Rust stains on carpet or fabric?

islandpaddler wrote:
As for the cast iron pans. Good grief. I wish you threw them out my way. If they have rust, all you need to do is scrub them with shortening or salad oil.

with a little salt.

The is a product you can buy in the laundry section of any supermarket called Whink. It removes rust from clothes and doesn't harm them. I suppose you could use it on upholstery if you were able to rinse it good. I've also used it on tile floors where a metal lamp left a rust stain. I live in a humid climate.


As for the cast iron pans. Good grief. I wish you threw them out my way. If they have rust, all you need to do is scrub them with shortening or salad oil.

Another one you could try is CLR. Don't know if it is available stateside though.

Yes, I have used this product, not on carpet though, on fabric. Worked great. In fact, I should totally try it in our B. We have rust stains on the carpet where the bolts held our extra seat in place. Hmmm. Be right back...

CA POPPY wrote:
I have a cast iron pan that was given to me, never used, unseasoned and rusted. I put half a bottle of lemon juice on it, let it sit ad tried to wipe it clean, repeatedly. No go, not a bit. The rust wins, the pan is in the Goodwill box. I'm sticking with Calphalon and Swiss Diamond.I was never cut out to be a pioneer.

I find only limited use for cast iron myself, melting sugar for one (either flan, pineapple upside down cake, peanut brittle) for example. But anyone who has ever cooked tomato sauce in cast iron knows it strips everything out. Tomato is also acid. The key is to heat the acid. Vinegar works better than lemon juice (and is cheaper) but tomato sauce clings. But like you, I dare anyone to get between me and my non-stick cookware!!

Drsolo sounds like a great teacher. I have a cast iron pan that was given to me, never used, unseasoned and rusted. I put half a bottle of lemon juice on it, let it sit ad tried to wipe it clean, repeatedly. No go, not a bit. The rust wins, the pan is in the Goodwill box. I'm sticking with Calphalon and Swiss Diamond.I was never cut out to be a pioneer.

Upholstery cannot rust. It is plastic which is not a metal and it is very inert anyway being a plastic.

And I didnt answer the question anyway... sheesh. Mild acid like lemon juice will not eat fabric, well maybe silk, but not upholstery.

So it will likely damage the carpet or upholstery, right? I always thought rust ate up whatever it attached itself to. I guess we just can't win. :R

No. Rust ON something just sits there like any other colorant. When a car is rusting, the problem is the rust falls off and exposes more elemental iron (Fe0) which is converted to rust (Fe3+) in the presence of 1. salts and 2. water. Now aluminum also "oxidizes" but the ionic form of Al+ does NOT fall off and forms a protective barrier so the oxidizing aka rusting stops. Think of rust more like a stain that can be removed, but it is removed with acid. Weak acids can do fine but slowly, while strong acids work fast. BTW, acids also remove Calcium, which is why vinegar is poured into coffee makers to get rid of precipitated or elemental Calcium. Heated vinegar works faster.

In general the elemental form of metal is "solid", like shiny copper. But when exposed to air (oxygen), mild acid and water (rain) it oxidizes to that nice green color, the patina. Dark silver is also oxidized silver, it can be rubbed off, or, pushed back from the ionic form to silver metal by that method with aluminum and baking soda. All of this is about "who has the electrons". Metals have the electrons, ionic aka oxidized forms have lost their electrons. If you give silver back electrons by taking them from aluminum, you get silver metal back.

Ingrid now getting off her teacher soap box... sorry.

drsolo wrote:

It is just a strong acid.

So it will likely damage the carpet or upholstery, right? I always thought rust ate up whatever it attached itself to. I guess we just can't win. :R