How To Remove Zinc Plating From Screws
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Three of the enemies in my shop are rust, zinc coating and black oxide.
1. Rust: No explanation needed. Rust is the enemy of steel, and steel is what allows united states to tame wood.
ii. Zinc coating: Many steel fasteners are coated with an ugly layer of zinc to protect them from rust in the outdoors. When I'm building stuff for inside, I'd rather not run into the bright zinc.
three. Blackness oxide: Many pieces of reproduction hardware are coated with black oxide to protect them from rust during ship to market place. This ho-hum black oxide is difficult to strip off and looks wrong on reproduction pieces (in my opinion).
To tame these coatings, I commonly employ a citric acid solution or Evaporust to remove rust. Both are fairly safe chemicals that you can dump down the bleed when they are spent. Citric acid also volition remove zinc plating, though information technology struggles with thick coatings.
But neither of these chemicals can touch black oxide in my experience.
To remove black oxide, I unremarkably employ elbow grease – Unproblematic Dark-green and a woven grey pad. That's a decent strategy for a big strap hinge, but it becomes ridiculous when you desire to strip blackness oxide from 100 screws, such equally those from Acorn Mfg.
(A personal plea to Acorn: I so wish you would sell your ferrous products without a blackness oxide coating. Many European hardware makers sell bare fe or steel hardware and do very well.)
So I have been looking for a way to remove black oxide that didn't brand me nuts.
Enter Charles Murray, an Ohio woodworker I've known for many years.
On Sat, I ran into Charles while visiting the Woodworkers of Central Ohio. During our chat he mentioned he had been using "The Works" toilet bowl cleaner to strip rust from tools and hardware. And, he said, it'south about $1.50 for a 32 oz. canteen.
Intrigued, I picked some up at Home Depot and gave it a try today. I was shocked how quickly information technology removed some crusty rust from some T-hinges that take been sitting around the shop. Then I dunked some zinc-plated steel plates in the stuff. In thirty minutes information technology had stripped them blank – it took citric acrid about six hours to practise the same task.
And then I tried it on black oxide. I dumped some Acorn hinges into the solution and within 30 minutes I could wipe away the oxide and meet bare metal.
What'south the take hold of? The Works is 20 percent hydrogen chloride. It is nasty stuff. You don't want to touch it, exhale its fumes or get it within you in any fashion. But when you are done with it y'all tin can put it in your toilet and it cleans information technology of lime calibration, rust and hard water stains.
I exercise not like nasty chemicals. When I utilize them, I utilise them in small amounts, with keen care and only when I think it is the best solution.
If you decide you want to use "The Works," download its MSDS here. Read up on hydrogen chloride here. And bank check upward on the product at its web site here. Use information technology with slap-up intendance and adequate protection (chemical-resistant gloves etc.).
And enquire Acorn and other hardware makers to stop using the ugly black oxide in the first place.
— Christopher Schwarz
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Production Recommendations
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Flush Trim Bit
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Jig & Fixture Bar
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Tung Oil Varnish
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Source: https://www.popularwoodworking.com/techniques/remove-rust-zinc-and-black-oxide-with-the-works/
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