Cooking up some rusty bits

I'm in need of some rusty old cans and rusty bits for a project.  But, since I moved not too long ago I got rid of a lot of rusty bits and pieces laying around in the garage.  Thought I'd never have any use for them.  Well that was wrong of me to think.  I do have a lot of patience but not so sure I have enough patience to have mother nature take care of getting me some rusty cans and other bits.  So good old friend google and pinterest to the rescue!  "How to make something rust fast!?"  I actually found a bunch of articles and DIY's on how to do it.  I did have everything I needed in the house so off I went cooking up some rusty cans and bits.

What you need:

White distilled vinegar (but I'm sure apple vinegar will work just as well if that's what you have)

Salt (I used the pink kind since I didn't have any regular white salt)

Hydrogen peroxide

Metal cans, nails, screws, wire, whatever it is you want to make rusty

Plastic tub

Spray bottle 

Thongs

How to:

I laid all my metal pieces (nails, screws, switch plate, chain, wire, etc.) and the cans in the plastic tub.

First I sprayed all the metal pieces with the plain white vinegar and sprinkled some salt on all the items.  I let it all dry laying in the tub.  I sprayed the cans a couple of times in between drying to get the vinegar on all sides of the cans.

Next I mixed 2 tablespoons of the salt with about 1/4 cup of the vinegar and 3/4 cups of the hydrogen peroxide in the spray bottle.  Give it a good shake to make sure the salt gets dissolved.

I used that mixture to spray all the items in the tub.  Kinda crazy how fast you can see the mixture getting to do it's thing on all that metal.  I went back after letting it sit for about an hour and a lot of the pieces where already completely rusted!  The cans I had to turn over a couple of times and spray them again to make sure they were getting rusty on all sides.

Here is a photo before I started and the second one after spraying the cans a couple of times.  Now I'm going to let it all sit for a couple of days before I move on to the next part of my project.  

Next I have to purchase a big pot where I can cook and steam things in!  Not telling you yet what I'm going to be doing but feel free to guess!  

Before spraying

After first spray with just the vinegar and I sprinkled some salt on all of it.

Here are my pieces getting nice and rusty!

More info to follow in a couple of days so come back and see what I'm up too next!