daniel lane
05-11-2012, 2:57 PM
Some of you may remember my earlier post trying to figure out what was wrong with a sticky MF brace. Well, I tried soaking in WD40, etc., and ultimately got fed up and decided to completely restore the thing. The results are below. Please keep in mind that I don't claim to be an expert at this, and I just wanted a good user, but comments/criticism are welcome.
To start, the brace is a Millers Falls 122, looks like pre-1895 with Amidon's jaws. The CW/CCW rotating ring was jammed stuck, and for the life of me I couldn't figure out how to disassemble the box to try to clean it. After reading advice here and some other sites, I decided not to open the box but instead just to try a thorough soak/cleaning. Here's the 'before' picture of the head:
231872
The WD-40 soak didn't do much, although it loosened some crud in there, so after 3 days soaking I got fed up and I soaked it in heavy duty engine degreaser. This turned out to be a much better idea! After about a 15 minute soak, everything was much better! I used a toothbrush, toothpicks, and everything else I could find to scrub and otherwise clean the brace. After this, I washed it and applied a naval jelly rust remover. Learning from another's mistake, I only did one end at a time so I had something to hold on to while scrubbing with a wire brush! Having finished scrubbing with the rust remover, I thoroughly washed the brace and used a hair dryer to make sure it was dry. I then used 400 and 600 grit sandpaper to clean it gently and remove flash rust, and oiled the whole thing with 3-in-1 oil.
During all of this, I masked out the handle and removed the pad. After I was done with the final oiling, I covered the metal with plastic bags taped down and then sanded the handle. I wasn't looking for a new finish, but it had some paint lumps on it and had a funky smell - almost like it had been finished with an oil that went rancid. After the handle, I sanded the pad down, as well. Once that was done, wiped everything down with a very slightly oily cloth to get rid of dust, then flooded on some BLO. Waited a while and then wiped and buffed it. I will do more coats over time, but here is the final result:
231873
For comparison, here is a different brace that is not quite as rusty as the MF was to start:
231874
It works like a dream! I love this brace, it's smooth, grips well, and I'm thrilled it's back in good health. The only remaining thing...the loose pad problem I think I've mentioned before. I'm just going to live with it. Not sure what happened here, but it looks like a ball-bearing race broke off and the pad has a lot of up/down play. (My research says this one wouldn't have had a ball bearing head, but if the jaws were swapped out, it might be an older model.) Anyway, it doesn't wobble so with pressure during use, it shouldn't be a problem.
231875
And there's my first brace restoration.
daniel
To start, the brace is a Millers Falls 122, looks like pre-1895 with Amidon's jaws. The CW/CCW rotating ring was jammed stuck, and for the life of me I couldn't figure out how to disassemble the box to try to clean it. After reading advice here and some other sites, I decided not to open the box but instead just to try a thorough soak/cleaning. Here's the 'before' picture of the head:
231872
The WD-40 soak didn't do much, although it loosened some crud in there, so after 3 days soaking I got fed up and I soaked it in heavy duty engine degreaser. This turned out to be a much better idea! After about a 15 minute soak, everything was much better! I used a toothbrush, toothpicks, and everything else I could find to scrub and otherwise clean the brace. After this, I washed it and applied a naval jelly rust remover. Learning from another's mistake, I only did one end at a time so I had something to hold on to while scrubbing with a wire brush! Having finished scrubbing with the rust remover, I thoroughly washed the brace and used a hair dryer to make sure it was dry. I then used 400 and 600 grit sandpaper to clean it gently and remove flash rust, and oiled the whole thing with 3-in-1 oil.
During all of this, I masked out the handle and removed the pad. After I was done with the final oiling, I covered the metal with plastic bags taped down and then sanded the handle. I wasn't looking for a new finish, but it had some paint lumps on it and had a funky smell - almost like it had been finished with an oil that went rancid. After the handle, I sanded the pad down, as well. Once that was done, wiped everything down with a very slightly oily cloth to get rid of dust, then flooded on some BLO. Waited a while and then wiped and buffed it. I will do more coats over time, but here is the final result:
231873
For comparison, here is a different brace that is not quite as rusty as the MF was to start:
231874
It works like a dream! I love this brace, it's smooth, grips well, and I'm thrilled it's back in good health. The only remaining thing...the loose pad problem I think I've mentioned before. I'm just going to live with it. Not sure what happened here, but it looks like a ball-bearing race broke off and the pad has a lot of up/down play. (My research says this one wouldn't have had a ball bearing head, but if the jaws were swapped out, it might be an older model.) Anyway, it doesn't wobble so with pressure during use, it shouldn't be a problem.
231875
And there's my first brace restoration.
daniel