Subject: Re: How do I restore rusted steel wheels?

From: [email-masked] (Harry Phinney)
Date: Thu, 10 Feb 1994 16:44:45 GMT

Pete Bellas ([email-masked]) wrote:
: ps. Our perception was that the muriatic did not attack unoxidized metal,
: 	is this correct or were we courting disaster?

Your perception was not correct.  Muriatic acid (AKA hydrochloric acid)
will indeed attack "good" iron at close to the same rate as it attacks
rust.  Phosphoric acid will, on the other hand, react with rust much
more aggressively than it reacts with "good" iron.  In addition,
muriatic acid will leave bare metal as the resulting iron chloride does
not adhere to the surface.  This leaves the surface open to rapid
oxidation, while phosphoric acid will leave a layer of iron phosphate
(FePO_4) which adheres to the surface, and helps protect it from
oxidation.

Harry Phinney   [email-masked]

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From: [email-masked] (Russ Kepler)
Date: Thu, 10 Feb 1994 14:43:53 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>,
>ps. Our perception was that the muriatic did not attack unoxidized metal,
>	is this correct or were we courting disaster?

If we're talking steel then in that application you're OK.  On other
uses I'd advise care - stripping a firearm in this way can cause
trouble with hydrogen embrittlement on the bore and receiver, and
you'd have to bake the hydrogen out after an acid soak.  Luckily, on a
firearm the blueing may be stripped with a fast wipe and doesn't need
a soak, and most folks don't try to recover a badly rusted firearm.

-- 
Russ Kepler posting from home  [email-masked]

                      Please don't feed the Engineers