Rust On Old Treadle Base
 

I'm working on my 1912 World's Rotary treadle machine. The case iron legs are terribly rusted. Does anyone have any tips on how to finish it to being shiny and black again? Thanks!

There are lots of advice on this. Some use Evaporust or equivalent products to get all rust off. You get down to clean bare metal with these. Disassembly of the irons are sometimes needed. Others have used a wire brush or even a hand held dremel to get the rust off. Some do a light job of it, maybe give it a coat of rust protecting oil and coat of paint. Some have handed the irons in to be sandblasted. I read someone use chalk dust in stead of sand as a gentler but just as efficient treatment.

Take pictures in advane if there are traces of gold, silver, or colored details left on the irons. It's nice to get them back on :- )

I just happened across a video https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=91&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjX5PKeoqrdAhVClpAKHaZlCoM4MhC3AjAoegQIChAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgoogletune.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DsrVlcT3IkMI&usg=AOvVaw33tflv5QNulz9j4MkVkCnj that uses a product that I hadn't heard of before, but evidently a couple of people have had good results with Corroseal. I tried finding out what they used afterward, if anything, but didn't find anything. https://www.homedepot.com/p/Corrosea...2320/202960538 rather expensive compared to Evaporust. But, it looks easier, less time consuming and less expensive than some of the alternatives.


Janey - Neat people never make the exciting discoveries I do.

There are products that will convert rust into some kind of stable iron compound. It's mostly used when you can't remove the rust or things are rusted completely through. It will leave a kind of black metal in stead of cast iron. It's the only thing you can do in cases where you are left with rust and little solid iron remains. You can use the simpler methods like in the video with light rust, but if there's lots of pitting, and crumbling surface it tends to need a bit more work before painting. I always go for minimal restorations to keep the original as far as possible, but somethimes it needs the full work.