Removing Rust From Chrome With Aluminum Foil

Meet my favorite stools. These fiberglass and chrome beauties were purchased by my parents circa 1962 for our lake cottage in New Hampshire. The nice thing about having a house where time stands still is that while many things in the house were new then, they are fabulously mid century vintage now. And no, the stools are not the legendary Eames for Herman Miller. They are most likely copycats from Sears (because most things in the house are from Sears). Over the years, the legs have developed some spots. Until this year, I had zero success with removing rust from chrome. And that was distressing.

I tried Magic Erasers, metal polish, Dawn dish detergent (don’t judge, it fixes lots of things) and anything else that crossed my mind, short of steel wool which would damage the chrome. Nothing worked. This year as I was doing my part of the spring cleaning, I took a few seconds and did an internet search on “removing rust from chrome.” There is one favorite solution with lots of Youtube videos offering variations on the same solution. It was not something I would ever have tried, but it is amazingly fast, gentle and effective. It also helps make delicious baked potatoes on the grill. It is aluminum foil.

The videos concur on aluminum foil, but they are divided on if you need a liquid and what liquid to use. Some use the aluminum foil dry, some add water, vinegar, Coke or Diet Coke. I went with water because it was available. Start with what you have, which in my case worked out just fine.

Fold an 8″ long length of aluminum foil into quarters. Dip in the water and rub. It was easy, the foil formed to the leg.

As you rub, you’ll get black residue on your foil, similar to what you see on the sponge while polishing silver. Work on a protected surface. Drips clean up easily, but better safe than regretful.

Each stool took two sheets of foil, folded multiple times to use as much of it as possible. The foil breaks down and becomes brittle quickly as you are rubbing.

After rubbing with foil, wipe with a damp cloth.

Finish with a dry cloth. No need to leave any moisture behind to get the rust started again.

The finished product. The chrome legs are not as good as when they were new, but they are much improved.

Removing rust from chrome doesn’t take a lot of time or even much elbow grease. It’s hard to believe something as simple as a piece of foil and water can work such magic. The Slippery Rock Gazette has an explanation for why it works: “Rust is basically oxidized metal. As heat is generated by the friction of rubbing the aluminum foil on the chrome, a portion of the aluminum will also oxidize to produce aluminum oxide. Aluminum has a higher reduction potential (a tendency to take on electrons and in the process reduce or break itself down) than chrome, and will therefore leech oxygen atoms away from any rust on the chrome surface, which changes the chemical properties of the rust and breaks it down.”