Vinegar?

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swizzle
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Vinegar?

#1

Post by swizzle »

Is it possible to clean cans with vinegar? It is acidic. seems like anything acidic should clean some rust off. I'll be buying some muriatic acid soon. Its just a matter of time and money. Swiz


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Re: Vinegar?

#2

Post by mybrotha »

you mean oxalic?
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Re: Vinegar?

#3

Post by chateaudebris »

dont use muriatic acid on cans,a big no no,,,,,,,,,i never tried vinegar myself?,,,try the vinegar on a test can first,,,,,it may eat paint too,,,best to wash and rinse any and all cans with baking soda after all the soaking and cleaning is finished to help nutralize any acid you do use,,even oxcalic will continue to eat the cans???? my 2c :smt025
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Re: Vinegar?

#4

Post by swizzle »

I got a decent test can to try the vinegar on. Actually I did mean muratic. I read a bit about it a couple years back for cleaning cans. Things must have changed. Where could I find citric or oxalic acid locally? Swiz
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Re: Vinegar?

#5

Post by Leon »

If looking for something cheap & low budget & easy to find then buy some ZUD. Add a little water to the ZUD powder to make a thick paste out of it. Then dab this thick paste to exterior of can. Watch it turn brownish, will take a few hours. Then wash off & Surprise :shock: LEON.
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Re: Vinegar?

#6

Post by swizzle »

I'll keep an eye out for it. I didn't have enough lime juice to completely cover the cans so I'm doing a bit of a scrub and turn and scrub and turn in the pot. I have the pot tilted so all of the lime juice is along the edge. I can actually read Krueger now and the Utica Club is starting to come through too. Quite a change from the completely rusted surface that it was. So you guys mainly try to find 1930's & 40's dumps then am I right? Is there a different method for finding a newer dump then for an older dump? I'm either hitting 1950's and 60's to modern trash or TOC dumps. Once in a while I get lucky and I actually had a lead on this dump. Swiz
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Re: Vinegar?

#7

Post by swizzle »

Alrighty, here's my findings with vinegar. First I scrubbed a bit of dirt and rust off in cold water and just gave the can a good quick scrub down. No rough stuff just a quick scrub to get any loose junk off. Then I soaked a cone top in the vinegar for a few hours. Took it out gave it a good once over with a worn out toothbrush and although rust was evident in the water there was no real rust removal. I dried it off good and put it back in for a few more hours. Did the same thing with the same results to a lesser degree. I did notice this time what appears to be the can itself in little flakes. Like the rust and paint had come off together. Once again I placed the can back in for an overnight soak and forgot about it until 10 minutes ago. Once again the same results. Some rust coming off but more of those specks. It appears to me that the vinegar is a bust. I believe the oxalic most likely breaks the bond between the rust and the paint where the vinegar does not. It could also be from scrubbing bits of rust off is just taking the paint with it and that the vinegar cleaning process is most likely just to slow. I'll wait until I can find a better alternative. I've already check a few hardware store and none of them carry oxalic acid. No I'm going to go wash my hands with soap and water before I mistake them for pickles and start biting more then my nails. Swiz
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Re: Vinegar?

#8

Post by Beamer »

Swiz, did you look at the hardware for Wood Bleach? That is most likely how it will be packaged.
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Re: Vinegar?

#9

Post by PUFFDADDY »

swiz, acid can be ordered @ chemistrystore.com for around $30.00 including shipping. steve
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Re: Vinegar?

#10

Post by swizzle »

I don't have the $30 to order the oxalic right now. I've been using a bottle of lemon juice. It seems to be working but I seem to be getting a lot of tiny paint chips coming off. I think I've ruined the Utica Club Cones. Should I soak them longer before scrubbing the rust off with a soft tooth brush. Am I pressing to hard with the tooth brush even though I'm trying not to? Is it the fact I'm using the wrong stuff to clean the cans with? I don't know. Any help would be great but I've ran out of victims to test on.

I've called several local stores and even asked at a few for Wood Bleach and let them know its Oxalic Acid I'm looking for. There's nothing around here that I know of. I'll either have to keep going with lime and lemon juice or store the cans until I can afford the Oxalic Acid. Swiz
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Re: Vinegar?

#11

Post by Senator Seebs »

Just got my Wood Bleach at the Sherman William's store. Found out that the manager's uncle just died and had some beer cans - networking!
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Re: Vinegar?

#12

Post by renokenn »

ACE is the place of the helpful hardware man :neutral:
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Re: Vinegar?

#13

Post by beercanman »

Swizzle,

Here's a thought ... where are you located - New York?? I betcha there's a fairly local Rusty Buncher who'd be willing to hand you some oxalic acid in exchange for letting him dig some with you.

At least you found cans!
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Re: Vinegar?

#14

Post by Mike S »

Oxalic is the way to go, never used wood bleach but havent heard anything bad about it. Its basically the same thing but i like pure uncut OX. just some things to note, not all cans will clean depending on the type and degree of rust and some paints are more prone to peel or fade when cleaning. Metallics are the worst. if the utica club cones are white they generally dont clean real well, the white paint is rather thin on those and rust eats right through it and or it tends to flake off. the red ales seem to hold up better but i never seem to find many of either...if they are blue you found a gem!
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Re: Vinegar?

#15

Post by swizzle »

I live in Tribes Hill but I dug the Utica coners in Edinburg. If anyone from the rusty bunch is in the area then I'd be more then happy to show him where I got these. I'd like to have one decent looking one after its cleaned up the right way but by the looks of the cans I don't think I can do much better on cleaning. I looked on the ACE website for my area and they don't have the Oxalic acid listed. I don't believe I used the term Wood Bleach though. I'll make a stop down there sometime soon. I just don't see spending that kind of money right now for a hobby that I'm so/so about. I'm actually more interested in different types of tins that I might be able to save. I'd be happy with one nice looking, decent can out of any dumps that I put someone else on as long as I don't have to be bothered with the clean up. I'm just to heavy into bottles right now and I might be diggin' a decent pontil dump as soon as next week. If anyone is local to me I'll give them all the cans I've found so far except one of my Shaefer's irish cream with the clover on it. I just think its cool looking. Swiz
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Dump directions

#16

Post by Rustmonger »

Hey Swiz, I finally talked to the other guys and figured out where that big bottle dump was. It's over near Paradox Lake due West of Ticonderoga. Do you have a DeLorme atlas/topo/gazatteer map by any chance? If so I can put you right on it, if not we can work around it. It wont be hard to find. Probably only a couple hundred feet from pavement less than a mile from Paradox Lake. Let me know if you have that map and then I can tell you exactly where it is. Actually they sell those maps at every gas station so you could even sneak a peak even if you don't buy one. Dave

PS Give up on that vinegar, just try some lemon juice from the grocery store or some wood bleach from a hardware store. I've also used pool cleaner that was mostly oxalic acid before with good results.
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Re: Vinegar?

#17

Post by Rustmonger »

Ummmm......yea...... that was supposed to be a P.M. instead of a post. :oops:
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Re: Vinegar?

#18

Post by Mike S »

Rustmonger wrote:Ummmm......yea...... that was supposed to be a P.M. instead of a post. :oops:
Man look at you naming some of our prime dumping spots in an open forum! Sheesh, that place aint any good anymore :smt021 :smt064 :smt064 :smt064
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