Vinegar and Embrittlement

[MittensKitten]

I soaked a bunch of rusty axe and hatchet heads in vinegar. Kind of regret it now after reading other forums. Oh well. Anyway, I'm wondering If I need to be concerned about hydrogen embrittlement and bake the heads to "drive off" the hyrdrogen. If so, is there a safe temperature to do so? Also, how long would it take? Next time it will just be a wire wheel. Thanks for any advice.

 

[jake pogg]

Without going too deep into chemistry let me assure you that any surface treatment with acid(particularly such mild acid as vinegar)will affect the surface of metal Only.
(to neutralize effects of acid any Base,alkaline,substance will do,on that same "household" level as vinegar in this instance,as in baking soda or Windex et c.).

It would be very difficult indeed to affect an object anywhere below the surface,in it's mass,by using acid no matter how potent,even involving long soaking time,as the oxides being formed will themselves intervene immediately,of course.

If you were to go into the subject deeper,as in more serious scientific methods of preservation of artefacts and other issues that professional museum conservators are occupied with you must keep in mind that it is the surface that contains almost all the most important information,and that is why there's such concern with assorted chemical treatments.
But in any chemical experiments the effect is only skin-deep,especially on such level as household reagents such as vinegar.

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

There are reasons to regret cleaning with vinegar, but hydrogen embrittlement isn't one of them. You're more likely to cause that using a poorly calibrated electrolysis tank, and even then you're unlikely to run into any real issues.

 

[MittensKitten]

Thank you both for the information. Do you guys ever recommend a chemical rust dissolver like naval jelly or evaporust? I assumed that my wire wheel would be more harmful but having read other forums I came across people who seemed to be serious collectors that said they wouldn't purchase a vinegar soaked head. Should I avoid the makers stamp while using the wheel or just go gently? Thanks again for any advice.

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

Just use a fine bristle wheel and don't bear down on it like crazy and it shouldn't scratch it all to hell or anything.

 

[Fmont]

I think the reason you're seeing collectors saying they wouldn't buy a vinegar soaked head is because it destroys the patina.

 

[FLINT77]

I use a wire wheel and/or evaporust depending on what it is, how big it is, and how carefully I'm trying to preserve any features.

for the most part a wire wheel will work best for general cleaning up of an axe head. If a head is pretty rusty, a wire wheel is probably best because because it actually leaves a bunch of rust on the blade and forms a kind of patina which looks pretty good and fills in some of the pits. if you soak a rusty head in evaporust, it will sometimes have a little bit of a pitted or porous look because it removes ALL the rust. If something is just a little bit rusty, then a quick dunk in evaporust is I think way preferable to attacking it with a wire wheel. the evaporust will have it looking new in a couple hours probably, and its non abrasive so its not going to degrade anything. Wire wheels do remove some material - usually not too much, not enough to notice, but I have wheeled some very faint stamps to their detriment. smaller items that are to small or delicate for a wheel get dunked in evaporust and they come out perfect.