When my husband and I decided to buy a house, one of his only requirements was that it had room for a gym. Fortunately, we found a home with space. When we started buying weights, we learned that, to get a good deal, you sometimes have to settle for rusty weight plates and dumbbells.

Surprisingly, it wasn’t that hard to remove the rust. So, If you’re trying to get a discount on weights, don’t let the rusty ones deter you from buying them. It’s a smelly process, but totally worth it.

Follow the instructions below to try it yourself.

UPDATE 8/10/2019: we’ve been using our revamped weights and dumbells for over a year now and they still look as good as new! There hasn’t been any chipping of spray paint or re-rusting. I highly recommend this process.

Supplies needed to remove rust from weights

• Water
• Vinegar
• stainless steel brush
• Large tote or plastic box
• Rust-oleum spray paint (optional, but recommended)*

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When we got the weights they looked like this. Not totally covered in rust, but they were not in the best shape.

Step 1: brush off the rust

Using a stainless steel bristle brush, scrape off as much of the excess rust and chipping paint as  possible.

Step 2: Soak the weights in vinegar and water

Pay attention to the recommended dilution ratio on the vinegar you buy. Use that ratio of water and vinegar and soak the weights for about 3 days.

I recommend keeping them somewhere you don’t have to spend much time because it smells bad. We did it in our garage.

Also, when you finished and ready to dump out your solution, make sure you pour it down a large drain and not in your yard. The vinegar will kill your grass.

Note: We used 4 bottles (64 fl oz) of vinegar. We also took some of the less rusty weights out earlier and got similar results. If your weights have a lot of rust, they will need more time in the solution.

Step 3: Dry the weights

Take the weights out of the vinegar solution and dry them really well. If they’re exposed to moisture, they’ll begin to rust again.

The olympic plate in the image above is the same plate pictured in step 1. It looks much better now. It has not been spray painted yet either! I was shocked to see the difference!

Step 4 (optional): spray paint the weights

While not necessary, I recommend taking some extra time to spray paint the weights. We used Rust-oleum 2x Paint + Primer. It’s desgined to cover rust and it’s worked well for us.

For comparison, in the image above, the first weight plate on the right has been spray painted with Rust-oleum. The one on the left was just removed from the vinegar solution and dried. It makes a big difference.

When you’re done, you’ll have some fancy, seemingly new weights. And they look so nice! You can hardly even tell a differnce in the texture anymore.

Look how rusty those round iron dumbbells were. Pretty bad, right?

These are the same ones. I’m not kidding!

So, if you’re considering buying weights or dumbells for your home gym, don’t avoid the rusty ones. And if you’re considering getting rid of your weights because they’re rusty, don’t do it! Use this process to fix them up instead.

Hope you enjoyed this one.

Happy crafting!