Tom M. from Monroe, WA writes in with an interesting question for this round of Ask JD…
“Hey JD, can you really clean rust off a set of pliers with a can of pop?”
Well, Tom, at first I read your question wrong and thought I saw and extra “o” in the word “pop.” Eeewwww!
But then I re-read it and realized my error…phew! Oh…pop (soda to us in California)…I’m with ya now! As a matter of fact, a few years back, another guide I know had told me that the chemical agents in soda would indeed eat the rust right off but I had never gotten around to trying it until you wrote in. Here’s what I found…
I started with some rusty stuff I found in the garage: The file was really rusty, the red handle pliers were very stiff and the black ones were so corroded that I couldn’t pry them open…
So then I found an old diet cola in the back of my bait fridge and poured it into a bag containing the tools…
All I had to go on was the one boat ramp conversation I’d had and I think the guy told me to let everything soak a week, so that’s what I did…
And here’s what came out of the bag of pop…
As you can see, the soda ate up a lot of the surface corrosion but It didn’t get it all. The red pliers open easier and the black ones open like they are brand new.
Conclusion
While they didn’t emerge from the test in pristine condition, all three tools are in better shape after their chemical bath. Maybe a longer soak would be better. Perhaps diet doesn’t work as well as the real stuff. If any of you out there have some insight on this, please feel free to share!
On a more disturbing note, this little exercise makes you wonder about what soda does to your stomach lining. I’m just saying…
