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Anyone have any experience removing rust from wartime blackout parts?

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rennfaron

Wore out three sets of tires already!
I have some wartime blackout parts that I want to clean up. I usually go with an OA bath, but I don't know if that does anything to the blackout finish.

Thoughts?
 
I would have to ask how a particular part was blacked out first. They are not all done the same way or with the same type of finish. Never had a blacked out ND hub in my hands but looking at all those in pictures it appears the shells and brake arms are coated with some type of paint. On the Schwinn hardware I have it appears to be blued. A year ago I refurbished one of our machines that went thru those Texas floods about 2 years ago and that machine had some blacked out hardware that was a hard gloss black and appeared to be some type of bluing. I used a metal prep that's used in the body shops. Phosphoric acid. I used it straight out of the jug uncut. Brushed a good coat on just the rusted areas and let it sit for about an hour and then rinsed it off. Where the rust was I had clean new looking metal and it did not phase the black finish. The parts were the pressure plates used in a stamping machine so they were undoubtedly heat treated and they may have had some bluing formula on them before they were thrown in the oven.
 
I would have to ask how a particular part was blacked out first. They are not all done the same way or with the same type of finish. Never had a blacked out ND hub in my hands but looking at all those in pictures it appears the shells and brake arms are coated with some type of paint. On the Schwinn hardware I have it appears to be blued. A year ago I refurbished one of our machines that went thru those Texas floods about 2 years ago and that machine had some blacked out hardware that was a hard gloss black and appeared to be some type of bluing. I used a metal prep that's used in the body shops. Phosphoric acid. I used it straight out of the jug uncut. Brushed a good coat on just the rusted areas and let it sit for about an hour and then rinsed it off. Where the rust was I had clean new looking metal and it did not phase the black finish. The parts were the pressure plates used in a stamping machine so they were undoubtedly heat treated and they may have had some bluing formula on them before they were thrown in the oven.
I believe that the ND hubs are enameled. Just from the ones that I have on my bikes.

It is some type of finish, that looks a lot like paint and chips off, like paint.
 
I had some inter war hubs that I soaked in 50/50 white vinegar and water for three or four days. The rust lifted and the paint stayed. I’ve been using that old trick for years. It works great and is super cheap. On Black Out stuff you could use some gun bluing on the raw, exposed areas to blend it in and help keep it from corroding further. Don’t use the vinegar trick on aluminum or cast zinc.
 
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