We find the same rusty-yuckiness when we open our cabin up in the spring after a long winter. Comet works for us, but it isn't 10 years of build-up. Worth a shot!

Will try. Many thanks. Reading online, people recomend some sort of acid, which I'm told is nasty stuff (and I am someonw who cleans with castille soap and vinegar and baking soda only)and not particularly good for septic tank systems. I am pretty desperate though...

Try bartender's friend or whatever-it's called, something like that. Many here swear by it. And also try just stopping up the drain and letting bleach soak on the sink a bit. Bleach dissipates so it's fine in the septic.

I agree that looks like a little elbow grease will dispatch it. I've had worse! ;)

I find softscrub with bleach works well on my porcelain sink. Or a good toilet bowl cleaner perhaps.

Thanks everyone. I was told bleach does nothing for iron stains, but will try anything at this point.

I had stains like this in my last house in the toilet. I tried almost everything with no success. And then one day while I was furiously Googling how to solve the problem, I came upon a recommendation for a product called The Works. I couldn't find it at first, and then discovered it on the shelves at Wal-Mart. It was one of the cheapest products they sold. It worked and did so really quickly. Other than this one product, I avoid cleaners that aren't natural. I only use this one when I must, but it really did the trick for me. Let it soak on your stains for a bit and see what happens. Cool sink. I have one too.

There is also a product out there called Super Iron Out, that worked wonders on our old bathroom toilet where the bolts had rusted into/onto the toilet tank/bowl. It is septic tank safe too BTW. We bought it at a local hardware store about 4 years ago, but have just looked online and it's still available. Probably similar to the CLR products, but what the heck, anything to try and save that beauty of a sink! Magic Eraser? Borax paste? Hope something works! I don't know that I'd go as abrasive as SOS/steel wool, as you may be scouring/scratching the porcelain. Hope you sort it!

Here is a link that might be useful: Save that sink! LOL

The Works, or Zud are what I've heard.

Pumice stone
hydrogen peroxide with cream of tartar (let sit)
If neither works, go for the and nasty stuff (commercial rust remover)
followed by bleach
Let us know what happens.

I have heard that people have great luck using a cheap pumice stone on build up in toilets. I would try one.

The web site retro renovations (no space) .com has cleaning tips for these old porcelain bathtubs and sinks. I don't recommend a pumice stone as it's too easy to scratch the porcelain which is what I did to one of our old toilets. Pam at retro renovations (gah sometimes I hate autocorrect ) recommends R. O. G. 1 and 3. Her website has the link that I can't figure out how to put in on my iPod.

LOVE your sink BTW!

Hope that helps!

We have well water that has iron in it - a water conditioning system takes the iron out for us, but occasionally, if the system is malfunctioning, we get the orange staining in our toilets. Iron Out works wonders for getting the stains out. Around here, where most neighborhoods have well water, Iron Out is found in every hardware store.

In a previous home, we had this same problem. I filled the sink with half water and half bleach and let it sit for a long while, then used a magic erasure. It took a few times of repeating the process, but it worked. It is a bit smelly though with all that bleach, open a window or turn on a fan while it soaks.

Naval Jelly?

Don't use chlorine bleach as it may set the rust.

Growing up we had extremely hard water and everything got rusty even with a water softening system My mother used a product called Santeen which is intended primarily for toilets. We usually find it at the hardware store. Works beautifully and rust comes right off. Definitely use it with good ventilation though! I would give it a try on your sink. It is safe for porcelain and we never had a problem with the septic system after using it...I can tell you, from years of experience...none of that other stuff suggested will work. They aren't strong enough. We've also used The Works and Iron Out with success as well...if all else fails, why not try to have it reglazed?

This post was edited by khinmn92 on Tue, Jan 29, 13 at 23:09

I suggest baking soda and peroxide.
I'm also hearing amazing things about the Magic Eraser. More every day I browse.
Love the sink, too!

Never naval jelly, phosphoric acid is no friend of the glaze.
Oxalic acid is the go-to for rust. Barkeepers Friend contains it, but you can buy it pure and mix the crystals in hot water. It will dissolve the rust in about 30 seconds, without affecting the porcelain.
Casey

Linking a source for oxalic acid.

If you can find it, try 'Sno-Bol' toilet cleaner. I remember a friend commenting about it being very good at cleaning rust.

Here is a link that might be useful: Dap Oxalic Acid

Wink rust remover found in the cleaning isle at the grocery store will get rid of that rust in 20 seconds. Gentle enough to wash clothes. Love your sink.

If your rust removal efforts don't work satisfactorily, consider re-glazing. We had an old pedestal sink re-glazed and it turned out beautifully. It was original to our Arts and Crafts house that was built in 1916. We used the re-glazed sink for 12 years before we sold the house, and the re-glazed surface was still perfect. We used a company called Perma Glaze.
Before.....

Caminnc is right, it is called Whink rust stain remover. Not all stores carry it though. Recently the store we usually get it at stopped and I started getting it on Amazon. When my husband couldn't find it at the store, he bought 4 other rust removers, scrubbed half the day and my tub was still bright orange. (our water treatment was flooded out in the hurricane and 4 days out left my tub and all my beautiful new white sinks and tubs very orange we have more rust than anyone I have ever seen). 30 seconds with Whink and it is GONE! The stuff is amazing.

By the way, beautiful sink!

Here is a link that might be useful: whink rust remover

WHOA! I was curious about Whink, so I just googled for their MSDS (which must tell you the ingredients). The active ingredient is hydrofluoric acid. That is a serious and dangerous acid. It dissolves glass (so it may not be good for your sink). More serious, it is harmful to YOU. It does not "burn" your skin, like hydrochloric or nitric acid. Rather, it is more pernicious. It penetrates your skin and does nasty things to your innards.

From: http://web.utk.edu/~ehss/training/has.pdf

Hydrofluoric acid (HF) differs from other acids because the fluoride ion readily penetrates the skin, causing destruction of deep tissue layers, including bone. Pain associated with exposure to solutions of HF (1-50%) may be delayed for 1-24 hours. If HF is not rapidly neutralized and the fluoride ion bound, tissue destruction may continue for days and result in limb loss or death.

Full disclosure: I may be overly strident about this warning because I have a minor, but permanent, disfigurement on my hand, and lingering pain in my thumb, due to unrecognized exposure to HF about 30 years ago.

I would say that if you were to use some of the suggested cleaners they will be effective enough that you most likely wouldn't have to do any hand scrubbing-the rust will just disappear- that is how effective they are...at any rate I wouldn't use any of these chemicals without wearing gloves or other skin protection! If you have softened water and will be using the sink regularly it will probably be a one time treatment as you will be able to keep up with it in the future!

You can't re-glaze a kitchen sink. So-called reglazing is just epoxy paint, which does not hold up to kitchen use. Even the manufacturers and distributors post that on their websites.

re: Whink -- Ack! Thanks for the alert, Angie! Scary stuff!

What a helpful thread!

I always wonder -- really wonder -- about these "miracle" products.

There is one called "Dip It" that is marketed as a coffee pot cleaner and I think is available on east coast stores only (and few at that), though I think it's available through Amazon. It works great for taking away tea stains (oxalic acid, ya think?). So great I just have to wonder what on earth this is. I always presumed it was just oxalic acid but I don't really know how to find out ... Angie, are "MSDS" sheets available for all such products and does this tell you the proprietary ingredients? I called the company once and got laughed at. I figured I could go deeper but lost interest.

And I was just going to ask how you buy oxalic acid when the link was posted here. You guys are great!

So ... thanks, Angie, for that scary-product information; sorry about your accident that informs the rest of us and thanks for any hints as to what is in the "dip-it". It's expensive and I'm guessing the active chemical is worth $0.05....

OK, so googling 'dip it msds' gives me all the info just like that. I guess it's been since the internet that I've wondered too seriously about this.

Apparently it's "DISODIUM TRIOXOSILICATE" -- is that oxalic acid? probably....

No, oxalic acid is H2C2O4. (I had to look it up.) Disodium trioxosilicate is Na2SiO3 (and it has 5 H2O molecules hydrating it). I am not smart enough to know how disodium trioxosilicate works!

Thanks for the well wishes!

The Works. It's cheap and amazingly effective!

good luck

susan

Hi! Before you use some horrible, toxic, shiny-finish-eliminating thing . . . .I hope you're still reading these posts, because I have a totally GREEN and non-toxic thing for you to try: oak leaves!

My best friend chucked city life and moved out to the country for about 3 years, and raised sheep for a while. One day, she was rinsing out the sheep's water bucket and had forgotten her rag, so she grabbed some oak leaves to provide some abrasion. SWISH -- out came the rust stains she thought were etched into the plastic. It worked so well, she tried it on her ancient, rust-stained bathtub. It worked better than ANY cleaner she had tried thus far.

If it's not too late, let me know how it works for you, if you try it.