Perty bad,  What should I do with it? It's an Ideal 308-403 designed my old man Pope.

       Joe.

Joe - ultrasonic cleaners will not bring it back to life!
Put it in a rotary tumbler - Strat-O-Sheen burnishing solution - Kramer Industries 2 or 3mm ceramic triangle media and a squirt of Dawn

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These parts were under 36" of salt water - mud & sand from Super Storm Sandy.  They cleaned up in about 2 hours in the rotary

I would use a simple electrolysis rig.  It takes nothing more than a battery charger, bucket, scrap steel and Arm and Hammer washing soda (available at Walmart).  Its safe, simple and effective.

ndnchf wrote on Apr 3^rd, 2014 at 11:09am:


Very true; but you want to keep an eye on it because the electrolysis will keep working whether there's rust there or not.
Forget about it for a little while, and you'll have more pits than you started with.
Believe me, it happens !!!

Joe,

I use electrolysis a lot, and I wouldn't on this one.  What I would do is degrease it with brake cleaner or paint thinner or acetone, and then scrape off what rust I could off of the flat planes with a wood block.   I'd use a 3/4" diameter brass wire wheel in a dremel tool to knock the loose rust off the bullet cavity.

Then, if you have an ultrasonic, clean it in that.   

After the preliminary cleaning, I'd immerse it in evapo-rust.

Evapo-rust, despite the claims on the container, does dissolve a bit of the clean metal.  However, it dissolves the rust much faster.

Remove from the evapo-rust after an hour or so and use the brass wheel on it again, and the wood block on the flat surfaces.  Repeat as needed until the rust is gone.  The object here is to remove the thicker crusted pieces as fast as you can, so that the evapo-rust removes as little sound metal as possible.  Once I got down to the bullet surface of the cavity, I'd not go any further, I'd rather have a bit of rust than pits in a bullet cavity.  If you need to, cast a bullet, and then drill a hole in it's base and thread in an arbor to turn it with.  Put some very fine grit on the bullet, and spin it in the cavity with a drill to polish it.

The evapo-rust leaves a layer of gray on the surface where it dissolves the iron and leaves the carbon.  I'd experiment with using the mold without cleaning that off, it might be real effective in keeping lead from sticking.

dave

Quote:


The Federal Penitentiary at Lewisburg, Pennsylvania use to have one made up of oak wood with a metal seat and two metal foot rests for conductivity.  Wasn't battery powered, but a line voltage tap before the transformer.  (high 
voltage, high amperage)

It was no where being safe if you were to be sitting in it, but it was simple and effective.  Inexpensive to operate !   

   Since you are mainly interested in a restoration/conservation job, I wouldn't use anything that would take off metal.  Chemicals, abrasives, etc.
   Remember that in rust-bluing, one converts the red Fe2O3 oxide to Fe304 black oxide by boiling in water.   I'd boil the metal parts in water for 20 minutes or so and lightly brush off all the rust.   This stops any tendency to rust further, holds protective coatings such as waxes and oils, and doesn't take off any metal from a valuable artifact.   About as rough as you should get with it is to scrub it with the end of a pine stick.   
 
CHRIS
RGChristensen

Once you get it cleaned up, if the mold doesn't come out perfect inside the chamber, then I use a trick an oldtimer told me years ago. Cast up a bullet in the mold, and then drill and tap the base of the bullet for a 10-24 screw. Thread in a piece of screw shaft with the head cut off. Then get some extra fine valve lapping compound and smear the inside of the molds with it. Put your bullet screw shaft in a drill motor and spin it inside the closed mold. Check it often to see when it's shiny smooth, and stop. I've saved some pretty ugly old molds and made them useable again with this method.