The fix is for the things, not for your rusty joints (I have those too), but while this isn’t specific to baby boomers, I use this product often and have used it in one form or another for decades, yet I find most professional metal restorers, such as auto shops, don’t know about it, or don’t believe it works.
Simply put, there are three ways to deal with rusty metal whether it is an old garden cart, a rusty spot on some household item, or that car you hope never to have to replace.
First - ignore it, and eventually it will fall apart.
Second - get out dangerous acids, grinders, brushes, and perhaps a sandblaster to get every tiny spec of rust off the metal, then start painting or undercoating.
Third - give it a quick brush and wash, knock off any loose pieces of rust or paint, and simply spray the rust with a relatively safe and cheap chemical.
That third way is what I’ve been doing since I owned a restoration shop for antique cars and am still doing today.
Simply put there is a simple chemical reaction which can convert the rust on rusty iron or steel into another oxide of iron, one which, unlike common rust, won’t continue to eat into the metal.
Prep is easy, something dear to the hearts of any senior, in fact, all you need to do is get any grease off the metal but DO NOT remove the rust.
Sprayed or brushed on clean metal this does nothing, it isn’t a paint, it is a chemical which produces a reaction converting the rust.
Sometimes I even leave bare metal on a project for a day or two to get a slight rust haze so I can spray this on and never need worry about rust again.
You can get small bottles of liquid, aerosol cans which are expensive (although a lot cheaper than replacing your items) and which are great for penetrating small cracks, and my favorite which I have linked below in an Amazon ad (with free shipping for Prime members), a gallon which will fix the bottoms of four or five rusty cars or trucks and best of all, this stuff cleans up with plain water if you get to it before it dries.
It will dry, but that’s not what you are looking for on rust, you want to see the red metal turn black which means the chemical reaction took place.
After that you only need it to dry so you can paint over it if you desire. Remember if the black metal gets a scratch it will begin to rust again.
This stuff is amazing and it is completely beyond me wy every mechanic doesn’t use it.
It works great on old tools, cars, garden carts, lawn mowers, metal furniture, even household items and toys (it’s non toxic.)
The way I use the water based gallon size is to ignore the instructions which usually say not to dilute it, pour some in a cheap garden sprayer, and mix in enough tap water to make it thin enough to spray.
You can clean the sprayer with lots of water, but I usually just clean the nozzle and finish up the next day with a second coat to hit the places I missed - often with it even more diluted to get in the cracks.
This stuff is really one of the miracles of modern chemistry and you should give it a try. Find a small sample size if you don’t trust me, but don’t look for the gallon size in stores, it is in some automotive supply places because the Permatex and other name brand versions cost upwards of $150/gallon and they are EXACTLY THE SAME CHEMICAL as the $60 version I have listed at the bottom of the page. You might be able to find it locally but it will cost about the same as getting it through Amazon and this blog is all about saving extra work.
