Got 3 inches of rust off my Harbor Freight jack stand with vinegar last Saturday

I found a old jack stand in my dad's garage near Nashville that was coated in rust from sitting outside for 2 years. Soaked it for 24 hours in white vinegar and scrubbed with a wire brush, now it looks almost new. Has anyone else tried this method for restoring rusty tools or is there a faster way to do it?

2 comments

2 Comments

dakotam1716d ago

Vinegar is TERRIBLE for tools. It eats away the metal and leaves it weak. You're basically making that jack stand MORE dangerous than the rust was. Wire brush and elbow grease is the only REAL way to clean rust, not some chemical shortcut. I've seen people soak wrenches in vinegar and they came out pitted and brittle, snapping under normal use. Just throw the thing away and buy a new one from Lowe's for 30 bucks, it's not worth your life trusting a acid-dipped jack stand.

julia_hayes15d ago

@dakotam17 I gotta push back a little on vinegar eating away metal, that's mostly a myth for short soaks. A 24 hour vinegar bath only removes surface rust and doesn't hurt the good steel underneath if you rinse it off right after. Wire brushing alone would take you forever to get that same level of clean, and pitting happens from leaving it in too long, not from a single soak.