More of a general question, anything from surface rust to good old salt water exposed iron that might still be usable. I know wire brush/wheel for the flaky, hard stuff. But I'm wondering more about chemical treatments like naval jelly, Rust Aid, and the different metal parts prep treatments that I've seen out there. I tried this recently: Evapo Rust and wasn't impressed. I just bought some ZEP Commercial stuff at Home Depot to try, but it seems like a lot of products are just Oxalic acid.

the only thing I've ever found that actually works is a grinder. Some of that stuff will slow things down, but not stop anything.

Phosphoric Acid (Naval Jelly), but even that can be a pain in the azz.
Mechanical removal is the most effective.

Erusticator... Hydroflouric acid

Remove rust from the surface, then POR-15. It's the ONLY stuff that really works. Don't get it on you skin- it only comes off when it wears off! By far the most popular coating and treatment by car restoration experts.

That's what I'm looking for, not worried so much about coatings/treatments afterwards.

Erusticator...now that sounds good.

you can knock the heavy rust off with a grinder then use a product called rust bond sealer.This is used in the offshore industry everyday and works wonders.I have used this myself with fantastic results.


It basically bonds to the rust and also creeps under the paint surrounding the rust to stop it all together. Then just paint over and be done with it.

Rustoleum 3575 rust reformer works quite well but won't give you the film strength of POR or Chasis Saver (Chassis saver is equal to POR at less $$) Not a big deal if you're overcoating with a high-film 2-part coating like epoxy or poly.

The best device for removing rust from irregular surfaces is a pneumatic needle scaler.

Here's a couple examples of what I'm looking to work with. Nothing heavy requiring a scaler. Chemical/fluid application is what I'm looking for. One of my circ pumps died and leaked through the weep hole dripping salt water on the damper and surrounding area. So I'm also looking to clean that up.

Looks like a machineshop Vat job to me!