Are there any household products that can be used to remove rust from garden tools?
By myra from Atlanta, GA
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You can use Tang or any powered Lemonade drink mix. It's the Citric acid that does the work. Wet your tool then sprinkle the tang on it or better yet, buy straight citric acid at any candy making store or at an Indian or Asian grocery store (It makes candy sour). You may want to make a paste then paint it on. Let it sit for a while then rinse off after scrubbing lightly. You can also buy a rust remover at the hardware store.
* To keep you tools free of rust, store them, stuck in a bucket of sand filled with old motor oil or mineral oil or spray them with WD-40 once in a while.
I understand that Naval Jelly from the hardware store also works to remove rust.
A bucket of sand with oil in it, just enough to get it moist, will work really well. If you have a lid for the bucket, you can keep it for a long time.
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I read somewhere that you can clean and store garden and other tools that rust by putting them in a pail containing sand and motor oil. Does anyone know the ratio of oil to sand? What kind of oil to use and/or where I can find this information. Please and thank you.
Elizabeth from London, Ontario, Canada
Your answer can be found in this post on Thriftyfun.com site:
http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf82991260.tip.html - Keep Garden Tools in Oiled Sand (09/10/2008)
By Sherri
I don't think that it much matters as to the ratio. I expect that it is a thin motor oil that is used in the sand. I would get a can of thin motor oil and just dump it into the bucket of sand, give it a stir with a stick. (09/10/2008)
By Louise B.
I recycled motor oil from a oil change into a 5 gallon bucket along with the cat litter that was used to clean up any oil spills. It's about one large bag cat litter to less than one quart of oil. Enough oil so that the cat litter looks dark and the tools are not dripping with oil. I keep my tool in the bucket when I store them. I clean them with rubbing alcohol when I go to use them.
