Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Homemade Rust Remover and Stainless Steel Cleaner

A few weeks ago I stumbled across this article about using lime juice and salt to remove rust stains. I love how well Bar Keepers Friend cleaner removes rust and cleans my stainless steel pots and pans but I don't love the toxic ingredients. So I thought I'd give lime juice a go. I'm always up for a chance to smell a lime.

The All-Amazing Lime: Not Just a Fruit

First I tried lime juice on my knife which had some rust stains. See those three orange spots? (Sorry for the blurry pic) I squeezed lime juice on the rust spots and let it sit for about 10 minutes. Then I sprinkled some salt on it and scrubbed with a non-scratch scouring pad. It took more elbow grease then Bar Keepers Friend would take, but it worked!

BEFORE

AFTER

Then I used lime juice on my supposedly clean pots and pans which were looking pretty nasty. I rubbed a slice of lime on my pots, let it sit 10 minutes, sprinkled salt on them and then rubbed with a scouring pad. I didn't even have to use elbow grease this time. I'm all for saving my elbow grease.

BEFORE

AFTER

I was having so much fun by this point that I rubbed a slice of lime all over my stainless steel faucet and it came out all shiny! The citric acid in the lime dissolves the rust and build-up while the tiny salt granules help scrub it away. Now I've got one more reason to love limes.

p.s. lemons work too.

What else can you do with lovely limes? Do you have any other rust removing tips? Or stainless steel cleaning tips?


This post is linked to: Strut Your Stuff Saturday, Tout it Tuesday, Tip Me Tuesday, Teach Me Tuesday, Little House in the Suburbs, Cheerios & Lattes, Homestead Revival, Morris Tribe's Homesteader Blog Carnival, Little Natural Cottage, New Nostalgia, Frugally Sustainable, Raising Homemakers


19 comments:

  1. Amazing! Who knew a lime and some salt could do that? Not me!

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  2. I will have to try this one! Thanks kendra

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  3. Wow! Thanks for sharing this. I will definitely give it a try.

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  4. Wow! Your pots look amazing. I am totally trying this. Thanks for the tip!

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  5. I'm doing this! I just noticed rust on top of my dryer today and was wondering what to do about it. These posts are so helpful!

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  6. That's amazing! I'd love to try it on my fridge, does it leave any scratches?

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  7. Angie, My pots and pans already had scratches so I'm not sure if there are any new ones. The lime and salt didn't seem very abrasive.

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  8. Wow! Those pots and pans look amazing! Mine are looking dingy as well and I've been wanting to look for a way to bring them back to life. Can't wait to try this - thanks so much for sharing!

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  9. By the way, I'm presenting you with a blog award today! Come check it out :)

    http://naturesnurtureblog.com/2012/05/07/another-award-kreativ-blogger-award/

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  10. This is great! I think my knife looks just like the before picture you had. I'll have to try these. I would have never thought of this. Thanks for sharing on Saturday Show and Tell. I hope you'll be back this week.
    -Mackenzie
    http://www.cheeriosandlattes.com

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  11. And here I thought limes were best used in mojitos! :-) I can't wait to try this on my pots. Thanks so much for sharing on Tout It Tuesday!

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  12. I have been searching for a solution to get spots off my silverware. Thanks for this great remedy! Stacie xo

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  13. Wonder if this would work to clean my glass shower door?

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  14. I used lime juice for the blue tint in my stainless pot...it's amazing...but in another site thay are saying not to use any bleach to clean stainless pot for any possible reaction....so my question is lime juice safe on stainless pot? does it anyhow related to the bleach thing thay are talking about?

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  15. Isopropyl alcohol also works great for stainless steel to leave a streak-free shine! I bet you could make a great cleaner with lime juice, alcohol, and some vinegar (mostly for lime-juice preservation reasons) !

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  16. I tried this on my All-Clad pots/pans but it didn't really remove everything. I used lemon. Would leaving it on longer than 10 mins be better?

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    1. Yes, I think it would help to let the lemon juice sit longer. The scouring pad also makes a difference. A Mr. Clean magic eraser got the build-up off my pans easier than my scouring pad, although my scouring pad still worked.

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  17. Maybe I will make a margarita after cleaning my pots with what's left over! :)

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