I was reading in The Armourer magazine a friend sent me.
It was telling of restoring by various means. One thing they mentioned to remove rust, was a 1 part molasses to 10 parts water solution. Soak for a few days to a week.
Why would that take rust off?

Don't ask me why, but it works Tony.
It's probably some chemical reaction, but I found it great for old tools, bike parts even gun bits. It only removes rust and no metal.

Roger

Can you use the solution over, or does it ... clog up with rust?

I have heard of using molasses but I use commercial rust remover instead.

When I send you this issue you can read the article, shows a few pics too.

It is well known in automotive circles.

1 to 3 is what I mix it with water, to remove rust from the water jackets of old engine blocks. It'll strip out rust and corrosion but will not remove iron, just iron oxides.

Which means it will also remove ALL bluing and black oxide.

Yes, you can use it over but it will eventually diminish in efficiency as the oxides go into the solution.

Roger

it will work , as will lemon juice, and vinegar, I use it on my flea market jewels, axes, etc, and for sharpening files and wood rasps, just wash them off good , or a baking soda water rinse as all the above are mild acids.

It is also slow as, well, molasses, and I don't have time for it. Muriatic acid also removes rust in 1/1000th of the time.

Curious..Muriatic leaves behind a slight etch..How about this molasses concoction?

Curious as well. Sure has several acidic properties at least on paper.
See Table 1.

I wouldn't put anything on my gun that tasted as bad as blackstrap molasses, it etches my tongue..Not bad if diluted with peanut butter if you have a hot biscuit to go with it!

It does have to be black strap molasses(unsulfured), and they ca