Removing cement from shovel

Light a garden bonfire, and hold the blade in the flames (don't over-do it though). The expansion of the metal will cause most of the cement to fall off.

Ian Jackson wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@g3ohx.demon.co.uk:

Cool, I have the same problem (but of my own making) with a garden spade used for mixing cement over the years. Next time I light up the chiminera (or however you spell the damned word) I'll give it a go.

Someone suggested that for the drum of the cement mixer that I borrowed recently, but I didn't try it as I was actually returning it with less stuck to it than when I borrowed it anyway! My mistake was borrowing it off someone who's actually in the building trade!

SteveW

Central heating acid cleaner. Dissolves the calcium crud but passivates the metal (or so the blurb claims)

cement

SDS drill set to vibrate but not rotate, with a blunt chisle bit. Works a treat. Also works on cement mixer drums.

AWEM

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember "Andrew Mawson" saying something like:

You could start your own steel band with that. The neighbours would love it.

In message , Grimly Curmudgeon writes

The DIY making of an instrument for a steel band is only marginally more antisocial than the actual playing of it when it is finished.

Phosphoric acid may be a cheaper option. This used to be the component in rust eaters for cars

It's used in the water industry to protect pipes.

I have had a limited amount of success with vinegar (smartprice) from Asda.

It got a load of cement based tile adhesive from my trowel.

HN

It's OK, my nearest neighbour is half a mile away !!!!!!!!!!!!

AWEM

In message , Andrew Mawson writes

Half a mile away? Let me tell you a story........

In the 1950s, on children's TV (probably on Blue Peter or its predecessor) there was an item about steel bands and how to DIY an oil drum.

Not long afterwards, late on a still, summers morning, from the far, far distance I heard the unmistakable sound of an oil drum being repeatedly and regularly struck. This went on for a minute or so, then there was a pause for a minute, and then the banging started again. This went on and on for well over an hour, until lunch time.

I sort of guessed where the noise was coming from. A couple of my school friends had been discussing the possibility of getting a 25 gallon oil drum to make into a steel drum musical instrument.

After lunch, the banging started again, so I got on my bike and headed off to my friends' house (line-of-site, a good two miles away, away up the hill from where I lived). When I arrived, I found the pair of them, as I expected, with a blow-lamp, a large hammer and steel drum, banging away trying to mark out the segments for the different notes, but not making much impression on it. Soon after my arrival, the project was abandoned.

By that, I presume you mean phosphoric acid rather than HCl

e.g.

In message , Ian Jackson writes

we're coming round to use your garage as a practice hall

But wear ear defenders if doing that one - or you will be deaf for a week (or forever!)

knocked

Wimp !!!!

AWEM

Agreed, but a wimp with perfect hearing!

Pardon?