How to Remove Rust From Metal Furniture: Everything to Know
Metal rocking chairs, as other metal furniture, are prone to show some sign of rust soon or later. This specially applies to outdoor metal rocker chair and other patio or garden furniture.
It is important to attend these issues FIRST OFF if you plan to undergo a DIY metal furniture renewing project. So we gathered key tips for you to know how to remove rust from metal furniture in three different scenarios, the Homemade way, the Pro way and the Hardcore way.
We present below easy to do homemade rust remover recipes for removing small rust spots and more hand on techniques for heavier rust removal.
Table of Contents
- Types of Metals and their Rust-Resistance Attributes
- How rust forms
- The different stages of rust
- Remove Low Rust Levels: Small Stains, Dots and Bubbles
- Steps for Removing Rust From Your Metallic Furniture
- Repair Higher Levels of Rust: Larger Areas and Harsh Oxidation
- How to Prevent Rust on Metallic Furniture – Maintenance Tips
Home Remedy for Removing Rust From Metal Furniture: The Homemade Way
Metal patio furniture tend to start rusting on legs or specific areas. Before it keeps expanding you should try to apply one of the following homemade rust removers. these are made with household items and can be applied to all metal objects as well.
You can actually use different household products such as oxalic acid, white vinegar, lemon juice, aluminum foil, among others listed above to make homemade rust remover recipes.
At this point we avoid applying rust remover products that contain harsh chemicals, to make it a harmless rust treatment.
Using Cleaning Products as homemade rust remover recipes
- Elbow Grease: Applying this allrounder cleaner with a rough
- Oxalic acid also known as oxalate: Not many know this but this organic chemical compound is one of the main components in plenty of rust removal products. Oxalic acid is a chemical product that should be handled with care and proper hand protection. It can be bought in most major retail stores such as Amazon, Walmart and Homedepot. It’s one of the best chemicals to get rid of rust.
- Phosphoric acid: It’s a chemical used in a lot of comercial rust remover products from Rust’Oleum, Boashield’s Rust Free. You need to use protection for eyes and hands. Dilute 200ml/gr of phosphoric acid in one liter of water.
- Hydrogen peroxide: Soak a clean cloth on hydrogen peroxide for about half an hour and scrub with a steel wool. You can also mix baking soda to it and use as a paste.
Using Kitchen Products is a cheap way to remove rust
- White vinegar: Is a great multi-purpose product with acidic and antimicrobial properties. By containing acetic acid, it dissolves rust after being wrapped in a soggy cloth for several hours or until the next day. Then you can remove remaining rusty spots by gently scrubbing the metal surface.
- baking soda: It is known that baking soda has many properties and uses and one of them is removing light rust stains. For this you will need to make a thick paste by mixing baking soda with a little water. you apply the paste on top of the stains and leave it for a few hours. Then you remove it by scratching softly with a sponge or similar. You can add a little bit of lemon juice in the process to add citric acid.
- mix baking soda with white vinegar: this mix dissolve rust relatively quickly as it generates a quick harmless chemical reaction. Add enough baking soda on top of the rusted area, then soak a clean cloth with white vinegar and rub it thoroughly on the metal surface to remove rust.
- Lemon juice: Using it alone is not very effective in removing rust. Nonetheless, lemon juice high level of citric acid is a great ingredient to mix with baking soda, white vinegar and salt.
- Aluminum foil: take out a piece of aluminum foil and soak it in water, then gently scrub the rusted surface with it. The idea here is that the small folds in the aluminum foil will scratch off the corrosion and remove rust. After this, you can gently polish the metal with a high grit sanding paper to scrap off any scratches.
Make sure no rust remains before applying a protective layer to prevent rust from reappearing. If needed choose another of the homemade rust remover recipes on the remaining rust.
Rust Removal The Pro Way: Make Your Metal Furniture Look Like New
Usually rust begins to appear as small rust spots or bubbles in the paint in a certain less parts of the metal outdoor furniture. In that case the rust removing process is much simpler, cheaper and requires less efforts and materials than having to deal with hard rust.
At this point you do not need to use the more heavy corrosion removing tools as you should be able to remove rust with ease. You can choose different methods depending on what materials you have access to and which works the best.
You could use most of the following tools and materials on rusted metal objects as well to get rid of rust.
Needed Materials and Tools for Removing Mild Rust Stains
- A clean cloth and cleaning sponge
- A drop cloth
- Rubber gloves
- A stiff wire brush
- A scraper
- An Orbital sanding tool or grinding wheel
- Paint remover
- An oscillating multi-tool as a small detail sander
- Rust stain remover in spray or cream
- Sanding paper with different grit or eventually a fine to super fine steel wool
- Metal primer in spray or regular container
- Paint for outdoor metal furniture
Steps For The Pro Way Method
1. Clean Out the Rocker’s Surface and Assess the Rust Damage
Clean the whole metal furniture with water and dish soap, in order to make a complete assessment of the rocker. Dry well.
Depending on how apparent and spread out are the rust stains, you might consider painting the whole chair.
2. Sand Rusted Areas and Apply Corrosion Removers
A relatively high grit 120 -150 sanding paper, should do ok to remove rust stains, bubbles, cracking paint and chipping.
You can also use a fine to super fine steel wool if you need to sand larger or hard to reach areas. If you need a harder material to scratch with, use a metal brush or scraper. These are great for removing chipped paint and corroded surface.
You can also use chemical spray rust removers, such as Boeshield Rust Free. They are also very effective for finishing, almost effortlessly, the rust removal process. But beware, some of these products are pretty acidic and should be used with care, since they can stain unaffected areas. You should pour a little on a cleaning cloth or sponge and rub the affected parts with it. You should aim as much as posible to leave the corroded area to bare metal.
You might also need to remove old paint if its looks worn, as it could cause bubbles to the new paint. Thankfully, nowadays we can find environmentally friendly paint removers, such as Dumond Smart Strip.
3. Wash Again and Make Sure the Rocker is Rust Free
Wash out thoroughly to remove any dust, pealed paint and other corrosion particles and dry it well. Before applying any anti-rust protective coatings, it is super important to make sure that they are no signs left. I would suggest to be very meticulous in this step in order to avoid having rust surging back much more quicker than you think.
Now that the furniture is clean place it on top of a large cloth or newspapers in order to protect the floor from primer and paint stains.
4. Selecting the Adequate Metal Primer for Patio Furniture
At this point it is necessary to apply an anti-corrosion metal primer. It is a great product for stoping any rusty area. It tightly sticks to the metallic surface, seals against humidity and prevent rust.
One of the best products out there for that purpose is Rust-Oleum’s Rusty Metal Primer Spray. It is pretty functional, dries fast, adheres great to all types of metals and has really great reviews.
Some brands offer a 2 in 1 product that include a primer and paint altogether. these are ok if your rocking chair is not too exposed to natural elements. Otherwise, it is better to apply both specialized primers and paints separately to secure maximum protection and sealing.
We do not recommend to use a rust reformer at this stage as it’s better to just remove first signs of rust while it’s possible.
5. Tips for spraying metal outdoor furniture
Spray light coats with a smooth and continuous hand movement, from 10 to 12 inches far to avoid dripping and unwanted marks on your metal furniture.
We advise to apply two to three prime and paint coats to your metal furniture and let them dry for the recommended time (check instructions at the back of your can). Make sure to spray all parts evenly. Pay special attention to small and tight areas and parts that have direct contact with the ground, such as a chair legs or bottom rockers.
6. Applying Coatings for a Great Finish (Metal Paint and Sealer)
You can also opt for regular container and a brush. Nevertheless, it’s much harder to obtain a clean finish that way on metal furniture. Bear in mind that oil based metal paints are much better for sealing and durability than water based ones.
Powder coating is one of the best options out there for all-weather resistance, but it requires an electrostatic process and special tools/machines. Fortunately, homeowners have great options to choose from for their DIY metal furniture restoration projects, and one of the best is enamel paint.
If you want top notch paint and durable sealer protection for your outdoor metal furniture you can apply the Rust-Oleum Advanced Protective Enamel, that come in Gloss, satin, semi-gloss and flat. You also have the clear option with Rust-Oleum Clear Enamel, as the final coat for extra seal.
Read your paint’s instruction for rest time, before applying at least 2 coatings. Remember to remove or protect any of your rocker’s padding. You can use trash bags or newspapers with tape to cover your rocker’s padding.
Removing Heavy Rust the Hardcore Way: Larger Scale Areas and Harsh Oxidation
Materials and Tools to Remove Larger Rust Damage
More specific tools are needed to remove more rusted areas
- An angle grinder
- Different grit sanding papers (80 and 150)
- A rotary sanding tool, oscillating tool and/or other similar rotation tools.
- Strip, grinding or flap discs
- A metal filler
- Wire brush
- Rust converter
Unfortunately most of us do not remove rust right away and keep thinking “Hmm.. I should attend this quickly”.
You might find the following tips useful when obtaining a vintage metallic rocker or other furniture in a bad looking state.
This is why you will need tools that can generate a harder and stronger friction to remove corrosion profoundly and bring the damaged part to its original state.
But first, you need to ask yourself, is it worth the effort of repairing the rocker? how advanced is the damage? The assessment will depend on the extend to which te corrosion has affected your rocker. Is it a large area or a deeper one?
When removing harsher corrosion from metal furniture, we will follow most of the previous suggested steps, but will include more specialized tools and materials. So instead of repeating the whole process we will just specify particular steps.
Removing Rust After Washing Up
Scrap off the paint and old coats close to the corroded area and make sure to heavily brush or sand the affected area to clean rust. You can use the Dumond’s paint remover, a harder steel wool, a scraper and a stiff wire brush or a grinder for sanding. For heavier rust you will need to use a 60 or similar grit to remove the most rusty particles as possible.
If the harsh corrosion is caused by prolonged lack of maintenance we recommend to remove all the old paint. In either case just remember to start at a lower grit and finish with a higher grit that matches the rest of the rocker’s finish.
Depending on the corrosion damage you will require to use different oscillating tools and discs for removing it. For example strip discs comes in various grits and types and are widely used for removing paint and rust without affecting much the original material.
If you need the extra hard push to take out deeper itched, pitted and scaled parts, grinding discs are a great option. But beware not to push too much on them as they might damage the metal. Flap discs are another option used for removing corroded materials and polishing hard metals.
Applying Metal Primer or Filler on your garden furniture
Once you eliminate corrosion and rewash the rocker (or other metal furniture), you can treat areas affected by material reduction (deeper pits and scaling). If you need to fill small holes or reduced surfaces, Blue Magic’s QuickSteel is a great metal filleroption. After the filler has dried, sand it to give its original shape and lines.
If corrosion is hard to get rid off, You can apply Rust-Oleum’s Rust Reformer primer on rusted areas. This special primer acts as a rust stopper by tightly adhering to the metal’s surface and inhibiting any oxidation. After it’s dried, you can apply any good metal paint on top and add a clear enamel sealer top coat for extra protection.
There you have your metal furniture rust free! You can apply most of these techniques to other metal objects in which you need to clean rust.
Wether you can use homemade rust removers or need to take it to the next level, these tips can easily be applied to any metal object not just patio furniture.
I enjoyed this post, thanks for that!
Hi, great to hear that!