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That's pretty amazing. I googled this stuff and the only reason I can find this working is that it is an electrondonor and works as a reductor. By exchanging electrons with the corroded metal, it changes it back. Much easier than working with electrics and vinegar. I had a few components in vinegar when I knocked the bucket over. Now there is a distinctive smell in the shed, luckily the bicycle shed, not the Midas one. Thanks for the tip. I hate vinegar.

Well the molasses has a sweet smell to it and if you spill it it goes sticky so it's just as unpleasant to have lying around as vinegar but I do like that it's not etching away the steel. I'm doing some other bits in it so I'll let folk know how they turn out too. I'm certainly pleased with it so far though.

kelvink wrote:Well the molasses has a sweet smell to it and if you spill it it goes sticky so it's just as unpleasant to have lying around as vinegar but I do like that it's not etching away the steel. I'm doing some other bits in it so I'll let folk know how they turn out too. I'm certainly pleased with it so far though.

Thanks for the information, I would like to give this a try. How and where do I buy molasses?

Regards alan

You can get molasses at most supermarkets/grocers but if you go to a 'country store' you can get a gallon for about £8, it's often used to add to horses feed. (gives them a bit of a treat)

It is again a slow process but just fill up an old drum and sling in some rusty bits n bobs. I'll post results on here shortly but I've got an assortment of things in mine here to try out and so far I'm amazed at how the rust is just turning to a candy like material which washes off leaving clean shiny steel behind. I'm sure a bit of warm weather would help progress a bit plus some agitation of the liquid but I'm well impressed with it so far. Particularly as it's not etching away the steel. Even the paint seems to be coming off too. I suspect that's as the molasses solution gets under it and transforms the thin layer of iron oxide that was under it the day it was painted.

Hi Kelvink,

Thanks for the information, I'll try a country store next week. I have two plastic vessels to fill, one being a painters kettle as I've already mention earlier. The other being a plastic cold water storage tank, which I saved from one of my properties, when I changed to a combi boiler. I could easily get an engine block in this tank. I'll report back on results.

Thanks again alan

Well here's a couple of poor quality photos of the backplate to the Drumbreaks on my Midas after a couple of weeks soaking in the Molasses solution I think the photos pretty much say it all really. All I've done is occasionally give it a scrub with a scrubbing brush and watch the rust simply dissolve right in-front of my eyes





Quite amazing I think and what paint there was on there just brushed away too

One of my neighbours restores vintage tractors, molasses is his secret weapon. He reckons a three week soak followed by a power washing will shift just about any rust out there.