Rusty horn crane cleanup,, muriatic acid

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fmblizz
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Rusty horn crane cleanup,, muriatic acid

Post by fmblizz »

Wanted to share my recent cleanup of a completely rusted horn crane using muriatic acid.

This acid will not only burn you but will take your breath away if you do not use cautions.. Also keep a small container of water mixed with ¼ cup of baking soda to quickly neutralize the acid if get any on your skin. It's really not that dangerous to work with if you use some common sense..

BE SURE TO WEAR RUBBER GLOVES AND STAY UP WIND.

After disassembly I soaked each part in full strength acid for approximately 5 minutes one or two parts at a time. You can easily see how it ate away the rust on middle left picture and there was no rubbing involved at all just the acid bath and rinse.

After removing the parts from the acid I rinsed them off using a garden hose and proceeded to sand them lightly by hand using 220 wet and dry sandpaper but keeping them wet using the baking soda water solution that was made up previously in case of an emergency.. By using this solution during the sanding it stops/neutralizes any remaining acid left on the metal.

Once all parts were sanded they were once again rinsed off and the dried prior to buffing. Parts at this point look like raw steel with not much shine at all. The buffing is not entirely necessary but it did bring up a little luster since the original plating was long gone and any that would have been left was eaten by the acid soak. I don't feel the crane needs to be 100% perfect after all it's more then 100 years old.

Final step will be a couple coats of clear lacquer to help keep the rust in check hopefully for another 100 years.

The entire cleanup from start to finish took about 2 hours and I was very pleased with the results.

BE SURE TO WEAR RUBBER GLOVES AND STAY UP WIND.. EYE PROTECTION IS ALSO A GOOD IDEA IF AVAILABLE

Double Click on the picture to enlarge for a better idea of the process and final result..

BLIZZ
Attachments
clean crane sm.jpg
Last edited by fmblizz on Tue May 11, 2021 8:49 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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Curt A
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Re: Rusty horn crane cleanup,, muriatic acid

Post by Curt A »

That's a great idea and it worked well... Thanks.

Just an FYI for anyone using this method - ONLY use a plastic container for the bath...
"The phonograph† is not of any commercial value."
Thomas Alva Edison - Comment to his assistant, Samuel Insull.

"No one needs a Victrola XX, a Perfected Graphophone Type G, or whatever you call those noisy things."
My Wife

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