Found a weird trick for cleaning up forge scale

Last week I was working on a set of fireplace tools in my shop in Tacoma. I got a lot of thick forge scale on the poker and my wire wheel wasn't cutting it. On a whim, I dipped the hot piece in a bucket of old pickle water I was about to toss out... the scale just flaked right off. It saved me maybe an hour of grinding time. Has anyone else tried something like that with their leftover pickle solution?

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3 Comments

danielb436mo ago

Just don't breathe in the fumes... you'll pickle your lungs too.

7

jennyp196mo ago

Honestly, old pickle water works miracles on scale.

3

the_james6mo ago

Yeah, @jennyp19, it's the vinegar in the pickle water doing the work, not the age of it. Fresh vinegar water would do the same thing without the weird smell.

8