[aphaynes]

So since my last post, I knew I was not going to have much time for a while to devote to Rusty. Though I was continuing to work on the bumper as time permitted, I knew I had rust covered bumper brackets to contend with at a future date. Since I knew I had time before getting to them, I decided to try out a little science experiment I had heard about...treating rust with molasses.

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The theory is that soaking the rusted parts in a concoction of molasses and water (9 parts water to 1 part molasses) for two weeks would take care of the rust.

So starting with these parts...



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(the cover plates were very rusted on the back side)
...I scrounged around to find a container they would fit in. I then poured in 1 gallon of water at a time into the container with the parts in it to see how much water I needed to cover the brackets. Once I knew how much water I had, I managed to do some math to figure out how much molasses I would need. In it went and I let it sit. After a few days, it was getting a little bubbly...



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...A few more days and I had to move it out of the garage. The smell was getting a little funky.

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So as it continued to sit, a guy at work asked why I did not use vinegar. Frankly I did not know you could. Once he said it was faster, I did a little research into molasses versus vinegar for rust. What I learned was, yes the vinegar is faster. However, vinegar will eat rust and good metal whereas the molasses only goes after the rusted metal. Good to know!

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So two weeks later and the concoction was looking oh so yummy...



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I stated pulling out parts and they did not look to impressive at first...



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However, after cleaning them up with a little dawn and scotchbrite pad, I was impressed. Just rinsing them with water and 90% of the rust just sloughed off. In this image you can see flash rust did raise it's ugly head to a minor extent...



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But a few short minutes with a wire wheel and all parts looked quite impressive to me...



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The rusted bolts came out good to. Obviously, if you are in a hurry, this is not the method to use. However, if you have other things to work on, toss your rusted stuff in a batch of molasses and let it sit. It's slow as molasses,

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but you don't lose any good metal during the process.

Bumper is almost ready as well...



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