How to remove rust naturally or by using a commercial grade product. As mentioned earlier, we prefer and described how to remove rust from tools by using home remedies. This works great, it’s cheaper and best for your health and the environment. Give it a try and let us know how effective and efficient our recommendations were. Please leave us a comment should you have any other tips and tricks on how to remove rust.