At long last, I've had time to set up experiments using muriatic acid as a rust buster. I purchased a gallon of acid from a swimming pool supplier, plus a 50 pound bag of baking soda. The acid was $2.50, the soda about $20. The parts were all tiny - nuts, bolts, bits of rusty iron and steel from an old weight set, car parts and a bit of tailpipe broken off an old car.

- The stuff smokes as soon as you open the plastic bottle. I've read unpleasant things about migration right _through_ the container, so I've stored the bottle inside another plastic bag, then put it into another plastic bucket with a cover. I've considered taping in a few pieces of metal, as a sort of "canary in a coal mine" alarm system, to check for leakage.

- I wanted to test different objects, so I rummaged around for small rusty things. I put the part into an empty plastic bucket, tilted it and poured acid onto it.(I'd put a few drops in first, waited to make sure the bucket would hold.) I also tried putting acid in first, then dropping the part in. I tried submerging the part, also using only a small bit of acid and rocking the bucket to wash over it intermittently. All that really mattered was contact between the acid and the part.

- The acid began turning yellow the minute it hit rust.

- This stuff works FAST. In one case, a 1/4" threaded bolt, soaking ten seconds past the first two minutes or so began to eat the nickel coating off, going right down to the dull grey steel below.

- There can be smoking during the process. Breezes will blow the acrid odor around as wisps of smoke. I wore an organic vapors mask and goggles, and was careful to stand upwind, but got a slight whiff once. Make sure your mask fits right when you move. I'm a little concerned with wisps going into someone else's area though.

- Gloves: one DROP splashed somehow and the gloves which were supposed to be "acid proof" welded two (glove) fingers together! Get certified gloves or something and just stay FAR away and be very, VERY careful. My next gloves come from Graingers, period. $50 is cheaper than a trip to the Emergency Room.
- The reaction time is so fast, I think I should have been more prepared to neutralize it QUICKLY. The difference between "just right" and "too much" can be too short to walk around a table to reach baking soda. Just tilting the acid off the part doesn't stop the reaction fast enough.

- Throwing baking soda into this mix froths immediately. Do be careful never to use a container too small to contain the mix of acid and soda --> big foam.

- I also should have done the chemical calculations to give myself a more assured dilution-to-safety ratio for mixing water into the final (acid + soda) compound. I probably used a lot more water than I had to, trying to be extra careful.

- I'm still waiting to see how the various parts flash rust or whatever. One of the advantages of Naval Jelly is that it's supposed to leave a phosphate coating behind, giving you extra time to protect the denuded parts. Some parts, I'm leaving bare. Others, I'm coating with various things - metal polish, Boeshield, motor oil, alcohol. I want to see how long any of these coatings prevent flash rust so I can plan the subsequent work.

- Does anyone know where I can find plastic tongs so I can snatch parts out quickly? I'd thought of stringing the parts, but it seems to me the wires I have would also dissolve - this stuff eats STEEL.

I'd like to thank Jim for telling me about this method. It seems super cheap and useful, with ordinary care. Except for those cheapo Harbor Freight gloves, everything worked as planned. It felt controllable except for the wind. I'll think on that some more.