Rusted dies

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fidophotog

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I have some slightly rusted dies due to poor storage on my part. Nothing major. No frozen parts or pitting. Just a light coat of rust on exterior. Any suggestions to removing the rust. Someone suggested soaking in Coke or vinegar. Thanks for your advice.
Steve
 
My rust removal suggestion is to use rust's worst enemy, Naval Jelly rust disolver available from hardware stores. However this is heavy duty and not really needed for light rust, but keep it in mind if a heavy rust problem ever comes along.
 
I have used one of those brushes you put on an electrical drill. Oil it first and then clean the outside with the brush. It is quick. Then spray clean with something like Q20.

The inside of the dies I also clean with 0000 steal wool.
 
Ditto on Evapo-Rust. Unlike Naval Jelly, it is pH neutral so it doesn't leave the surface activated for additional rusting. It chelates the rust, leaving you with a non-toxic solution you can flush anywhere. After you rinse the Evapo-Rust off, set the parts in boiling distilled water. Pull them out after ten minutes or so to flash dry. This leaves a micro-thin protective layer of oxide on the steel (the blue kind). Apply some LPS-2 or Birchwwod Casey Sheath or Barricade, and you are done with it. If you have dark spots left after the conversion, you can polish them off with a rag and any metal polish.
 
Check the insides before you spend time on the outside.
A lot depends on how heavy and where the oxidization is on the die. Knurling and threads are easiest done with a brass wire brush and some light oil. Doesn't have to be Rem-Oil. Any light oil will do. Like 3-in-1.
 
I had some dies with some light rust on the outside and inside.I took them apart and threw them in the brass tumbler with walnut media for about a hour. cleaned them right up.
 
This has been discussed many times.

Get some powdered citric acid from a hobby shop like Hobby Lobby and mix with water. Let the dies set in the solution for a couple days, and the rust will be done w/ no damage.
 
What Kevin said, I would only add that it will work much better if you take the dies apart and wash them with hot soapy water to get any oils off of them first, and use hot water to make the solution.

Clean 'em, dry 'em oil 'em, and don't let it happen again! :D
 
I'd take them apart, toss them in my tumbler w/cob media, and when clean, reassemble with a light coating of oil. K.I.S.S....:p
 
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