Thread: Dumb question of the day- corrosion removal

I know we've tried numerous "quick fixes" for tarnish and corrosion, but has anyone tried coke? I use coke to free frozen bolts, cus it eats corrosion. I also know that coke eats metal. If one were to leave a blade in coke and check on it routinely (so you can stop once the corrosion is gone and you stop before it starts eatign steel) would it be okay for the blade? Or would it start damaging the steel from the second you drop the blade in?

I can't answer, but it's worth trying on a really kak blade. One that doesn't matter if it dissolves!

Coca-Cola is acid in drinkable form. It starts working on steel immediately... even if not immediately evident to the naked eye. Give it enough time and it will attack the good metal also.

We did an interesting test when I was in the fourth grade. One of the students brought in a tooth his grandfather had had extracted. We put the tooth into a glass of Coca-Cola and set the glass aside. By the following day the tooth was completely GONE... eaten away... dissolved.

Best to first run a test with the stuff on a blade you do not care about.

Originally Posted by ignatz

By the following day the tooth was completely GONE... eaten away... dissolved.

Sounds like your teacher was having a bit of fun with you. There's no way a simple glass of coke will dissolve a tooth overnight. While coke does contain acids (citric acid for example) they're not concentrated enough to cause such damage.

Heck.. imagine what it would do to your intestines if it did dissolve teeth.

Originally Posted by khaos

I know we've tried numerous "quick fixes" for tarnish and corrosion, but has anyone tried coke? I use coke to free frozen bolts, cus it eats corrosion. I also know that coke eats metal. If one were to leave a blade in coke and check on it routinely (so you can stop once the corrosion is gone and you stop before it starts eatign steel) would it be okay for the blade? Or would it start damaging the steel from the second you drop the blade in?

regular or diet? har har

Coke has a pH around 2.5, your stomach acid can be as low as 1! Stomach acid is more acidic than coke, so your stomach is quite alright. The tooth this is real... I tried with a tooth I pulled out of a slaughtered lamb (we raise sheep for food, I realise that may be sensitive, please ignore and stay on topic) and it dissolves alright. I've also tried with a steel nail and it eats away at it pretty fast. I was thinking like, immerse for 5 mins, try buffing, immerse for 5 mins try buffing, or something like that. I know it starts eating steel immediately, but first it has to eat the patina/corrosion. I will try and find a crapped out blade. I think there's an old rusty frame back at the local antique shop.

Without the constant washing of the teeth by your saliva, your teeth would be gone quite quickly, watch it eat a nail sometime and then imagine what it will do to organic substances like teeth, citric acid is not the culprit, phosphoric acid is.

Coke doesn't even have citric acid. Thats how (only a handful of) people can tell the difference between coke and pepsi. If you have sensitive "sour" taste buds you can pick up the citric acid in pepsi.

That aside, do people think this idea has merit?
A- Worth a try, high chance of working, low chance of blade damage
B- Worth a try, low chance of working, low chance of blade damage
C- Maybe worth a try, high chance of working, high chance of blade damage
D- Not worth trying without a scrap blade, low chance of working, high chance of blade damage

I'd go with D, mostly because I don't think anything that risks damaging a blade is worth doing to anything but a scrap blade.

Every blade is sacred.

you know holli, I actually agree, but its more cus I only have 7 razors... Though I just bought what may be a vintage hen and rooster and got a free 150 year old sheffield, both of which definitely will not be tested. I'll try and find a junker in an antique store... I seem to remember one near me, at $5 it may be worth it to test. Even if it work though I doubt this particular blade will ever shave again.