De-chroming forks

World\'s Dump

Hope this is the right forum.

I have been reading a lot recently about the benefits of using cola to remove rust and chrome plating. I recently bought a bottle of diet coke that I could dip a set of chrome plated forks which are full of rust and which are beyond re-chroming.

My partner, who is a dental nurse told me that diet cola would certainly not do and that full fat cola would.

I attach a photo of said forks. I noticed that there are drain holes in the forks. Should I be concerned about the cola filling up on the inside of the forks?

What do people think?

Nick

earthvspace4XTuUWcX

I can't imagine coke, diet or normal, removing much of the chrome, it might remove any rust, but wouldn't really want any inside the forks.

cycleclinic

It might work but a strong ethanoic acid solution will do the trick as will a dilute HCl solution.

RDW

I've used cola (diet, since less sticky) to remove mild rusting from chrome-plate steel. The trick was to soak in coke, then scrub the surface with scrunched-up aluminium kitchen foil. Not sure how much the acidity helped (should also try this with just water one day). I would finish with a plain water soak, then WD40 inside the fork. If you want to remove the chrome itself, I think you'll need something more aggressive.

World\'s Dump

Thanks for your replies....

Ethanoic acid....? Is there a brand name for that? And where might I be able to buy hydrochloric acid?

World\'s Dump

Besides in my stomach!!