Most guys? Really? You mean in real life? There are some, er, um, (searching for the most polite term...) overdoers here on GJ, too quick to resort to a grinder or wire wheel, and too heavy-handed when they do, for my liking/preference/aesthetic, I will emphasize, but my feeling is the exact opposite. My feeling just from being here and seeing pics and reading through the many and various "Cleaning and De-Rusting Vintage Tools" threads that have popped up over the last few years (some of them captured and linked in the Sticky Index) is that the majority of collectors just use a penetrating oil of choice (WD40, PB Blaster, etc) with a light abrasive of choice (Scotchbrite, 0000 steel wool) and/or a hand wire brush of choice if they can get away with it, Evaporust (or alternative - I actually much prefer Metal Rescue, but it's even more expensive) or e-tank only if badly needed. I don't see too many guys going to the grinder/wire wheel. Maybe I am wrong and just subconsciously averting my eyes to avoid the horror!
It depends on the paint! Evaporust and Metal Rescue will loosen and dull any paint made with oxide pigments in no time, and it will strip it in an hour or so. A lot of old paint has oxide pigments in it, and it's making a resurgence in modern paint. And, it's not confined to red, brown, and yellow. Blue paint has magnesium and other oxides. Perhaps you've just been lucky so far.
Maybe not “most guys” here. I’ll own up to a tendancy toward rhetorical generalization, and another one toward aesthetic evangelism. Thanks for coaxing me off the soapbox.
RTM, your FB group are undoubtedly descended from people who used to mark their tools like this:
Better a soapbox than a cliff!
Why? I have always used solid copper wire to suspend the rusty tools - 12 or 14 gauge - hasn't caused any problems I'm aware of - or am I just not paying close enough attention?
I use Washing Soda (Na2CO3) for the electrolyte, in case that matters.
Between the mist and my mask fogging up my glasses, I couldn't see a danged thing at the flea market this morning, but I managed to come home with my kind of haul (Lugz 2020_49).
I didn't uncoil the rope, which is genuine 1" three-strand manila, but I am guessing at least enough for three WWII Jeep tow ropes. Allen hex wrench holder. Botnick in a size I don't have. RIDGID screw extractors. The little leatherette CORNWELL TOOLS case has a sharpening stone in it. Long C pipe cutter. H.D. SMITH extra heavy duty machinists' screwdriver. Complete 1921 Indestro No. 19 set. A wartime Barcalo-Buffalo 28S wrench. And a Victor multi wrench.
More photos and details on various Vintage Board threads later.
P.S. - Even if I had gotten skunked it would've been a banner day, because I ran into Jack, an oldtimer who used to sell antique and vintage tools at my Wednesday flea market in Lakewood, which, as some of you may recall, has now been flattened and landscaped for a condominium complex. He told me he now sells at New Egypt on Wednesdays. New Egypt is one of the oldest flea markets in NJ. Tiny but legendary. There are a few dozen shacks there that vendors built over time. Each shack has a table or two in front of it. The vendors would lock their stuff up in the shacks, and sell off the tables and inside the shack. Going back seventy years, resembling a hobo camp and an arts colony combined, but dilapidated and abandoned. Apparently alot of the sellers from Lakewood have migrated there.
And modern rope has a green tracer in it. Blah!
What is the mystery? Whether they were actually made BY or FOR Botnick Motor Corporation (which seems to have ended the 20th century as a Chevrolet dealership)?
"Mystery Vice Grips" was the name of Ryan's thread, LS. He was not familiar with BMC at the time. They were indeed made by the Botnick Chevy dealership, initially, just for their own shop, because the old man couldn't find a vise grip that was adjustable by precise size with jaws that stayed squared-up to the workpiece. So he designed and made his own! They sold them by hand and later distributors. More info in Ryan's thread.
Why? I have always used solid copper wire to suspend the rusty tools - 12 or 14 gauge - hasn't caused any problems I'm aware of - or am I just not paying close enough attention?
I use Washing Soda (Na2CO3) for the electrolyte, in case that matters.
Thanks for the segue, Outlaw. Here's my side-track Where's Waldo? entry for the nature (and camouflage) lovers. She's a big'n! That is a 4" x 4" fence post. Just spotted a few hours ago. It really was my (good) lucky day.
came early this year
