Spring woes

[Ron Journeau]

I slogged my way out to the work shed that has been closed all winter today, the thought in mind to start up slowly by way of moving out some of the deck and yard thingies that have occupied my workspace throughout the winter, but was met by a situation that sadly never occured to me last fall when I winterized the yard. Every tool and surface is covered by a thick,scaly covering of rust..morse tapers, cole jaws, lathe parts, gouges..I am almost at a loss for words..at least words that can bear repeating...I'll leave the other words alone for now. I returned to the house with a chuck and cole jaws that was just handy by the door, and have started to clean them up with 0000 steel wool. The rust comes off after a while, but the underlying metal is stained and lightly pitted. Should I use rust remover or an oil based product to assist in rust removal, or just steel wool and wax after. I don't want to contaminate the wood pieces after if that can be avoided because of finishing issues, but want to try and salvage what I can of my tools, as I, like the rest of you, just can't run out and buy more when I feel like it. Geez, this really put a damper on a nice day off . Any ideas, people?:(

[Keith Burns]

Ron, I wish I could help , but alas I can't. I'm sure we all feel your pain.

[Paul Engle]

Steel wool, wD-40, elbow grease, minwas finish was( hard wood floor / furniture type paste wax) boy , once the rust gets the pits in , its done. wire brush on grinder , wipe with thinner let dry, then wax over the polish job, no oil or grease . boy golly been there done that .....

[Joe Melton]

Ron, soak them in full strength vinegar for an hour and then rinse, dry and oil. That will get you started.
Joe

[Jonathon Spafford]

Ack... sounds not fun! So sorry to hear it! I rusted a table saw over the top because I left a glass of water on it for quenching turning tools while grinding... duh! (we turners just don't think about these things). I Just used a little 220 and 320 to get it off. Then I put some Top-Cote on it to keep it protected. I think the vinegar soak idea would also be a good solution for getting everywhere on the tools. Hope you can get your tools all fixed up again. Let us know how it goes!

[Bernie Weishapl]

I would go the vinegar route letting it soak for a while then finish with a little steel wool or wire brush. Rinse them off with hot water, then DNA and dry with a hairdryer. The DNA will displace any water inside like a chuck, etc. I use it as a final rinse on clock movements I have cleaned use a water base cleaner and water rinse. Used it now for 15 yrs. Once clean I would either wax or use Top-Cote on them.

[Bob Opsitos]

Check with some of the handtoolies to see how they get rust off plane parts. I recall reading something about a citric acid dip that is supposed to work wonders.

In most cases I expect the tool's function won't be damaged because of the rust (gouges and such). Focus your efforts on the stuff that is compromised (morse tapers).

Good luck
bob

[Kaptan J.W. Meek]

Vinegar is an acid. I don't know about the citric acid, but I'll bet it's comparable to vinegar... Steel wool and a BRASS brush will be your friends on this one.. Good luck.

[Ron Journeau]

thanks for the ideas,guys. Tried the steel wool and wd-40 on the coles jaws and chuck, followed by wax, then stored in heated room(boy, is that room gunna be full come next fall) seems okay, but will try the vinegar on the next batch to see how it goes. The pitting and discoloration really burns me, not my style to ruin tools like that. Very hard to find DNA in Canada (guess the gov't thinks we'll try to drink it or somethin' like that) so will try methyl hydrate as a water displacer.

[Jason Hallowell]

The easiest rust removal method is probably electrolosis. I have done some pretty large de-rusting jobs that way. There was a recent thread here about it - http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=53881 If you're not up for that, the more acidic your cleaning solution, the less elbow grease required. The muriatic acid used for pool cleaning works pretty well.

[Jim Johnstun]

use coke-a-cola. Thati is what we used in the navy and it worked great. should be the original stuff. Don't know about the new formula.

[Ron Journeau]

Well, today was rescue day, gave all the gouges and chucks and live centers a vinegar bath followed by a brass brush workover. Followed that with vinegar and 1500 wet sandpaper, then into the thinner to rinse off and allow me to go in and make supper for the teenager(Lordy but they can eat, can't they?)
After supper, dried everything off, then had a go at them with the Beal buffers, followed by a coat of Minwax paste wax...Jeez, I tell ya,I don't feel so bad now, they actually came out quite well..Thanks again guys for all the suggestions..Oh, by the way...any idea how to get rid of the overpowering stench of vinegar..I used a gallon of it today, feel like a pickle:D

[Martin Braun]

I think you'll need some ketchup & mustard to go with the pickle smell :D

[Ron Journeau]

I believe mayo or mustard would go extremely well with the smell, but that ain't gunna happen for a long time...bummer