Saving badly rusted hand tools

Use a wire wheel to remove the rust on the outside. Stick the square drive in a vice, a LONG pipe on the handle and break the internals of the ratchet. Take back to sears and exchange. Rinse and repeat for other tools with a lifetime warranty.

 

I had good results soaking rusted metal in phosphoric acid. You can get big jugs of it at an auto parts store. Maybe cheaper than the "Labeled" rust removers?

 

That's what I did. CLR bath and wire brush. Followed by a quick dunk in Isopropyl alcohol to remove any water, then a dunk in mineral oil to seal them. Wipe clean...call it a day.

 

molasses works well to remove rust. just put them in a container with some water and molasses and come back in a few days and all the rust will be gone.