old "rusty" spouts

[dano2840]

i took 45 old bucket spouts out of the loft from the farm along with buckets/ covers, the spouts are brown and and "kindof rusty" will this affect the tree? i plan to boil then and clean them up with a spout brush, but will it matter if they are still rusty looking?

[Jeff E]

What are they made out of? I have some cast aluminum spouts that have discolored. I have always cleaned them as best I could and reused.

Boiling is a good idea to kill the bacteria, that can live on/in spouts, that speeds up the drying or healing of the tap.

If it is really rust, I would be looking at getting new spouts.

[Specklefield Farm]

put the spouts in a bucket with some sand and shake them up. it will take quite a bit of shaking, but they will clean up. if you have a rock tumbler, or a brass tumbler/cleaner (for rifle cartridge reloading), they will work also.

[Russell Lampron]

Sounds like you've got some of the old Grimm tin spouts. If they aren't all bent up just boil them and use them. The rust won't hurt anything.

[KenWP]

My water here has so much iron in it I am afraid to see what the saps going to be like let alone worry about a bit of rust on the spouts. I bought a bunch of those old sheet metal spouts at a garage sale and I brushed the rust off best I could and will use them when and if i have to retap trees after useing the 5/16 plastice spouts.

[dano2840]

they arent tin rolled spouts they are the big cast grimm/soule spouts, they have the hook on top for the old wooden covers

[markcasper]

those are cast iron grim and soule spouts. If their tin and their not rusty, then they have alot of ternplate in them which has lots of lead.

The thing I have did before is throw then in a small cement mixer with a little pea gravel. They'll look good after a half hour of that treatment.

[umpwood1]

Bought some discolored, slightly rusted spouts off of ebay. I took them to work, put a little sand in a coffee can, added some spout and put them on the paint shaker. They cleaned up nice. Just another trick.
Regards,
Umpwood

[The Butcher]

I did the same and some of the spouts are bent. Does this make a difference in the sap flow?