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Tin Canteen Rust

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Greg Wesley

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As a member of the 3rd Tryon County Militia, I had first dibs on equipment of a former member who started during the Bicentennial. I got his Bess with bayonet, cartridge box, and canteen. The canteen is tin and probably made in the '70s and has some old rust in it. Probably hasn't been used for 25 years. I've used soap and water, swished bb's around and tried to get a piece of metal scrub pad down in there.
Need help/suggestions on how to get the stubborn little bit of rust out. I have bees wax to coat the inside when done. Thank you in advance,
Greg
 
TRY filling the canteen with cheap vinegar, with a tablespoon of salt added & letting it sit for 3-4 days. = Worked OK for me.

BEST of luck, satx
 
Don't know about the rust. Mine had a few spots and I just went straight to lining it with beeswax. I learned a few things from the tinsmith about lining it:

-heat the canteen itself in the oven, at less than 180 degrees so as to not melt the solder. (It may be higher for the solder, but you won't need it since that's the melting point of beeswax. I used 170 if I remember correctly)

-melt down the beeswax by double boiling

-pour in the beeswax and swish it around a good bit. With a flashlight you can see how well it's covered.

Usually works first go if you've melted enough wax.

Good luck!

I had taken to heating the canteen after every use to prevent the rust, but it didn't work out. I think because I'd had it half to 3/4 full walking around while using it, it still rusted.
 
BEFORE you do the waxing..., get some Evaporust. Fill the canteen with it for about an hour..., then pour the solution back into your jug to use again.

Next, rinse with water, followed by a rinse with rubbing alcohol, to help dry up all of the water. Some folks stop at this point and simply deal with a little rust in the canteen.

On the other hand, you can put some beeswax on the stove in a double-boiler to melt. Place the canteen in the oven at the lowest setting, at 170 degrees. You're still going to get a bit of flash-rust, but you want the inside of the canteen dry.

With it dry, and hot, pour in the beeswax (you'll need gloves) and swish the beeswax around and it will coat the inside as it cools. Keep swishing until you hear it stop sloshing around. I've seen it applied by coating the inside of 1/2 of the interior of canteen, then quickly adding melted beeswax to do the other half of the canteen's interior. I've also seen it done by adding the melted wax, and with the cork inserted, the canteen was held sideways, spout parallel to the floor, and quickly rotated side over side by gloved hands to coat the interior. Be careful that you have a stopper that is attached to a stout piece of twine for as the temp cools sometimes the stoppers get tight.

Inspect the interior, and if it's pretty well coated you're done. If it didn't really work, instead of adding additional beeswax, just heat up the canteen, and the wax inside will melt, and you can try again. Be careful of the temp, try not to go past say 220 as you don't know the melting point of the solder in that canteen.

NOW on the outside, you can deal with that rust after you've waxed the inside. Simply put water in the canteen and the cork, and take the used Evaporust, and submerge the canteen in the solution until it just covers the top (but not the spout) and let that sit for like 30 minutes. Remove the canteen, rinse with water and dry. Dump out the internal water, and rinse the insides too. Then let the canteen sit inverted, spout down and open to air dry. Keep the Evaporust solution for another day.

LD
 
Thanks guys for the ideas. I'll go get some evaporust today and work on it. I glean a lot of information from you in other posts. Thank You
Greg
 
Thanks guys for the ideas. I'll go get some evaporust today and work on it. I glean a lot of information from you in other posts. Thank You
Greg
 
warning, use oven mitts to hold it before shaking. it gets HOT. I did the foolish thing of not using them.
 
Does the first solution work with stainless steel canteens? I recently bought from Crazy Crow and they came with some spots already in there.
 
Spots on the stainless steel shouldn't be rust. If on the interior, might be mold. Vinegar and water will kill the mold, or just straight vinegar.

Molasses and water will also work to remove rust like the Evaporust product. Be SURE you use real molasses and NOT some cheap imitation made for flavoring baked products.

LD
 
Might be mold. Haven't liked it yet. Haven't even used it yet! I'll try the vinegar. Hopefully that knocks it out before this weekend.
 
dave, you are a reenacting McGyver! I have never heard about that.you are always so helpful to others, feel bad I shot at you over a boatload of tea!! :wink: :wink:
 
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