f1shman
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I wanted to try some home remedies for rust removal that were safer than digging out the old battery charger and rigging up some metalwork. I found a few household products that have been claimed remove rust. The first mixture I am trying out is molasses. Its a 1:10 ratio, 1 part molasses to 10 parts water. I'm starting with two test subjects, the first is a tiny clamp style table vise that I found buried in a drawer. It's seen better days and none of the screw adjustments are free enough to move. The second subject is my snap-on breaker bar that was left in the trunk of a car with a bad trunk seal. Let this be a lesson to you all to never loan out your tools. 
I used feed grade liquid molasses. Depending on your area, you might be able to pick it up at tractor supply or you might have to go to your local farm feed store.
It was about $8.00 for a gallon of molasses that when mixed with water will net you between 5 and 11 gallons of molasses mix depending on the ratio you use. Compare that to $27.00 for a gallon of phosphoric acid cleaner.
So here we have the molasses mixture in our test container, and in go the parts.
I let the parts sit overnight for a period of 24 hours before going back to check on how they were doing. As you can see, the progress is pretty evident just by pulling the parts from the container. The only work that I did to clean the parts was done by wiping a shop rag over them to remove any loose debris and dry off the water.
There is clear evidence that the parts both benefited greatly from their bath in the molasses mix. The prybar came out better than I could have hoped. The finish returned to almost brand new. I can't wait to get a container that will fit the entire bar in it so that I can soak the whole thing. The vice showed improvement as well, but it wasn't to the point that I wanted it, so I placed it back in for another go around. I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to get the threads on it freed up to the point where it's functional, but it makes an interesting test subject regardless.
I used feed grade liquid molasses. Depending on your area, you might be able to pick it up at tractor supply or you might have to go to your local farm feed store.
It was about $8.00 for a gallon of molasses that when mixed with water will net you between 5 and 11 gallons of molasses mix depending on the ratio you use. Compare that to $27.00 for a gallon of phosphoric acid cleaner.
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So here we have the molasses mixture in our test container, and in go the parts.
You must be registered for see images attach
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I let the parts sit overnight for a period of 24 hours before going back to check on how they were doing. As you can see, the progress is pretty evident just by pulling the parts from the container. The only work that I did to clean the parts was done by wiping a shop rag over them to remove any loose debris and dry off the water.
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There is clear evidence that the parts both benefited greatly from their bath in the molasses mix. The prybar came out better than I could have hoped. The finish returned to almost brand new. I can't wait to get a container that will fit the entire bar in it so that I can soak the whole thing. The vice showed improvement as well, but it wasn't to the point that I wanted it, so I placed it back in for another go around. I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to get the threads on it freed up to the point where it's functional, but it makes an interesting test subject regardless.
We want more!! LOL! 
