Tool Restoration

It might be widely know the virtues of vinegar. Not only can you put it on a salad, you can kill weeds with it, a perfect cleaner, and for the purposes of this instructable remove rust. Compared to other over the counter cleaning chemicals it can't be beat.

What follows are several examples of tools handed down to me from my father. Some of which I had no idea the age (still don't) or their origins.

The materials I used to clean and restore these tools are pretty basic.

• Vinegar
• WD 40
• Varnish
• Rubber gloves
• Various grits of sand paper
• Vibrating palm sander
• Steel wool
• Sanding sponge blocks(again various grits)
• Wire brushes(both small and large)
• Curie horse comb(yes believe it or not)
• Depending on the subject various files or dermal grinding stones.
• And last but not least… ELBOW Grease and patience.
• Oh and a couple of trays or water tight bins (large enough to hold items and shallow enough to where your not using gallons of vinegar at time.

I've used a variety of trays / bins to do my soaking. Whenever possible remove wood handles, but you'll see one square I had where this was impossible and it didn't seem to hurt the wood at all. The picture here is a shoe tray that you'd use in a entryway. I filled it with vinegar as much as I could with it going over the edges allowing for displacement of the items.

(NOTE: its recommended to have a very secure flat surface for this to set on). Place your subjects in the vinegar bath as submerged as possible. You want the exposed rusty surface covered as much as possible.

Here's where patience comes in.

Now wait. Depending how much rust you have, it could take up to a week or more to allow the vinegar to work. The picture shown has been sitting for at least a week.

Note: in some cases the rust was so bad that after waiting for a week a crust of rust had actually formed on the surface.

You'll have noticed in the Soak picture that yellow residue forming around the blades. This is the rust slowly coming off. Those two pieces, the saw blade and hand cycle had soaked for one week. I used an old cheap brush to lightly brush off the loosened rust from the blades and continued the soak for a second week.

Once you feel you've gotten as much rust off with the vinegar the hard part begins.

Wipe the pieces dry with old shop rags that you plan to throw away as they'll become completely rust covered.

Begin sanding with a heavy gauge grit sand paper. You may deem it necessary to use the vibrating palm sander for really stubborn areas. Continue sanding, rinse or wipe down with a wet rag of vinegar, dry again, repeat. You might find it necessary to use a wire brush to get into detailed areas. As you progress go to lighter grits and or steel wool. Eventually you'll get down to real metal color.

Once your happy with the look of the metal move on to any wood attachments. Sand these down with light grit to remove any oil or dirt. Once your happy with those surfaces move on to the next step.

Probably the simplest part of the restoration. Varnish or polyurethane the wood portions. I recommend masking off the metal areas, if still attached to the wood. Once the wood portions are dry reassemble to the metal parts. For the metal parts spray with WD 40 or any light oil to help seal and protect the metal from future rust. That's pretty much it.

I know it'll seem like a lot of work but if your like me you'll appreciate the finished results and in some cases be surprised at what you might discover along the way. Below are some case by case examples of things I've cleaned and restored.

When I took the handle off I was surprised the fittings were brass. This handsaw is a Disston. Unfortunately the detail imprinting on the blade was barely distinguishable. I've included a picture what it apparently looked like originally that I found on the internet.

Here are a pair of old screwdrivers. They are from a set 6 of different sizes. Before on the left, after cleaning on the right. Not finished with varnish yet though.

And just to show you how screwy I got doing this, here are some rusted old screws (I had to save from and old park bench) and how they cleaned up. This is where I used the curie comb brush to clean into the groves of the screws. I think I just saved myself a whole $1.30. LOL

Here is the originally pictured soaking hand cycle finished.

The hand square believe it or not was completely black as the handle which I determined to be walnut. A big surprise, there was no evidence looking at it in the beginning that it had a brass facing on it. After some research I've determined, according to the inscription, that its H.S.B. & Co. OVB( Hibbard Spencer Bartlett - Our Very Best) which appears to have been located in the Chicago, IL area. This would make sense as most of my dads tools were handed down to him from his father where they all lived in Mishawaka, IN.

The hammer axe I've been using for years and I wish I had a before picture because the entire thing was all brown and rusty looking. Heck the day before I started cleaning it I had just used it to chop out some tree roots to facilitate me laying some pavers near the patio. When I started cleaning it I was surprised to find the VanCamp logo on it. After some research I'm estimating its from the mid 50s to early 60s. This company was located in Indianapolis, IN. This also makes sense why my dad had it. Since he worked in Indianapolis the majority of his life.

The Crusader Scribe/Compass I use a lot more than I thought I ever would. It cleaned up nicely. The second picture shows another scribe/compass gives you a good before after even though they aren't the same item.

The Hand Rasp file was as black as could be. It cleaned up pretty good considering. I'm still researching how to sharpen this as it has curved blade edges. The painters tape still on to protect the metal portion of the handle.

I have several trim saws that were in need of some special care. The first one with a curved blade was in the worst shape, its handle had split and needed sharpening.

Removing the old handle I crafter a new one matching its overall shape. I bore holes to match the previous handle and to give it a bit more panache I carved some details and personalized it with my initials (thats the GF looking box/cross like thing at the base). I sanded down the blade after a good varnish soak.

Sharpened the teeth with one of my chisel files. Coated the entire blade with WD 40 and wiped clean. Varnished the handle and attached it. It now cuts through tree limbs like a hot knife through butter (ok well still using the elbow grease).

Now since this was an odd shaped saw it doesn't stand up so good and I hate hanging saws, so for some extra protection of the blade I took a piece of old scrap garden hose and placed over the business edge of the blade holding in place with a couple mini bungee cords.

Also picture are a couple old restored trim saws that I had to remove the handles from blades. Cleaned the blades and varnished handles.

Post Note: I hope you take the time and effort to clean & restore some of your tools. You might be surprised what you find along the way and at the end you'll appreciate your efforts.