My Shop is on Acid

Vaughn McMillan

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Sunday night I was working in the shop doing the final buffing and waxing of a big bowl, and I kept noticing a strange, fume-like smell. The smell was familiar, but I couldn't place it. I figured it was either the buffing compound or wax throwing me for a loop. I got done with my work, and in the process of closing up the shop, I found the source of the smell. A gallon jug of industrial strength hydrochloric acid had leaked and run all along the front edge of the garage.

Now I don't typically keep things like gallon jugs of acid around, but this was something the previous owner had left behind, so I'd put it in my "hazmat" pile along with a few cans of old paint and other solvents that are illegal to throw in the regular trash. We don't have convenient Hazardous Waste drop-offs in my area, so I tend to accumulate them until they have a collection event in the neighborhood. (And I keep learning about them after the fact.)

The hazmat pile was stacked on an open shelf that's part of the melamine/particle board cabinets that were installed by the previous owner. The acid burned through the shelf, and made a long, thin puddle that nearly reached the other side of the garage. I immediately put on my heavy rubber gloves and eye protection, and mopped up as much as I could with paper towels, then sprinkled a couple boxes of baking soda on it to neutralize it. (Soaking up the liquid with paper towels was no fun. The fumes were very strong.) Here are a couple pics I took today of the covered puddle...

Shop Acid Spill 01 - 800.jpg Shop Acid Spill 04 - 800.jpg

Here are a couple shots of the hazmat shelf, and the pile of acid-soaked woodchips I scraped out from under the cabinet. I need to figure out a way to cut out most of the shelf and lay a piece of 3/4" plywood on the remaining part...

Shop Acid Spill 02 - 800.jpg Shop Acid Spill 03 - 800.jpg

The acid also dripped onto my old Craftsman toolbox. I don't think it's gonna survive, but the tools inside looked OK. Here's a pic after I'd scraped off most of the baking soda I'd poured on it last night...

Shop Acid Spill 05 - 800.jpg

Anyway, today, I got all the soda and acid chips cleaned up. The epoxy floor paint protected the concrete from being etched, but it is discolored, and blistered in a couple spots where I missed putting soda last night. I'm not real worried about stains on the floor, so all in all, everything worked out OK.

Or so I thought. The saga continues in the next post...
 
Just as I was finishing up the cleanup, I walked by my bandsaw and saw this...

Shop Acid Spill 10 - 800.jpg

That's a thin coat of rust on all the cast iron, as well as a couple of my Monster boring bars. Bad words were said.

Then I checked the lathe. More bad words were said...

Shop Acid Spill 06 - 800.jpg Shop Acid Spill 07 - 800.jpg Shop Acid Spill 08 - 800.jpg Shop Acid Spill 09 - 800.jpg

I keep all my cast iron surfaces in the shop waxed. In fact, I did everything just a couple weeks ago. (In my climate, every few months is plenty.) Anything that was covered or painted looked fine. Virtually all exposed steel or iron rusted. The tablesaw and drill press table were both covered, so they're OK. The jointer, not so much...

Shop Acid Spill 13 - 800.jpg

My Thompson gouges didn't have any problems (cryo-treated powdered metal), but even good stainless steel tools rusted if they were exposed...

Shop Acid Spill 11 - 800.jpg Shop Acid Spill 12 - 800.jpg

So...my shop's a mess. (I can only imagine what my lungs look like.) I'm open to suggestions for a fast and easy way to remove all this rust. :bang:
 
Zoiks! Thats not good!

Last time I used muriatic acid was cleaning the sea life off the bottom of a boat. The fumes are bad, but dripping the acid down your arms is worse!

I've usually use the T-9 stuff and BoeShield on my cast iron surfaces. Using the T9 and a scrubby does a pretty good job, and the boeshield keeps it pretty.

Edit: Actually the Boeshield is T9. They have a product called "Rust Free" that I use, which smells bad, but they claim is non-toxic...
 
Yikes, Vaughn!

I had no idea acid could do that! I guess the first thing to do is stop the damage from getting worse, and *then* research solutions.

Man! I can hear the bad words all the way from the east coast! :doh:

Thanks,

Bill
 
Oh that really sucks. I think the Boeshield Rust-free stuff is made for this type of problem but it's pricey. Maybe Evapo-rust from Harbor Freight. Obviously you will want to take care using chemicals and not damaging painted surfaces.

I'm imagining if that happened in my garage the weeks of taking things out to clean and move back. How about your light fixtures and garage door hardware?

Oh that really sucks. Let me know if you want help one day soon and start working through things. I can make the time.

Oh that really sucks. After this I will never store acid in the garage.

:(
 
Thanks Dan...Evapo-Rust was the stuff I was trying to remember. I think I may take a trip to Harbor Freight sometime this week. Thanks for the offer to help clean things up. I'll see how things go, and if it looks too daunting, I'll be sure to let you know.

The garage door hardware looks OK upon a cursory glance, but I need to look at the details before making final judgment. Looks like anything that was galvanized did OK. (Man, I'm glad I used galvanized pipe for my air piping.) I'm sure I'll be finding things (like the roller guides on the bandsaw) that I've missed in my initial survey, though. The Harbor Freight right-angle drill that I use for bowl sanding now has a chuck that's about as orance as the plastic case. And an 8" shaft extension to match. I'm curious to see if there's any internal corrosion in that, as well as any other motors. Fortunately though, the vast majority of my tools are in cabinets or drawers. It could have been a lot worse.

I really do need to find a hazmat drop-off and get rid of some of the other fun stuff...things like the gallon glass jug that's about 1/4 full of trichloroethylene. (More leftovers from the previous owner. We used to use trichlor to dissolve the oil out of asphalt samples when I worked in the testing business.) I've also now got several old cans of paint with badly corroded bottoms. Those are leaks waiting to happen. (They're in a plastic tub right now.)
 
I just did a little Googling, and it turns out there's now a hazmat collection place open Saturday, Sunday, and Monday about 6 miles from here. :doh: Now that I'm properly motivated, I'll be doing some hauling next weekend. :rolleyes:
 
clean up.. a scotch brite pad can be gotten for a hook and loop RO sander vaughn and use some wd40 for lube.. then once the rust is gone the oil will remain in the steel till you can re wax it. and muratic acid is tuff stuff as you have found out.. if it eats concrete it can devour anything the tool box can be saved as well if you give it a rub down in wd40 and then wipe of and real do again as a top coat. any area you think might have got troubles spray..it.
 
I know how you feel.

About ten years ago, when I lived in Tustin, my shop was in my garage, and I had the door up. My neighbor (adjoining driveways) decided to acid etch his driveway, and the breeze carried the fumes into my shop. INSTANT RUST!!!

Table saw, bandsaw, jointer, - everything!

The neighbor and I spent the next two days cleaning up everything. Scotchbrite and WD40 did a pretty good cleanup. Boeshield and paste wax after that protected it.
 
That's about as big a bummer as one could imagine.

No advice on the acid or rust, but for the paint - around here is is perfectly acceptable to discard dried out paint in the trash. When I have a bit of old paint I need to get rid of I simply leave the open can out in the sun for a couple of weeks or so and just toss it with the regular pick up when it has completely dried out.
 
Wow . . . I'm not sure what else I can say that is family freindly. Evap-o-rust at HF with a 20% coupon is about $18 a gallon and it goes pretty far. You should have plenty left after clean up. If there are any tough spots, Boeshield's Rust Away (an acid itself) does a great job but read the directions. I sure hope things clean up easy for you.
 
Sorry to see that happen to you, that really BITES! Might explain why our shop tools were rusted so bad at one place I used to work. They used to etch the side walk out side of the shop area.

I've used naval jelly to take rust off of surfaces, but only when it's really bad. Not recommended if there are stainless and painted parts that it would get on. Probably would go with Larry's suggestion for a surface rust as thin as that.
 
one more thought,, can imagine i forgot about this alternative...:eek: you can send that rusty yelow thing to michigan for cleaning and i can save you the trouble of doing that part....:rofl::rofl:
 
Phew I feel for you Vaughn. Thanks Bill for the wiki wake up call. Now i know what "Spirits of Salts" really was. My Dad used to use it way back when to clean the galvanised guttering just before we soldered it. We come a long way with understanding the toxicity of all these products.

Vaughn i agree with Larry and Jim i would use a pad an WD40 rather than the Vapo rust.

The Vapo rust i have used works well when something is dipped in it and left to remove the rust. Not sure how well its gonna work being wiped or painted on. Its not super fast in working and to get it going you need to agitate a little if you want speed.

WD40 on the other hand works well and leaves a little film of oil behind.

Thanks for sharing, what a wake up call. Glad i dont have a pool like we used to in SA. This acid was what we used to add if the pool needed balancing in the ph category.


Oh Oh you heard it in this post first. Larry is edging his way to the Vortex. Anyone got a big Yella to move.
 
one more thought,, can imagine i forgot about this alternative...:eek: you can send that rusty yelow thing to michigan for cleaning and i can save you the trouble of doing that part....:rofl::rofl:

Darn, Larry beat me to it...although shipping would be a little cheaper to Iowa...:D

Sorry to see the mess you have Vaughn :(...hope the cleanup doesn't become to much of a chore!
 
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