Does "Etching" caused by Evapo-Rust act as a significant Stress Riser

[ben1324]

Hello

I have partially soaked two of my antique sword blades in Evapo-Rust to free them from surface rust. After 3 hours it has "etched" a line in the blade where the water line was.

Had no idea that Evapo-Rust would be such aggresive to bare metal because it's stated to be a very safe rust remover.

On the first blade the line is near the tip and very deep. Much deeper than the decorative etching itself.

The line on the second blade is near the ricasso and it's more superficial, only about 1/2 thickness of the decorative etching.

I also did a flex test to the first blade on both sides and it did return to true.


Although the the flex test was succesful, I'm still worried to have ruined these blades. They were made to a high sandard and are desirable antiques.


Will these lines act as stress risers or are they too shallow to have any significance? Does the decorative etching cause stress by itself or even more than the line on the second blade, because it's deeper?

Here are the images:

https://imgur.com/a/6NJ5z3v

 

[BitingSarcasm]

One of the things that makes antiques desirable in the sword world is a patina legitimately acquired by age. Chemical cleaners remove all that, but they really shouldn't be etching the blade unless something is wrong. My bet is that the scratch was there already oxidizing and the product revealed it. The blade has been flexed without breaking, so it's surface damage; it's more likely to break there, but who knows when that would happen. That scratch in the decorative etching looks to be in the forte area of the blade, where there is more steel. Where the first scratch looks to me like it came about from a metal to metal contact, that second scratch looks more like a forging fault. It's an area less likely to fail because it's thicker and doesn't flex much, but it's not a good sign. That's my quick take on them, bear in mind I'm a hobbyist not an authority.

 

[SimplyMinded]

I wouldn't worry about ruining them, as you stated they're antique and being so means you aren't going to be swinging them at things or doing HEMA with them, a scratch of two won't make the blade snap in half while being displayed. I do get where it's alarming to see something suddenly appear but as the poster above me stated there's a big likelihood those were already there and were revealed by the rust remover. Were they rusty when you got them? I'd advise coating them with some Renaissance Wax occasionally so they don't rust again. If there are scabbards don't store the swords inside them as that can also pick up moisture from the environs and lead to rust. Finally, can we see pics of the entire swords? We like swords here and those pics are a tease.

​

 

[horseclover]

If you don't store them in the scabbards, the scabbards shrink.

I have a few 230-250 year old swords that have always been in their scabbards

Evapo Rust and other de-corroders need to be closely tended. If the etch is as deep as mentioned, there is little one can do but at the tip, one might tryy their hand at some grinding with papers and a block.




I like clean and dry

Cheers
GC

 

[richardeblack]

Hello

I have partially soaked two of my antique sword blades in Evapo-Rust to free them from surface rust. After 3 hours it has "etched" a line in the blade where the water line was.

Had no idea that Evapo-Rust would be such aggresive to bare metal because it's stated to be a very safe rust remover.

On the first blade the line is near the tip and very deep. Much deeper than the decorative etching itself.

The line on the second blade is near the ricasso and it's more superficial, only about 1/2 thickness of the decorative etching.

I also did a flex test to the first blade on both sides and it did return to true.


Although the the flex test was succesful, I'm still worried to have ruined these blades. They were made to a high sandard and are desirable antiques.


Will these lines act as stress risers or are they too shallow to have any significance? Does the decorative etching cause stress by itself or even more than the line on the second blade, because it's deeper?

Here are the images:

https://imgur.com/a/6NJ5z3v

Hello, I was interested to read this as I have had a similar experience. In my case there was definitely no prior oxidation and I suspect that something happens at the liquid air interface of the evaporust. The evaporust does not cause any etching of the metal, so it shouldn't matter how long you leave it. I do wonder if a possible cause is the steel oxidising at the surface of the evaporust then being removed by the chelation (I think that's the word) process the oxidation then starting again.
I am worried about the stress raing effect of this process too.
I am fairly sure that fully submerging the steel in the Evaporust would not have caused any loss of material.
No actual help to you but definitely might help others using this sort of rust remover.
I will be writing to Evaporust about this as a cautionary note needs to be added to their instructions.
Thank you
Richard