rust removal for aesthetic purposes

[Cazken]

if u buy used gym stuff it’s bound to have even the smallest bit of rust. it’s just kinda ugly. i was wondering if i should paint it or some ****, but it’s steel though.

[ampire]

if u buy used gym stuff it’s bound to have even the smallest bit of rust. it’s just kinda ugly. i was wondering if i should paint it or some ****, but it’s steel though.

Rust won't hurt anything, but if it bothers you, I had luck using automotive touchup paint on some rust on my commercial nautilus fw090 bench. The bench powdercoat is white and I had some old 80s porsche alpine white paint, it ended up an exact match which was nice. I used sandpaper and wirebrush, to take the rust off some obvious spots, wiped with rag with mineral spirits to tack the grit off, let it dry and then used the touchup paint.

If its a former commercial piece, stripping the entire frame is time consuming and rattlecanning it will probably leave you with a finish inferior to the original commercial grade powdercoat, and it will be more likely to rub off and rust again.

If you have the cash you can re-powdercoat it, but it would require disassembly and sometimes the hardware such as washers, bolts, shims, need to be replaced or in the case of shims on heavy arms, can be tricky to align.

My advice is just to ignore it unless its so rusty it impedes the operation, reliability, or durability of the equipment or its leaving rust on your clothing and surrounding area. Tiny amounts of surface rust isn't a big deal.

If you want to flip the equipment, a bit of touchup paint might be what you need.

[peequi]

Painting over it might be a temporary solution, since the rust is still there and could continue eating away slowly at the metal. Scrubbing the rust off is the best long term solution, although it might be overkill. I use a metal scrub that is meant for cleaning steel cooking pans. Getting rid of rust is a good habit and it is sort of like cleaning, it tells your brain this item is important and to take care of it.

[OldButGame]

I've used steel wool and elbow grease before,...worked pretty well. Then painted, in some cases, over the spot.

[WWE-TicK]

My mother-in-law gave me a 7 foot Olympic bar thats got a bit of rust on the sleeves and some on the bar itself. I looked up how to remove rust on YouTube, and the least labor intensive way seems to be to to use electrolysis. However, that requires you submerge the entire item to be de-rusted in fluid, and I don't have anything big enough to submerge a 7 foot bar. And getting a tub or tote big enough is gonna be somewhat pricey considering I'd only use it once. So I guess I'm living with a rusted bar until they come back in stock and I have some money for it.

[anonymous]

Grinder + wire brush = like new weights

The pro style set I got for almost nothing had been left outside for months so was rusted to hell, but a fee hours with the grinder fixed it up nicely

[Duplicitous]

My mother-in-law gave me a 7 foot Olympic bar thats got a bit of rust on the sleeves and some on the bar itself. I looked up how to remove rust on YouTube, and the least labor intensive way seems to be to to use electrolysis. However, that requires you submerge the entire item to be de-rusted in fluid, and I don't have anything big enough to submerge a 7 foot bar. And getting a tub or tote big enough is gonna be somewhat pricey considering I'd only use it once. So I guess I'm living with a rusted bar until they come back in stock and I have some money for it.

The only thing I could find locally to fit a bar is a galvanized tub at Tractor Supply. $400. Nope! I just sold it as-is on the cheap. I do soak all my rusty plates though in a citric acid powder (CAP):water bath for 24 hours. I use 3 oz of CAP for every 1 gal water.

[EricAtl]

My mother-in-law gave me a 7 foot Olympic bar thats got a bit of rust on the sleeves and some on the bar itself. I looked up how to remove rust on YouTube, and the least labor intensive way seems to be to to use electrolysis. However, that requires you submerge the entire item to be de-rusted in fluid, and I don't have anything big enough to submerge a 7 foot bar. And getting a tub or tote big enough is gonna be somewhat pricey considering I'd only use it once. So I guess I'm living with a rusted bar until they come back in stock and I have some money for it.

Wrap in vinegar soaked paper towels. Someone suggested wrapping in Saran Wrap. To keep them from drying out.

[Sboarder1964]

Wrap in vinegar soaked paper towels. Someone suggested wrapping in Saran Wrap. To keep them from drying out.

I've done this, works quite well for barbells. After the soak, you can brush it (preferably with a brass brush, but a nylon bristle brush or steel brush can work) to loosen up the remaining stuff.

[EricAtl]

I've done this, works quite well for barbells. After the soak, you can brush it (preferably with a brass brush, but a nylon bristle brush or steel brush can work) to loosen up the remaining stuff.

Pulls the rust right off:

[ECGordyn]

My mother-in-law gave me a 7 foot Olympic bar thats got a bit of rust on the sleeves and some on the bar itself. I looked up how to remove rust on YouTube, and the least labor intensive way seems to be to to use electrolysis. However, that requires you submerge the entire item to be de-rusted in fluid, and I don't have anything big enough to submerge a 7 foot bar. And getting a tub or tote big enough is gonna be somewhat pricey considering I'd only use it once. So I guess I'm living with a rusted bar until they come back in stock and I have some money for it.

Tape some cardboard boxes together to make a long rectangle. Then lay a plastic paint dropcloth inside it to hold the liquid. See video about 2:10

[WWE-TicK]

Pulls the rust right off:

How long are you supposed to keep it wrapped in CLR? I tried this last night. Tho I used regular towels and not paper towels because paper towels are in short supply. I checked it this morning (about 8 hours later), and it appears to be having an effect, but no where near the effect demonstrated in your pics.

I only used one 28oz bottle of CLR too. That amount wasn't enough to cover the entire bar; I was only able to get the sleeves and half of the bar itself. Because I wanted to get as much of the bar covered as possible, I probably wasn't soaking the towels in enough CLR. I did wrap the whole thing in plastic drop cloth so it wouldn't dry out. When I checked it this morning, the towels were still pretty damp with CLR.

I'm going to go back to the hardware store today and get more CLR and do a more liberal application.

[urbanlifter]

WD40 Rust Remover, wire brass brush on a drill, and PLENTY of patience. This barbell was in similar condition to the one above and it looked excellent afterwards.

[ShockDaMuscles]

I've found vinegar works just fine on bare steel but you have to give it time to do its work. I tried to clean some chrome plated dumbbell handles and a lat bar with vinegar. After soaking for 3 days they came out looking brownish even after some elbow grease.

Then I got muriatic acid, the diluted one they sell at Lowes/HD, dumbbell handles came out looking new after 30 mins, no elbow grease required. Hit them with some chrome polish and you're done.

Disclaimer: Muriatic acid is dangerous in the wrong hands so do some research and take the proper precautions if you've never used it before.

[isatonmynuts]

One thing I've seen work real well is called naval jelly. Probably not as cheap as soaking in vinegar but similar results. Check it out on YouTube to see for yourself.