The joy Of Citric Acid

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Another vote for the mixture described in the utube video above. One litre water, 100gms citric acid, 30 gms Sodium Hydroxide, dash of fairy liquid. Works better than Evaporust, quicker much cheaper and does not appear to create the darkening effect of evaporust. Both chemicals available on line from the usual site courtesy of Jeff Bezos.
 
Another vote for the mixture described in the utube video above. One litre water, 100gms citric acid, 30 gms Sodium Hydroxide, dash of fairy liquid. Works better than Evaporust, quicker much cheaper and does not appear to create the darkening effect of evaporust. Both chemicals available on line from the usual site courtesy of Jeff Bezos.
What's the difference between sodium hydroxide and sodium carbonate? The vid refers to 'washing soda' which translates, according to Google, to sodium carbonate. Thanks.
 
Another vote for the mixture described in the utube video above. One litre water, 100gms citric acid, 30 gms Sodium Hydroxide, dash of fairy liquid. Works better than Evaporust, quicker much cheaper and does not appear to create the darkening effect of evaporust. Both chemicals available on line from the usual site courtesy of Jeff Bezos.

That sounds interesting and encouraging. The problem with the commercial rust cleaning chemicals are, that they are too expensive in cost. Will give tries the home made solution kit as suggested on my rusty vintage carving gouge sets.
 
What's the difference between sodium hydroxide and sodium carbonate? The vid refers to 'washing soda' which translates, according to Google, to sodium carbonate. Thanks.

I was wondering about that point too. When I do search on sodium hydroxide, it brings up a lot of drain cleaners / unblock solutions. Could they be the same thing?
 
They are not, sodium hydroxide is caustic soda / lye - nasty and very alkaline. Sodium carbonate /washing soda is an alkali but more mild (one of the ingredients of sugar soap).

Edit: The original video referenced in the one posted above gives a recipe for both

 
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They are not, sodium hydroxide is caustic soda / lye - nasty and very alkaline. Sodium carbonate /washing soda is an alkali but more mild (one of the ingredients of sugar soap).

Edit: The original video referenced in the one posted above gives a recipe for both


Sodium hydroxide is also used in water treatment plants to ensure Legionnaires bacteria is kept at bay. It’s basically bleach and can be used for cleaning slabs of moss etc. but diluted.
 
At work, in the pharmacy (six hours a week) I recently learned the reason that we offer citric acid with our needle exchange scheme. It's because brown heroin is rather insoluble, whereas white heroin is more freely diluted with water. Citric acid (and ascorbic acid from vitamin C) in the presence of heat, helps to make the product soluble enough to be drawn up into the syringe.
Always wondered why on most films the junkies are heating up a spoon before syringing the liquid, explains a lot, thanks.
 
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