Your favorite restoration materials and "tricks"

[Mike Holbrook]

I have been a little depressed that I do not have something dramatic to post on the "your favoorite restoration" thread yet. So, I thought I would console myself by goading more information out of others.

So here are some of my favorites:

-soaking in kerosene and WD-40

-Krud Kutter- great stuff dissolves all kinds of "krud" and "environmentally friendly" too.

-for rust- Naval Jelly

-removing the tough stuff- dremel tool with brass/stainless steel brushes, also brass/nylon brushes

-tin cooking pans to soak, spray things in....yes sometimes I miss

-cotton shop rags, the ones like T-shirt material

Other things: Three in One oil, MEK (super acetone), Goof Off, BLO, sand paper, sanding pads, belt sander (leather belts with buffing compound and 3M Trizact flexible belts 1000 grit >, pin punches (my set jumps from 1/16 to 1/8 missing the size I seem to need most), set of micro pliers, set of micro files, containers with lids for soaking things.

How about you?

[Don Rogers]

Actually I am looking for a restoration trick to derust a brace without ruining the crank handle wood.

As far as I can tell, the wood crank handle is assembled onto the crank before it is bent into it's "U" shape. If so, it cannot be replaced and must be protected somehow during derusting.

Can the entire crank be immersed in citric acid and, if so, how can the wood handle be protected?

DonR

[Matt Evans]

I just got Evapo-rust, and man does it work! I am really impressed with it. But I don't know about how it affects wood yet. I will let you know in a few days, after I try it out on an old try square.

[Mike Brady]

My opinion regarding derusting of braces is that if the crank part of the brace is rusted to the point that it needs soaking in citric acid, then you might as well forget the soak and use something abrasive to remove the rust. The nickel plating will most likely be mostly gone because of the rust anyway. If the rust is light, you can wrap the metal part of the crank with a cloth and pour citic over it to saok the cloth and avoiding the wood. I have submerged rosewood in citric (restoring a Stanley #45) without any damage. Some of the soft woods, and their film finishes, used on brace handles might not fair too well in a water-based soak of any kind. You would have to strip and refinish the wood.

[Mike Brady]

Add PB Blaster to the list of favorites. It is the first thing a put on a rusted tool to free up the parts for disassembly. It is kind to wood and japanning as well. Not great smelling, however.

[Bob Strawn]

I rather prefer the manual labor approach for a part like this. I would use ballistol and and fine steel wool. The ballistol is a good general solvent and a great metal and wood protectant(is protectant a word?) and lubricant, so it will do no harm and great good. Fine steel wool won't leave big scratches and is softer than nickle, so unless the nickle is ready to flake off anyway, it is unlikely to remove the nickle. If the nickle is ready to flake off, and you plan to use the tool, you are better with it gone since the steel beneath it is already primed to corrode.

I would avoid using an acid to loosen the rust on a tool you cannot take apart entirely, since it is hard to remove entirely.


Bob

[Prashun Patel]

A great trick is to get a $5.00 wire cup for your drill press. It'll get off most rust pretty easily. Hard to get into tight spaces, though.

I've also used a stationary belt sander for plane cheeks and initial sole flattening on smaller planes.

I've used a lot of citric acid lately. It's good stuff. The thing is, you have to watch it. It can cause deeper pitting that ruins the surface. I wouldn't use a stronger solution than 10%. The proper (for me) technique is to soak the piece in the acid/water solution for 30 minute intervals. Between each interval, scrub it with a brass or stainless steel wire brush.

When it's done, just rinse the piece thoroughly with fresh water. Then towel dry it, and blow compressed air on it. Those little computer duster cans work great for getting into screw holes.

You can scrub out any flash rust with steel wool later on.

To get paint off of bad places, the best is to try to abrade it off with a wire brush. If that doesn't work, then use a chemical stripper.

I wouldn't submerge wood in citric acid. It's not the wood that's bad - it's the water. I've had tote knobs swell just enough so they won't screw back into their sockets.

To refinish wood parts, I find the easiest is to 'paint' the piece with a light coat of chem stripper or acetone, let it sit, and then use the wire brush to sand off the top coat. Then it's ready for a fresh shellacking or whatever.

[Mike Holbrook]

Great tips!

I am new to all the chemicals for rust. The Navel Jelly is just that, jelly like. It apparently gets used frequently to remove rust from charcoal grills. It sticks to surfaces it is brushed on, avoiding other surfaces. I got it at Lowe's.

[Don Rogers]

Thank you all for the information on derusting a brace with a wood crank handle. It looks as though I better work on that area of the brace with abraisives rather than citric acid. Otherwise I may end up trying to replace the crank handle with two half pieces glued together.

DonR

[Harlan Barnhart]

Don't forget toothpaste with hard and soft bristle tooth brushes. I has the right combination of "grit" and "soap" for light rust on metal and is especially good at cleaning up finished wood without destroying the finish. I brushed up several wood folding rules that were nearly too dark to read and they really cleaned up nice. Always try toothpaste first. If that doesn't work move to the more aggressive solutions.

[Adam Woznicki]

Don, I'm a big fan of electrolysis.

I would try submerging the brace up to the center handle let the electrolysis to its thing. Then remove the top knob and do the same with the top end.

Use a spring clamp to hold the brace to the side of the bucket keeping it at the depth you want.

Wrap a plastic bag around the handle and secure with a rubber-band between the shaft and grip then tape the seam to help keep it dry.

If you go the abrasives route remember to tape over the wood so you don't scratch it up.

[Bob Easton]

Try plain ole vinegar!

So many of the solutions above are very strong and some are caustic enough to be avoided. I've used many of them and dislike handling the caustic varieties.

I was very surprised recently at how effective vinegar is. It is gentler, not harmful to handle, and easier to dispose of than many of the chemicals mentioned above,

The only downside is that it is slower. You wont see results in minutes or hours. Overnight soaking, supplemented with brushing with a brass wire brush (again gentler than steel), will get the job done. You'll have less damage to yourself and other components such as the wooden parts of a brace. Patience has its rewards.

[Mike Brady]

Shawn, I can't agree with your wire cup recommendation. If you want that flea- market- quicky- cleanup look, that is the way to get it. Wire cups are way too aggressive for purpose. Maybe a Scotch-Brite hand pad or fine steel wool and mineral spirits. Think of remanufacturing the tool, and what the factory would have used, and then factor -in some age and patina. A small brass wire brush is very helpful and leaves no marks behind. The best restorer I know, who sells hundreds of tools per year, uses lacquer thinner and steel wool. He then washes all the metal parts in Amazing spray cleaner, oils the moving parts, waxes the entire plane, sharpens it, and sells it. His tools look like they were carefully used and put away each day since they were made.

[Prashun Patel]

I guess I should have clarified. I don't mean a braided wire cup (the rough kind). I mean the finest one you can get. It spins slow enough in a drill press that it works without scratching the surface. It actually gives it a good rough polish.

[Mike Holbrook]

I am wondering what the trick is to get tools to the state of perfection that places like WK seem to achieve regularly? I am guessing that they first start with items in better condition.

In terms of their process, some sort of stripper and/or high/low speed abrasives must be in play. I have seen some amazingly bright metal in photographs showing what old metal looked like after a stripper treatment.

Truth is I probably do not need that dramatic a change for tools I am going to be putting into use.

[Prashun Patel]

(disclaimer: I'm a handplane rehab newbie - 6 months).

You can get that 'new' look on metal even in your home shop. You just need the right tools. It takes abrasion. Using citric acid or electrolysis or minor abrasion will only get the rust off. It won't get the PATINA off, which many find desirable.

To get that off, you can sand it off. There are many ways to do this. Here's what works for me: use a belt sander carefully. (you can also use 60 grit sheets adhered to a flat surface like a tablesaw top or plate of glass if you want to work by hand). You just want to abrade off all the patina. I'm not sure that 'temper' is important on plane souls or cheeks, but I try to sand in several second intervals so's not to heat up the metal just in case it IS important. I also keep checking for flatness where it matters - like on soles of planes. Once clean and flat, I sand with progressively finer grits to achieve whatever polish I'm going for. It's possible to get a mirror polish with little effort if you have a sharpening tool like the Worksharp. Often this is not desirable for historic purposes, but it IS possible.

As for fixing paint -or jappaning - on metal, the only way to get it off - if that's yr bag - is to use a heavy duty chemical stripper. Anything south of this won't be aggressive enough for true japanning.

You can also use a sand blasting gun (see Harbor freight), but you'll need a decent capacity compressor to back it.

If you try one or two rehabs, you'll learn quickly how to see beyond the cosmetic defects like rust and chipped paint, and broken wooden parts that can be replaced. You can make a tool look and perform brand new if these are all that's wrong.

[Ken Werner]

The best restorer I know, who sells hundreds of tools per year, uses lacquer thinner and steel wool.

Mike, I've occasionally used lacquer thinner as a cleaning solvent. The fumes that fill the shop are awful. Does your restorer do anything special to protect himself?

[Mike Holbrook]

Hi Shawn,

Thanks for the thoughts.

I have been working on restoring hand/breast drills, although, I have some old planes which I plan to tackle next.

I have been afraid to use my new belt sander on these items. I have had suggestions that a sander may be over kill. I think in the case of hand/breast drills a belt sander simply want get into all the little tight areas that need work. I have invested in quite an array of belts for my new belt sander including": 3M Tricate belts down below 1000 grit and leather belts (green & pink compound). I am fairly sure I can use the low abrasive belts on my 1-2" belt sander without causing too much damage in some instances. I have a Tormek grinder with water wheel and leather wheel. Some how I will come up with a cloth buffing set up too.

I was reading last night about Evapo Rust which sounds promising, especially for the small curvy parts. Apparently it reduces rusty areas to a black residue that can easily be removed. I read that it also makes a protective grayish covering via chemical reaction that can be left to protect the surface or buffed off. I have some MEK (Methyl Ethyl Keytone) which I was told is a notch stronger than acetone as a stripper but so far I have not given it a try. I think that a stripper should be used before the Evapo Rust. I am thinking about using the MEK on a drill frame and main gear to remove old paint and then try some Evapo Rust. I think some rust etc. can hide under paint. All I have to do is find some Evapo Rust and maybe some containers with lids to safely soak the frame in.

[Mike Holbrook]

Missed your post making this one Ken,
Yes, I have a chemical filter mask designed for the purpose. I also have a place off my shop that is under a porch where I can work outdoors. Problem is the younger German Shepherds try to run off with anything I leave loose outside at the moment. This is on my list of projects.

I plan to enclose the work area and strengthen the outdoor dog areas so that uninvited guests do not barge into the work area. I am thinking about using something like barn doors in the area under the porch so I can get good air flow when I need it. I do not use an air filter system in my shop, most of which is underground. I invested in a Festool Vac system, Festool saw and router with vac attachments, thinking that it was better to keep things out of the air in the first place. My long term plan is to make the area under the porch my painting, finishing , restoration and heavy sawing area. If the barn doors do not answer any air flow issues I may invest in some sort of fan system for the porch area to rapidly draw the bad air outdoors.

[Jeff Farris]

Klingspor makes an abrasive block called the "Sandflex Hand Block" in three grits. Lie-Nielsen's sales reps use these to keep their demo tools looking perfect despite constant handling. I've used them for a couple years for both maintenance and restoration. I've always used the green (medium). Just bought the coarse and fine to go with the medium, so we'll see.

Klingspor's site makes linking quite difficult. Go to www.woodworkingshop.com and enter SA99998 into the search field.

[Mike Holbrook]

Hi Jeff,
I just picked up one of each size of those recently, had not thought about using them to restore tools. I will give it a try. Glad you provided that link, I was just thinking about finding a link for Tormek supplies.

[Jeff Farris]

Hi Jeff,
I just picked up one of each size of those recently, had not thought about using them to restore tools. I will give it a try. Glad you provided that link, I was just thinking about finding a link for Tormek supplies.

That would be http://www.tormekstore.com

[Tom Godley]

I bought a large jug of Evapo Rust at HF to work on a box of old planes that I picked up for a dollar at a farm sale. I figured I would try it out since others mentioned that it worked.

Boy does it work - the stuff is amazing. I have no idea what's in it but with no odor and easy to handle -- it gets my vote.

One thing -- You need to buy enough so that the part can be fully submerged in the solution. The larger one HF sells I believe is a gallon -- about $20. With the correct container you can get most planes submerged with that amount.


I have used it a bunch of times -- I am wondering how long it lasts??

[Bob Easton]

I am wondering what the trick is to get tools to the state of perfection that places like WK seem to achieve regularly?

Be careful about what chemicals you use. Some are transformative, causing rusted metal to acquire a dull gray that will never ever be shiny again.

If your intent is to mimic Wictor's work and turn things bright and shiny again, use very simple chemicals such as mineral spirits or vinegar and a lot of elbow grease. Apply the elbow grease with the least abrasive tools possible, Use brass brushes, hand powered, rather than steel. Better yet, whenever possible use nylon brushes rather than brass.

Once all the rust is gone, start polishing. Begin with nothing more abrasive than 600. Then, go finer, right down to the 3M micro-abrasive grades.

I recently rehabed a Goodell-Pratt eggbeater and took the polishing all the way to 0.3 micron lapping film. I think the results are similar to Wiktor's.

http://www.bob-easton.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/goodell-pratt-refurb-sm.JPG

One last opinion... There's not a single part on a drill that should be cleaned or polished with a belt sander. That's like taking care of your flower garden with a bulldozer.

[John Keeton]

I bought a large jug of Evapo Rust at HF ...One thing -- You need to buy enough so that the part can be fully submerged in the solution.Tom, another vote for Evaporust. Not sure how long it lasts, but I have used mine several times. For a container, I took a section of PVC and installed a cap. You can fully submerge 2-3 plane bodies and all parts with a gallon.

The critical issues with Evaporust are complete submersion (it will etch a line at the surface) and immediately after you rinse the article, spray it down with WD40, or rust will form right in front of your eyes!

[Mike Holbrook]

I had a good day on eBay yesterday. I had been bidding on Yankee 1545 and 1530 drills for a week and loosing. Then I found an auction with both drills in the same offering. There were actually three drills the third being a Millers Falls Buck Rodgers. I won the auction for less than what one drill had been selling for.

I do not have the drills yet but judging from the pictures they are in very good shape. The main issue with many of these drills is the purplish paint used on the handles tends to peel off. The 1545's paint has peeled/worn off the ends of the handles for sure. So I plan to restore the handles to a more natural wood appearance.

I am wondering if you guys would remove some paint first with mineral spirits or stripper and then refine the job with a little sanding? Or maybe there is a better safer method? Maybe then I will use some BLO or stain and some type of varnish to get them back to a more natural woody state.

[derek sikes]

A guy that goes by Froglips on another forum I frequent posted a tip using sliced raw potato's in a bath of water as a rust remover. A couple of people have tried it with great results. They soaked old saw blades in the potato bath for about 2 weeks and after removing the layer of whatever it is on the saw they come out with no rust. It's reported to smell a little, and I don't have the patience to try it, but it sounds interesting.

[Mike Holbrook]

Bob,
I have been admiring your work on the MF #2 for weeks now.

I have worn out a few brass brushes, both the hand and dremel variety. I am trying to follow Bob's example on the 1530AX and 1545 I just acquired. The 1545 turns out to be in very good working order with no functional issues and very good teeth. For some reason the paint was almost all gone on the 1545's main gear though. I have brushed the rest of the paint off the main gear and I am thinking about painting the entire drill.

The 1530AX which appeared to be in the best shape in pictures has several functional issues I am still working patiently on, mostly soaking it. The ratcheting slider was stuck as was the chuck. It is strange that a drill which appears to be in this good a shape has these issues. The slide is starting to free up but is much rougher than on the 1545 or a very old rusted 1530 I have. The chuck still refuses to budge.

Some of the old drills/braces I have are in such bad shape, I am thinking about giving Evapo Rust a shot. I have made progress with hand brushing and soaking but I'm not sure the job will get done in my life time at the current pace.

My largest issue at the moment is dealing with the enclosed ratcheting systems in 1530 and 1545 type Yankee/Stanley/North Bros. hand drills. There appears to be a thin sheet of metal just inside the mechanism, around the small nub used to change settings. I am afraid that tolerances within that enclosed ratcheting system are tight. I am trying not to use any chemicals or substances that might foul anything contained in these areas. I am a little torn as to how to remove paint and rust from surrounding areas.

I am going to make another post to solicit information from those who have dealt specifically with the complicated ratcheting systems on this type drill.