http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminum#Nomenclature_history

Next, you’ll probably whip out some other crazy spellings, like using a “ph” in “sulfur”.

you can also soak it in vinegar…

I had a boyfriend who had some sort of tub of water (I think) with electricity going to it somehow and he claimed it removed rust.

If anyone has silver jewelry, you can remove tarnish by placing a piece of aluminum foil in the bottom of a glass dish, pour a little pile of baking soda on the foil, place piece of jewelry on it, and then pour boiling water over it. It smells terrible, but the tarnish will be gone.

@Kim – Yes, you need something which is softer than steel/iron, but harder than rust. Aluminum is key here.

Here is how rust works:

Iron oxide (FeO3 (the most common form of rust!) is larger in volume than a straight molecule of iron. So when an atom of iron combines with oxygen to form FeO3, the molecule “sticks out” from the surrounding surface, creating space for more oxygen to penetrate to the unrusted metal. As the next atom or molecule or iron compound rust, the rust spreads both wider and deeper into the material.

This is why rust is so destructive to iron and steel. It will keep going and going until it eats right through. this is not the case with oxides like aluminum oxide, which is basically the same size as an aluminum atom (the oxygen atoms “fit in” to the aluminum atom in a way that doesn’t increase its volume) and forms a very thin, one to several atoms thick layer on the surface of the aluminum which actually “seals” the surface of the aluminum and prevents further oxidation. Anodized aluminum is aluminum that is electrolytically treated to make an extra thick layer of aluminum oxide that makes the aluminum extra resistant to further corrosion (say, from acidic foods in a pan)_and also allows certain colors to be produced for aesthetic effect.

Back to normal rust now.

If you are going to treat rust, you should get rid of it all because any that remains will create openings in the metal to form further rust.

I recommend Naval Jelly (phosphoric acid), which literally dissolves rust, followed by an antirust primer.

Jacob, even though you’ve scraped the rust off with the aluminum, the underlying metal will be vulnerable. Brush a rust reformer (a substance that reacts with rust to form a nonreactive, stable compound) or (if you’re conifident you’ve revmoved all the rust) RustOleum primer onto the metal surface to protect it a lot more, then paint it (say, black enamel) to seal the surface from oxygen and H2O and salt penetration if you want longer lasting protection than merely cleaning the rust off.

WD40 stands for Water Displacement formula 40 and displaced water from the surface of metal (something about ionic charges or something causes this).

If you get something metal wet and you don’t want it to rust you can spray it with WD40 and that will keep the water off the surface of the metal and prevent rust.

Also, Boeshield (developed by Boeing for their planes) does a good job and is waxy so lasts longer than WD40.