Adventures in slow rust bluing

[weasel1]

I managed to acquire nitric acid and hydrochloric acid. Now the iron. I broke of a piece of old brake rotor (they are cat iron aren't they?) and carefully dropped it in. Should I be seeing a reaction right away or is it slower? The next question I have is ventilation. While this stuff is doing it's thing, is it ok to have inside? I'm guessing the dissolving of the cast iron will take much longer if left in the cold.

 

[Throttle_monkey1]

If your instructions call for pure iron, cast iron is high carbon. Usually even higher carbon content than high carbon steels

 

[weasel1]

The instructions I found indicated iron horseshoe nails. I can't see those being pure, but I may be wrong.

 

[tiriaq]

Iron horseshoe nails are wrought iron. Not the same as cast iron. There are different cast irons, as far as that goes.

 

[weasel1]

I searched for damn near an hour and couldn't find that. Thank you! Do you think it would make a difference in this case? It's this safe to bring inside or should I leave it outside in the cold ? I just checked my bottle. The acid is turning color.

 

[guntech]

The recipe I had years ago called for plain old nails...

 

[oneadam12]

Degreased steel wool works very well. More reactive surface area.

 

[weasel1]

Excellent... (In my best Mr Burns voice)

 

[weasel1]

Oh my. The steel wool worked. Very well. Quite the violent brown cloud. Good thing I was putting in small pieces!

 

[camster]

There is a danger if bringing it into a shop... everything that can rust will if in proximity.