Molasses

[David Kemp]

I love molasses as rust removal tool & have been using it for years.
I normally leave my parts soaking for one or two weeks.
However I recently left a cast iron water transfer in my solution for over a month accidentally,
The result was a mess ! the outer layer of cast iron turned to iron powder.
The steel parts were etched but fine. The chemist amongst you can probably work out why, my guess is the carbon content & carbon being reactive to acid probably resolved.
So please do not over soak your parts, check every week!

[Forumadmin]

A sticky problem!
Same happens with aly, brass and lead if you put it into a derusting bath. A Javelin shell we put in came out very clean but had lots of holes and lots of ripples where the lead had been.