I've heard Mike Curotto say "rust never sleeps", but I don't fully understand this expression. Hmmmm I don't know what it means.

I've had great success soaking rusty parts overnight in a mixture of bleach and washing up detergent, but apparently it's dangerous to mix these two substances. Worked wonders for me though. The rust literally falls off in big chucks. Maybe don't try it if it's dangerous, but these are two household products that can be found under the sink if you don't want to go out and buy some rust removal products. Just my two cents. If it's dangerous you probably shouldn't mix the two, but I did it and I'm still here. :)

Mixing bleach with detergent is perfectly safe; washing machines do it all the time to clean our "tighty-whities". What is dangerous is mixing bleach with ammonia! That mixture causes a chemical reaction which creates toxic fumes. Don't do that!

Mike

Take the advice of the guys here. Evaporust, Dawn dish detergent, vinegar, Bar Tender's Keeper, Brasso and even Coke with aluminum foil, the fact of the matter is it's relatively easy to remove the rust, it's what REMAINS after the rust is gone that was my biggest problem. Having learned some real lessons in rust and pitting on my massive Sling rehab, it's the dull black spots or finish that remains where the chrome WAS. Short of re-chroming, there's not much you can do. When the chrome is gone-its gone. And re-chroming at a plating shop is real sticker shock. If you don't mind the blackening cosmetically, after a polish or wax by any car brand, the chromes will certainly be protected from any more damage. In my case, once the rust was removed, in some cases there was so little chrome left, my hardware came across as looking , well, flat black. I simply had to search for original replacements or repops. A drag, but I wanted the original look and the old chromes just needed to be replaced. For that OMG chrome shine, read my post "Sold on Simmichrome." Good luck. Dean

WOW!!! Thanks for the response. Where can you get Evaporust. I'm Canada don't know If it's available here. I have CLR and I was think of just applying it with a rag then then after a few minutes wiping it off.

Can you really use DAWN dish soap to remove rust????

Thanks for the advice Salty. I will look for that Evaporust. Not sure If it's available in Canada Though.

I've done hundreds of drums and used dawn on all of them. When you first put the parts in, the dawn color is a nice blue. Overnight, the color becomes a green tint with all the rust dissolved. Works like a champ.

Mike

Hey, Drumguy1988,

You are very welcome. I too am from Canada! I get Evaporust from a local Canadian Tire store. It's quite inexpensive and it works. Please, NO steel wool or abrasives. Best of luck!

Brian

OH!! Great. I wasn't sure if it was only available in the U.S. or something like that. I live right across the street from Canadian Tire so I will take a look for it.

So do you use steel wool for anything???. I use it mainly for polishing chrome like lugs etc. I swear by it. I just recently polished 9 Ludwig claws with some minor rust and they came out perfect. I use the super fine stuff or the 0000 stuff. Doesn't do any damage to the chrome.

Thanks Mike. I put 1 rod and Claw in and am now off to work so I will check them when I get home. It's the blue stuff like you said It's called DAWN Ultra and It was a Duck on it. If it's good enough for an oily Duck it's good enough for drum parts LOL!!!!

Hey, Drumguy,

I don't use steel wool on anything! You may think that you're doing no harm but, in actuality you're dulling the surface with each stroke. It doesn't matter what the grade. Microscopic scratches are left behind on the chrome. Once they are there, they are there forever (short of re-chroming). Try this: Take an old pair of dollar store sunglasses and "polish" the lenses with whatever grade of steel wool you want. Now put them on. I think you'll understand what I mean. Even the ooo grade leaves scratches. This is entirely up to you of course.

Brian