Unpopular opinion: That viral 'instant rust removal with vinegar' hack is overrated

I tried it last weekend on an old cast iron skillet I found at a thrift store in Tucson. Left it soaking for 24 hours like the video said, and all I got was a weird vinegar smell and some flaky rust that still needed scrubbing for an hour. The comments were full of people saying it worked like magic, but for me it just made the pan look worse before I had to use steel wool anyway. Maybe my skillet was too far gone, but I think these clips cut out all the elbow grease. Has anyone else found a better method for heavy rust, or am I just doing it wrong?

3 comments

3 Comments

josephbailey5d ago

Tried that on an old farm truck's bumper and got the same middling results. What finally worked was a wire brush on a drill followed by a quick soak in evaporust.

pat_roberts555d ago

My 78 Chevy got a nasty rust spot on the door edge that vinegar barely touched. Ended up hitting it with a 4 inch wire cup brush on my angle grinder, then a quick wipe with WD-40 and it cleaned up way better than I expected. The grinder took off the heavy stuff fast and left a decent surface for primer.

abbyp615d ago

Yeah, I gotta push back a little... I've used that vinegar soak on half a dozen rusty tools and it worked fine for me, just needed a good scrub after. That said, @josephbailey's drill brush idea sounds way better if you're dealing with something really cooked on there.