Derusting a Webley Flare Gun - Science is cool!

I recently acquired a Webley No 1 Mark I flare gun, the base gun for Boba Fett's rifle. Unfortunately, as with many of these guns, it was quite rusted. Since the gun has to be painted, I wanted to get the rust off of it, but I didn't want to simply scrub it off with sandpaper, a scotch brite, or steel wool, all which can remove the bluing and patina (what little is left).

I looked up ways in which to do this and found a very cool approach, using the concepts found in electroplating.

You can read the full thread here:

Surplusrifle Forum ? View topic - How to make and use an electrolysis tank *PICS*

What you need:

-Wall charger (I used an old cell phone charger)
-Plastic tub large enough to submerge your part
-Copper wire
-Baking soda
-Steel rebar or plain steel rods (I used steel hollow square bar from Home Depot. DO NOT USE STAINLESS STEEL!)

Cut off the plug on the wall charger and separate positive from negative. It is really important that you properly identify each. Attach each wire to a piece of copper wire. If you get it backwards, you will plate your part in steel!!!

Connect the POSITIVE copper wire to you steel rebar. I drilled holes in mine and wrapped the wire through them, but all you have to do is make the copper wire touch them.

Connect the NEGATIVE copper wire to your item to be derusted.

Place both in the tub, making sure they don't touch (this will short your charger).

Fill the tub until your part to be derusted is submerged. Add one tbsp of baking soda per gallon of water.

Plug in your wall charger.

If you did everything right, within a few seconds, you should begin to see tiny bubbles coming off the part to be derusted.

Depending on the charger and the level of rust on your part, this can take several hours. The water gets very murky so I changed out my water from time to time (not necessary) just so I could see the progress.

This process will remove the rust from your part and adhere it to the steel bars. Eventually, it WILL remove the finish of a gun as well, so keep a close eye on it!

Unplug the wall charger (really important) and check your part from time to time. It may have a light film on it. Wipe it off with a wet rag. DO NOT USE A SCOTCH BRITE (I did this and it took off some of the finish).

When you are happy with the results, dry and oil your newly derusted part and away you go!

Here is my Webley, in the tub:

View attachment 137887

Here is a before and after of the left and right sides.

View attachment 137884 View attachment 137885

Here is the final, oiled Webley... not perfect, but pretty nice.

View attachment 137888

Here are the two steel rods after 6 hours of derusting.

View attachment 137889

Heck of a result !

May be a silly question, but since I've never done anything of the sort before and am an electric idiot :lol, I'm going to ask .... in case I may need to do something similar in the future.

How do you tell / identify negative from positive on a charger ? (Both wires look the same to me :confused)

Wow! That is one heck of an improvement. I like how it removes the rust and stabilizes the piece without altering the patina. It still looks like an old flare gun but, without the decades of rust.

I wish I had known about this awhile back when I was removing rust from some small parts. Definitely have to add it to my list of things to try now. :thumbsup

Awesome info! Thanks for posting.

Wonder if Naval Jelly would have worked.

Alan Castillo said:

How do you tell / identify negative from positive on a charger ? (Both wires look the same to me :confused)

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On most chargers (but not all) the wire with a stripe or dashes or some type of marking is the positive. The solid colored wire is the negative.

Again, you will know you have it right when you try this because bubbles will be coming off the part you are derusting and not the steel bars.

Clutch said:

Wonder if Naval Jelly would have worked.

Click to expand...

Naval Jelly can destroy patina and bluing. Use with caution.

GrenadeKing said:

Wow! That is one heck of an improvement. I like how it removes the rust and stabilizes the piece without altering the patina. It still looks like an old flare gun but, without the decades of rust.

Click to expand...

That was my entire goal and I was really impressed with the results.

Ultimately this piece will be painted, but until then, I don't have to look at a rusty hunk of junk or a painfully silver, shiny over-buffed metal.

Good to know. :thumbsup

Excellent!! I've seen this done in archival situations but never a "bathtub" solution.

Good work

Damn, i am going to have to try that sometime. The Coke cola treatment takes too long and cost too much although it does work.

Nice. I like these "how to" posts.

Art Andrews said:

On most chargers (but not all) the wire with a stripe or dashes or some type of marking is the positive. The solid colored wire is the negative.

Again, you will know you have it right when you try this because bubbles will be coming off the part you are derusting and not the steel bars.

Click to expand...

Cut & pasting that for posterity :thumbsup

Cheers

This is one of the coolest things I've seen on this site. I'd never even thought of being able to do something like this at home. Very informative. Thank-you.

This is great, thank you Art! Nice work, can't wait to see where this goes

Yes, Art, this is VERY informative. I have an antique meat cleaver I've been wanting to "clean up" (with regard to rust), but NOT ruin the overall patina.

This sounds like just the thing to help me pull that off.

Wish I had more hands, so I could give this thread FOUR thumbs-up. :thumbsup :thumbsup :thumbsup :thumbsup


P.S.

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Art Andrews again.

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Very informative! Thank you for sharing. I might do this with my rusty landsknecht breastplate.

I have an old rusty bayonet that was my dad's, I might try this with it !

that is sweet. I just did several cast iron pieces but I did the white vinegar method. Forgot about it on one and it now has a small hole in it.

It has been a while since I posted in this thread, but I had another opportunity to use this technique; this time on an original movie prop.

For years I have been after a set of Myrmidon armor from Troy and I finally got a set (a friend also got a set)! The problem is, those costume pieces were used on a real beach, in sea water, then put up wet after the movie. The greaves were horribly rusted from it. Now, I stupidly didn't take any before photos, but here is a shot of my buddy's greaves. Mine pretty much looked the same, with the same amount of rust.



This was a bit more complicate because many of the rivets aren't attached to any other metal, but only hold leather to leather. I ended up making a pretty complex copper wire chain to link every piece of metal on the greaves (over 20 connections). From there, I let the Electrolysis do its work. This actually served two purposes. One: it removed a good deal of the rust. Two: the leather had become very rigid and and stiff in a flattened out form and I was afraid to wrap it around a leg without cracking the leather. Soaking it in water softened it.

Because this was far more than simple surface rust, I kept a constant watch on the pieces and pulled them out after 8 hours. With careful cleanup (no abrasives... no scrubbing) and oiling the leather, this is where I was able to get them. I truly believe if I had tried the typical scrubbing approach to this, I would have ruined these pieces. Just something to consider.