BEET THE RUST — One of the most difficult things to restore on a vehicle are rusty door handle mechanisms. However, they are easy to clean with Rustbeeter™, a byproduct of the sugar beet-refining process that removes rust from steel, chrome and cast iron without degrading or damaging the base metal. It is particularly good for small parts such as door handle mechanisms, as it follows the rust deep down into the nooks and crannies where other processes can't reach. Shown above are matching door handles, the one in the foreground having been treated with Rustbeeter™.

"Amazing" is the only way to describe 2005, as it was a year of growth for the Rustbeeter Family. We launched this website in February, started accepting credit card orders in June and worked a show season in which we logged more than 20,000 miles.

Many of you car buffs undoubtedly saw us at Jefferson and Iola, Wis., or Carlisle and Hershey, Penn., while members of the Vintage Motorcycle Club of America visited our booth at Farmington, Minn., and Davenport, Iowa. There were a lot of tractor shows, too, from Portland, Ind., and Edgerton, Wis., to colorful national meets such as Red Power and the Gathering of the Orange. Midwest Tool Collectors Association members became better acquainted with how Rustbeeter™ helps restore their vintage wrenches at St. Francis, Wis., and St. Charles, Ill., and we even attended the Speed Equipment Manufacturers Association (SEMA) show in Las Vegas to rub elbows with others in the industry.

Printed in January/February 2005 issue of Belt Pulley Magazine

It sounded like an old locomotive.

Chug, chug, chug chug. Chug, chug, chug, chug.

But instead of a train pulling into a depot, the big black behemoth was a 10-ton diesel engine wowing spectators at the 39th annual Tri-State Gas Engine and Tractor Show.

Anyone who has ever attended the popular exhibition at Portland, Ind.Ìs, Jay County Fairgrounds undoubtedly has seen the 1923 Model YV diesel engine built by Fairbanks-Morse. The 100-horsepower, two-cycle, two-cylinder engine is quite a prize, with its 2-ton, 4-foot-diameter flywheel and two pistons measuring 14 inches in diameter each.

On Feb. 1, 2005, the makers of Rustbeeter™ launched their website, www.rustbeeter.com, to spread the word about a natural way to remove rust from ferrous metal collectibles and assist current customers with questions they might have.

A byproduct of the sugar beet-refining process, Rustbeeter™ is an environmentally safe and easy way to remove rust. The same property that allows the sugar beet to draw iron from the soil enables Rustbeeter™ to remove iron oxide (rust) from steel, cast iron, chrome and other metals except aluminum.

"Unlike sandblasting , wire brushing or using acids and caustics, Rustbeeter™ attacks only the rust and not the base metal," explained project manager Peter Spangler, who founded Rustbeeter™ in April 2003.

Peter Spangler found a fist-size bolt in a box of odds and ends he bought for a buck at a farm auction. The journeyman machinist wanted to use it as a paperweight, but the 3-pound bolt was just too rusty to clean without damaging the delicate threads or its black-oxide surface.

"I found a treasure, but it sat on my workbench for 20 years," he said.

Then Spangler recalled once hearing about a folk remedy using beet molasses to clean metal. Now a couple years later, he has a perfectly restored bolt on his workbench and a new rust-removal business -- Rustbeeter™ -- on the side.