BreeStephany
ALLIANCE MEMBER
New Britian tool enthusiast will probably hate this... but here is my NB40 1/2" BLACKOUT ratchet.
I was cleaning up a 1/2" drive New Britian NB40 ratchet whose previous owner likely used it more for a hammer than a ratchet, used and abused it and left it out the elements to rust.
I came upon it covered in rust, but the internals were in good condition and only had surface rust and no pitting or mechanical damage.
It was far too pitted and dinged up to make it possible to polish up but I didnt just want to clean and lube it and put it back to service, I wanted to do a little something extra to make it look better than just free of rust.
I disassembled it, gave it a bath in boiling water and dawn to draw out the oils and general filth, brushed off the thick coat of rust and then soaked it in evaporust for about a day. I then ran it on the wire wheel and buffer to clean up the surface as much as possible. The front face was so dented from its previous misuse that I had to put it in a press between 2 blocks of tool steel and pressed at a few points to get the face flat again.
I knew I was going to blue the drive gear, direction selector and pawls, but after letting it sit on the bench for a few days, I decided why not just blue the entire ratchet. I mixed up concentrated selenious acid, nitric acid and phosphoric acid and brushed it to the surface of the individual pieces. I brushed on the solution twice, letting it dwell in solution 2 minutes between coats, then put it in a pan of water to neutralize the acid, dried the parts and then applied again until it had a pretty uniform black oxide finish, again neutralized the acid, dried the parts and then soaked the individual parts in conventional oil for rust prevention and to give the parts a bit of a shine.
I replaced the anvil detent ball and spring and direction selector detent ball and spring, lubed up the gear and reassembled it. It ended up being a late night reassembly when I remembered that the center screw was not original and needed to be replaced, but couldn't find one in my shop so I just put it in for the time being and will get the correct black oxide screw on Monday.
Its a 26 tooth ratchet, so it has some slop to it, but it engages tight in both directions at each tooth and instantly locks.
Obviously its not an accurate restoration, as the only chrome left on the ratchet was the interior of the pawl screws and the entire ratchet is blued instead of polished chrome, but given the condition, I am pretty happy with how it and the other 2 ratchets I was working on turned out.
I dont know if I would do this again, but it was a fun "what the hell, why not?" Kind of project given its overall condition.
The bluing is a really durable finish and it will likely take quite a lot of abuse on projects where I would be a bit hesitant to use some of my nicer tool truck ratchets.
