Using Vinegar to EASILY remove rust from any tool

This vinegar hack is insane! We used vinegar to remove rust from tools that were absolutely caked with rust. I have watched several vinegar hack videos were people were using vinegar to remove rust from old vintage tools and the results that I saw were unreal and I knew I had to put it to the test. We soaked these pliers in great Value distilled white vinegar for exactly 24 hours and the rust on these pliers completely wiped away making the pliers usable again. Check out the video to see this process!

[patharris]

77 yo here, learned something new today !

[arnesste]

Tip for everyone if you heat the metal aka Pliers or fishing knives hot enough to melt wax on to the metal then wipe the excess off they will never rust again, the wax gets into the pores of the metal and seals it from the water I’ve got knives and fishing pliers forty years old sitting in my tackle box and they won’t rust because I treated them with paraffin wax in this way .

[SeeTheWholeTruth]

Ive been telling people for years. You dont even have to put it in a huge bath of it, you can soak papertowels, wrap the area and put it in sealed up environment. Ziploc bag, whatever. Tap the rust with a bit of wood every day, seal it up. Works in no time. You can do this with a great many things, just make sure it stays air tight as you can get it.

[wrkey]

I bought an '82 Goldwing Aspencade motorcycle that had been sitting for years and the interior of the gas tank had lots of surface rust. The fuel line that is built into the tank also had rust on it and inside the tube. At the advice of others I filled the 5 gallon tank with 80% White vinegar and 20% water. Let is set for 2 days. When I emptied and then rinsed it a few times with plain water the tank and tube looked like new. I've put 10, 000 miles on her since and not one problem with the tank or fuel line or fuel filter.

[deniswauchope]

That was a great video! A couple of suggestions- use some baking soda in water to neutralize the vinegar acid left on the tools, otherwise they'll rust even faster; and I use steel wool & oil to finish them up, so that they'll stay rust-free (at least until the next trip at the bottom of the kayak!)

[Phyrman]

As others have said, using steel wool on the tool after the vinegar works wonders. Takes the remaining rust right off. Great video.

[waitingforleeknowssolo]

started building an outside shed, and a lot of my tools were rusty but your video and some of the comments made my life a lot easier. doing gods work

[saturnslipper]

Oh this video just saved me $25.50 for rust remover and rust stopper on Amazon. Have 2 rusted but expensive multitools that cleaned up beautifully after their vinegar soak, etc. Oiled afterwards and now they look like new--Thanks Very Much!! 😃

[aslmx]

One more tip. Always oil your tools with handles with the handles up. If oil gets in between the metal and rubber/plastic it will make your handles come off

[billvetter]

Great post. We just bought a house that was built in 1950 and rummaging through the barn, I found two really old tools that are worse looking than those pliers. Now I have a mission for the weekend...

[axelec]

vinegar is better then any commercial product on the market when it comes to removing rust, it may take a day or two but the cost is only pennies.

[johannecostello]

I have been cleaning rusty tools the last few days after watching this video.
They look great. Thank you!

[HiVizCamo]

I tried this on some cast iron bbq grill grates that went rusty over the winter, worked really well! At the same time I had an electrolysis bath set up to do smaller and rustier things, a pan and smaller tools. The grates were too big for my bath basin I had set up, so tried vinegar in a shallow pan. Have to say the vinegar worked about 80-90% as well as the electrolysis bath, with way less mess and trouble, rigging the bath and all the connections is quite a PITA, ill be doing vinegar the next time for sure.
Also, jug your used vinegar and save it for next time, the sample you have there is probably still potent enough to do its work.

[mollycox]

Just put a wrench in vinegar and then looked up your video to see how long to leave them in it. Yay! I am famous for forgetting a tool outside and I am changing my ways. I look forward to getting this old item back in shape. Thanks so much!

[bearsoundzMusic]

As Denis Wauchope mentioned it is important to stop the acidic vinegar with neutralisation at about pH 8, otherwise the iron/ steel breaks down. bicarbonate is one way, but anything with a pH above 7 would do fine.
The vinegar 'trick' work well, but you do need to remember that you are removing metal from the item, so fine engravings or measurement lines of a scale or similar, may be lost in the process. For pliers, fine and absolutely no issues.

[faustuskrauss]

I shall testify to this in 2024: IT WORKS!!!! Follow his instructions and you’re good to go! Thanks so much!

[garywain]

I've been using the same method for a few weeks, but only just seen this. If you can leave the tools 3-4 days the results are exponentially better. Seriously, just leave it a while longer and you don't even need to wire brush, the rust just wipes away.

[lvsaltwater]

I wanted to add, , after seeing your post this, , as I said below, , I did this to several tools I had, , one small pair of pliers I have, , a nice pair I got from my dad years ago, , came out looking brand new, , I now use them when I tie my crappie jigs, , if a lead head jig I am wanting to tie a crappie jig to has a keeper hook on it, , I use the pliers to help remove that keeper hook, , new life for a pair of pliers that means a lot to me, ,

[the_other_apg]

At last a straight forward how to video using what most of us have in the home. Also made a note of the follow up comments about baking soda or other neutralising additives added to the water!
Excellent, thanks from across the pond!

[fingerfeller]

thank you for posting your video, my father served in the navy for 25 years, 1955-1980, 4 tours in vietnam, one in korean war, he was mechanic and had a lot of snap on tools ( part numbers had the V in it), chrome, impact, sockets, wrenches, etc.. the navy had to have the best tools, well i did not know what i had until i got older but by then they were almost garbage, i did the vinegar and am proud to say i know why the government pays for the old saying, " why does the govt pay 200$ for a hammer when i can get one for only 10 $ its a waste of taxpayers money !!" ?well its because the military has to have tools that wont break down or break. the military issue snap on tools are now being used by me, i have to take my wratchet to the snap on tools truck that visits our city dealership ( ford ) and he will repair it free, lifetime warranty, the snap on guy tells me my tools are very expensive, i am grateful for this tip, i was sanding and grinding a couple of items but noticed i was removing metal not just rust and the rust would return since it was never removed, thanks again sir, cheers