looks like a fine project gary. have fun..

mike

Nice drum, rust isn't that bad, I've seen worse. I'd try mild, household stuff before busting out the harsh acids. Vinegar, baking soda, salt, lemon / lime juice will work. I have my own secret formula which is basically all of the above mixed into a paste. Cool Dude Try 2 parts vinegar to one part lemon or lime juice (lime works better) Then add enough baking soda to make that liquid into a thick paste. While you're doing that you can put whatever little screws, tension rods whatever you can in a tray / dish and douse them with salt. You could even leave them overnight in salt. They don't have to be buried in the salt, just heavily salted rusty snacks is what we're talking here. Then what you want to do is get yourself some aluminum foil, grab a big fist full of it and scrunch it up and use that to scrub that rusty parts. It's not as harsh as a wire brush. You can try these few steps and if you don't get the results you're after try a few more things you got in the cupboards. Some mild ingredients can do a job for you without doing too much damage to the metal. Failing this you could leave the parts to steep overnight in, yes, Coca-Cola. Leave it overnight and the next day scrape off the phosphate. If these steps fail then it's time to get the more toxic rust removal agents or use a grinder / sander. Electrolysis can take a while, but if set up correctly it can work well, just be careful. I mean very careful. Water plus electricity plus you equals not 3 things you want to put together. Good luck and enjoy that drum. It's a real gem.

Chromeo - lots of good rust cleaning tips there. I've used many of them with varied degrees of success.

I want to try the electrolysis (E.Tank) method because it's non-abrassive.

Has anyone here built an E. Tank?

And - if I do build one I will be careful with the electricit

Here is a link to an earlier post on the subject...

I do not know if member Crackerman is still hanging around here.. Maybe send him a P/M...

You will find a lot of info on the net (and some UTube Vids as well) which will steer you in the right direction... please post up the results of your project when you are done.. This is something I'd like to try as well one day...

Cheers

John

http://www.vintagedrumforum.com/showthread.php?t=7231&highlight=electrolysis

Leave those rusty parts overnight in a plastic container with some of that white dollar store vinegar and the rust will be completely gone. Just wipe off the parts.

Supposedly cider vinegar is better than white vinegar. Can't remember why.

I'm also interested in hearing how your electrolysis experiment turns out.

Kona - You're welcome. I've used an E-Tank before. They work. Horrah for Science! Cool1 It should strip the rust, but it's a very slow process so be patient. There are instruction online. You'll probably find that there will still be little bits of rust left clinging on to the parts so you may need to scrub a little even after leaving them in the tank, but it should get rid of the heavy stuff for you. Also it wont leave the metal gleaming it'll just strip away the rust. Let us know how you get on with that and good luck!

Yes - I like science.

I did try the Vinegar and it works to a point - still had to do some scrubbing.

I've been reading about the electrolysis. It cleans in 'a-line-of-sight' between the electodes so sometimes you have to move stuff to get a thorough cleaning. I will read more and look at some more videos.

Then....it's on to the shopping list:

wire, some marettes (those little twisty-on things for the wire), some rebar, a small rubber tank, Arm&Hammer washing soda or Baking Soda and a batter charger.

Oh yes.....maybe some wire (steel) mesh to suspend all the small parts in the solution.

This is a project a ways away as I have other projects on the go right now.

Thanks for the feedback and I will look at the link provided above as well.

I used CLR when I was cleaning up my Ludwig and Ludwig '20s trap set. It worked really well, and I didn't have to do any scrubbing. The rust was worse that you have on your drum. YMMV, of course.

Stephen