How to Remove Rust Stain from Iron

Rust stains can be pretty tricky to remove as these stains comprise of iron oxide particles. This compound is formed when iron combines with oxygen. Owing to this reason, many metal instruments, particularly those consisting of iron and steel are prone to rust.

Removing these reddish brown stains can be a daunting task. Often people tend to use abrasive methods to get rid of these stains. Ironically, the stain doesn’t go and you end up further damaging the iron surface.

However, the following tips have been aggregated together with the basic back ground knowledge of chemistry. Hopefully, by the time you end up with these methods, rust stains will have become history.                                 

Method One

The following method makes use of lemon juice, salt, hydrogen per oxide and cream of tartar. All these ingredients have renowned cleansing properties and together these combine to help you get rid of rust stain.

Things that you will require:

· Lemon juice

· Table salt

· Aluminum tin/foil

· Clean cloth

· Hydrogen per oxide

· Cream of tartar

               

Steps that you need to take:

1.   Pour a liberal amount of lemon juice onto the rust stain. Make sure that it is entirely saturated. Since lemon has an acidic nature, so it helps loosen the stain particles, enabling them to come off the iron surface. Consequently, their removal becomes easier.

2.   Next, sprinkle a layer of table salt onto the lemon juice.

3.   Allow both the table salt and lemon juice to sit on the stain overnight, so that they have ample time to react with the stain particles. Make sure that the stained spot is kept damp and to ensure this you can keep on applying more lemon juice.

4.   After the completion of this time period use a clean cloth to rub the stain away. You can also consider buffing out the stain using an aluminum or tin foil.

5.   If the stain is very stubborn and the above steps don’t work, then you can consider making a cleaning solution of one part hydrogen per oxide and three parts cream of tartar.

6.   Apply this mixture onto the rust stained area.

7.   Allow it to sit in the stain for some time until it dries off.

8.      Afterwards, wipe it away with a damp cloth.

Method Two (Using Canola Oil)

This method is pretty simple yet very effective. Although it requires very little elbow on your part yet you can get rid of rust stains from iron pretty satisfactorily. Proceed as describe below.

Things that you will require:

· Dish cloth

· Canola oil

· Sand paper/ steel wool pad

Steps that you need to take:

1.   Take a dish cloth and soak it in canola oil.

2.   Using this oil soaked cloth, rub the affected area.

3.   If the rust stain on iron is stubborn then instead of a dish cloth, you can also try using a sand paper or steel wool pad.

4.   Rub the stain in circular motion with either the sand paper or steel wool pad. Hopefully you will end up with a stain-free surface.

Tips and Warnings:

· Do not apply chlorine bleach on the stain as it would react with rust, resulting into further discoloration of the stain.

· Before you embark upon any stain removal method, make sure that you remove as much of the rust as possible.

· If you are making use of a commercial cleaner, then make sure you carefully read all the instructions given along with it and follow them likewise.

· Soaking a sponge in rubbing alcohol and dabbing it onto the stain can also make the rust stain disappear.

· Allow rust-stained iron materials to soak into vinegar over-night. Clean them the next day. You can also consider cleaning them with a rag soaked in vinegar.

· Club Soda is also an effective cleaning agent, when it comes to the removal of rust stains from iron.