Cleaning Old Tools

[Rawhide]

For you guys and gals that restore old tools, how do you do it? I have a rein rounder that I'd like to clean up. It's not in bad shape, but it could use a good cleaning.

Thanks,

Marlon

[amuckart]

Do you have pictures of it?

What I do depends an awful lot on the state of the tool to begin with.

[Rawhide]

Here's a picture

Edited August 4, 2012 by Rawhide

[Sylvia]

I don't know about the others but I would give that a good old buffing with some fine steel wool. Then give it a light coat of machine oil and wipe it down really well.

[amuckart]

Judjung by the picture, that's not in bad shape, all I'd do to it is polish the channels if they need it and be done with it.

If its dirty, just wash it in some very hot very soapy water, dry quickly, spray with WD-40 to displace the moisture in the hinge, wipe downand oil lightly.

[Rawhide]

What should I polish the channels with? And oil with? Thanks for your suggestions.

[Kevin]

I would just use triple 0 steel wool to get any rust that might stain your leather, it doesn't really need to be polished, in my experience, a little texture helps to burnish. I wouldn't oil it unless you aren't going to use it for a while or it's in a very humid area.

Good to see you,

Kevin

PS Using it will polish it.

[Rawhide]

Very good, I will be aquiring some steel wool soon! Thanks guys and gals.

[Woodyrock]

An effective rust removal method that is both easy, and safe is a soak in a warm solution of citric acid, and water. Mix one cup of citric acid crystals to one gallon of water. You can find citric acid at any brewers/winemakers supply shop. Light rust will convert in minutes, and of course heavy rust will take linger. As soon as the tool has turned black with no red rust colour it is done. Take it out, rinse in hot water, and dry quickly. If you leave it wet to dry slowly, it will re-rust. This method will get the rust where you can not remove it mechanically. The conversion process does produce a rotten egg smell, so if male be careful about doing this in the kitchen sink. It will not harm anything, but the gentler sex may complain about the smell. The solution will keep for a long period, so is store-able. It can also be safely (and legally) be poured down the drain.

Woody

[Sylvia]

Rawhide. If you have any chop sticks around pull off some of the 000 steel wool and twist it around the stick... use that like a "hone" and polish those channels. I use Metal Glo professional metal polish. It's a very fine polish in a toothpaste tube. http://www.amazon.com/United-Cutlery-UC2723-Metal-Polishing/dp/B000F6UC98 and regular 3n1 oil thin coat then a good wipe off.

[JRodz]

Rawhide,To clean up tools and metal parts in general (I work on old cars and bikes too), i use a plastic brush and "Barkeeper's Friend." It is very effective on blemishes, rust, and oxidation with less abrasiveness than steel wool or scrub pads. After that, I buff on the soft wheel using green rouge. I have restored everything from Harley parts, to classic car emblems, to 60+ year old shaving razors this way. The pieces cleaned up nice with minimum metal removal.

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

Instead of oiling , I would maybe use a car wax-less mess and transfer. Here in the very dry desert we generally don't have to worry about rust.

[tbmow]

You can also use buffing/polishing compounds if you have a dremel or a drill press. These come in different grits (or coarseness) and usually different colors represent different grits. Depending on how rough the surface is and how smooth you want it to be determines which color you start with. Start with the coarser compound and proceed to the finer compound.

The compound is some type of abrasive (different types of abrasives for different grits and for different types of metals being polished) that is mixed with a wax. The wax is colored, like a candle, so that you can quickly determine which grit (color) you need. Of course you have to do this quite a bit to memorize the color/grit combinations.

You need some buffing wheels (simply circular pieces of cloth sewn together to form a "wheel"), and you need one wheel for each color of compound. The process is easy: hold the stick of compound against the spinning wheel for about 1 second, and then polish. After polishing with a rougher (coarser) compound, you proceed to the next finer compound (and a new wheel), and so on. The purpose of one wheel per compound is so that you will not have coarse grit scratching your metal when you try to use a finer compound.

If you decide to use a drill press, look up on the web the safe way to position yourself and the piece you are polishing so that the piece does not get thrown into you when it snags the wheel. Because the wheel for a drill press is larger, the piece being polished can get hot very quickly. The dremel tool does not produce that much force so it is not an issue for the size piece you showed above.

You can also use buffing/polishing compounds if you have a dremel or a drill press. These come in different grits (or coarseness) and usually different colors represent different grits. Depending on how rough the surface is and how smooth you want it to be determines which color you start with. Start with the coarser compound and proceed to the finer compound.

The compound is some type of abrasive (different types of abrasives for different grits and for different types of metals being polished) that is mixed with a wax. The wax is colored, like a candle, so that you can quickly determine which grit (color) you need. Of course you have to do this quite a bit to memorize the color/grit combinations.

You need some buffing wheels (simply circular pieces of cloth sewn together to form a "wheel"), and you need one wheel for each color of compound. The process is easy: hold the stick of compound against the spinning wheel for about 1 second, and then polish. After polishing with a rougher (coarser) compound, you proceed to the next finer compound (and a new wheel), and so on. The purpose of one wheel per compound is so that you will not have coarse grit scratching your metal when you try to use a finer compound.

If you decide to use a drill press, look up on the web the safe way to position yourself and the piece you are polishing so that the piece does not get thrown into you when it snags the wheel. Because the wheel for a drill press is larger, the piece being polished can get hot very quickly. The dremel tool does not produce that much force so it is not an issue for the size piece you showed above.