In article , Harold & Susan Vordos says...

I"m no chemistry wizard, but my years of precious metal refining taught me a
few things about hydrochloric acid and metals. I think I'd use a dilute
solution of hydrochloric to clean the steel parts you want to galvanize,
then neutralize the parts with sodium hydroxide (lye). That will prevent
the instantaneous rusting you would otherwise get. I used to run a small
ball mill. So long as I kept the interior basic (9 pH or higher), there was
no rusting.

I think this is pretty good advice. The base will neutralize
any acidity. The TSP is not really a base, IIRC it's like
most detergents, being a large molecule that is polar at
one end, and non-polar at the other end. So the polar
end grabs onto the water, and the non-polar end grabs
the oil or grease.

I also suspect that simply rinsing the parts well, and
using a mild base like baking soda will be enough, so
he would not have to deal with caustic NaOH solutions.

Jim

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