Derusting

[James Scheffler]

I have a couple of tools that have rusted metal parts that can't be easily separated from the wood parts they're attached to. Will soaking in Evaporust or citric acid discolor the wood? I doubt if they would damage the wood, but I don't want to mess things up....

Thanks,
Jim

[Jim Koepke]

Pictures would be very helpful in getting help with this problem.

Soaking wood is seldom done without some consequence.

jim

[Jacob Reverb]

I'd hesitate soaking in acid for fear of the acid getting into the wood permanent-like and corroding the steel down the road.

I suspect that even if the acid was neutralized by combining with some metal(s) into some ionic salt(s), those compounds would still have an affinity for moisture and cause rust.

I think I'd try to separate the wood from the metal parts with some mineral spirits or something along those lines...

[James Scheffler]

Pictures would be very helpful in getting help with this problem.

Soaking wood is seldom done without some consequence.

jim

Yeah, I know there are potential issues with wood swelling or warping when it gets wet. I don't have pictures right now.

One tool is a drawknife with rusty endcaps on the wooden handles. In that case, I don't think getting them wet is going to make them worse than they are now.

The other tool is an old wooden plane with a steel wear strip on the fence. I would like to remove it without ruining the screws, which are oxidized along with the fence. The screws are steel, but they look delicate and I'm pretty sure they won't come free without a struggle.

Jim

[Mike Siemsen]

To remove rusty screws from wood find a steel rod the diameter of the head of the screw. Hold the rod against the screw head and heat the rod red hot, don't heat the wood just the rod. After the screw cools it should turn out. The heating tends to break the rust loose.
Mike

[James Taglienti]

Anything that isn't japanned, nickeled, or painted I usually put into the electro-bath, followed by a fine wire wheel, and i try to keep some WD40 on the iron at all times the rust just seems to come off better that way. Plane bodies and the like are solely wire wheel. I have a pretty weak grinder but it is actually a blessing in this situation becuase it forces me to use a light touch. If there is pitting and it is impeding a mechanical function (ie back of chisel, plane iron, throat of plane) then it gets filed or sanded. If it is cosmetic, then it stays. Sometimes it helps to use WD40 with emery paper, but I try not to over do it.
If the drawknife was mine, I'd hang it upside down in the electro-dip thing for a couple hours with the handles just above the water. Then I'd wire wheel all the steel and iron parts.
Electrolysis (?) bath I set up about a year ago and it's awesome. It WILL cause paint and japanning to come loose from metals though. I have yet to try it on nickel.

[James Scheffler]

To remove rusty screws from wood find a steel rod the diameter of the head of the screw. Hold the rod against the screw head and heat the rod red hot, don't heat the wood just the rod. After the screw cools it should turn out. The heating tends to break the rust loose.
Mike

I haven't heard of that before. Might be worth a try.

Thanks to everyone for your suggestions! I need to think about this some more before I do anything.

Jim