advice on restoring cast iron post-stand

[Hooterville]

Seeking recommendations for restoring (and putting to use in my garage) a very old (120 yrs?) cast iron post-stand with some surface rust. Since the brass label can date the stand/label back to circa 1899 ....my thought is to NOT remove & replace the brass label. Is there a treatment for cast iron that does not harm the brass label? One option is electrolysis but would need to test what it does to brass.

 

[drivesitfar]

first off WELCOME TO GARAGE JOURNAL.

we deal with a ton of cast old vises in the vise repair 101 thread and a lot of the vises have brass tags so my advice to you is to post these pictures and your questions over on that thread and here's the link:

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=252830

what sort of finish do you want on it Paint, Boiled Linseed Oil (BLO), seasoning sort of like a cast iron pan or do tell?

I probably wouldn't put it in an electrolysis tank cause for one it would be pretty big and you probably should remove the brass tag. do you have a nice hand grinder and dremel with wire brushes that might take a while, but that would get the rust off? i'm not sure if evaporust would harm brass, but that might be another option putting your stand in a couple garbage bags with a few gallons of that product.

 

[southalabama]

Nice.

I’d do it with wire brush.

 

[The Cobbler]

I would be tempted to try & remove the tag so you don't damage it. its beautiful
are there thru holes that you could punch the pins out from the backside?

 

[Hooterville]

thanks for the great feedback ....
1. Ideal Restore: fresh paint is my least favorite. Except for the base I see what I think is black paint, so my ideal restore would be original paint even if some areas are bare metal, next best restore is go down to bare metal and, like "drivesitfar" said, a cast-iron skillet look. If the latter would paste-wax coating prevent further rust?
2. I will explore the link to the vise thread.
3. Remove tag: "Cobbler" was right, there are thru holes (see pic). Oddly they look like brass head on the outside and steel nails on the inside. Knowing how hard it is to drill holes in cast iron I suspect they hammered those in without pre-drilling. Ideally they will come out without mangling and I could put originals back in.
4. Evaporust or electrolysis: I am thinking one of these is the way to go, especially if there is salvageable paint under the rust.

 

[steaks&anvils]

edit: your picture didn't show for me when I last looked at your comment. I bet you can get those studs to push out enough to grab them.

I think people have removed the brass tags from vises using a very sharp chisel to very carefully get under the head of the stud/nail. Just enough to lift the head some and get a grip on it. Some were able to save the old nail others could not and needed to find or make new ones.

Look at the the birtman rock island vises or the craftsman vises with the metal "craftsman" logo.

For the finish, could you manually use a wire brush (I use a brass bristled brush on rusty pliers) to get the rust off, saving as much of the original paint, then use BLO to cover the paint and the "bare" spots? Not sure about how to remove and finish the inside rust?

 

[four.cycle]

I was given an old iron plant stand years ago that had been out in the rain for quite a while.
I took it to an acquaintance who was then in the business of remanufacturing engines. He had his crew toss it into the shot blaster for about 60 seconds.
Came out like brand new, but beat the hell out of the sheet-metal flower petals that were riveted on around the base.
After about 8 coats of Rustoleum satin black with a rattle can, it looked like a million bucks. My mother currently has it on her front porch with a plant of some sort growing in it.

You would, of course, have to remove that tag first.

YMMV

 

[FrankLee]

......
3. Remove tag: "Cobbler" was right, there are thru holes (see pic). Oddly they look like brass head on the outside and steel nails on the inside. Knowing how hard it is to drill holes in cast iron I suspect they hammered those in without pre-drilling. Ideally they will come out without mangling and I could put originals back in.

Cast iron is actually very easy to drill. I don't think that badge could have been attached without drilling.

Because of the length of nail protruding through to the inside, those look very easy to remove. Here's a set-up I used to remove drive screws using a long steel bar. You could use a similar set-up on a larger scale.

If you're planning on re-attaching the badge, re-drilling and tapping the holes for machine screws is an easy process. There are ways to "age" new screws to make them look old.

​

 

[Lookin4'67Galaxieconv]

Very cool stand. So what are you going to use it for, do you already have something in mind?

 

[wrenchguy]

I'd leave it, it'll outlast you 10 times over just the way it is.

 

[Hooterville]

Intended use: mount a 6" or 8" grinder, which I don't have yet. Prior to buying the Clizbe stand I was leaning toward a new Dewalt grinder, but I just can't see a bright yellow made-in China on top of the Clizbe stand. Rather I am searching for one made in USA, vintage all the better. I haven't researched it much but I do see craftsman block grinders for sale.

I may do little to no-work on the stand, i.e. brass brush the surface and apply BLO or ??. If it changes and I decide to remove the tag, I like FrankLee's idea of prying from the back ...with the right thickness of wood, I could insert a steel wedge between the wood and nail and hammer-tap straight down on the wedge to drive the nail out.

 

[Hooterville]

fyi ...today I attempted to respond to a Private Message however, as a new member, I am not permitted to PM until I complete 10 posts. So bare with me PM'er as I attempt to reach 10 posts!

 

[Hooterville]

Side note, and fun stuff .....my internet search for Clizbe Bros. lead me to website with historical info and pics for the Clizbe sickle grinders ...and at the bottom of the website it had a link for contacting the site historian if you have any info to add ...I did, and they emailed me within the hour. Long story short, my pics of the Clizbe stand are now in the archives of Vintage Machinery website ....link to follow on next post (I need 5 posts before I can attach a link)

 

[Hooterville]

Clizbe stand on Vintage Machinery website: http://vintagemachinery.org/photoindex/detail.aspx?id=40557

 

[lis2323]

As mentioned remove or work around the brass tag and use a cup style wire brush on an angle grinder.

Wear a mask. They give them away free at the entrance to most grocery stores around here.


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[Hooterville]

thanks lis2323 ....I am searching amazon now for wire brushes for my angle grinder.

 

[lis2323]

thanks lis2323 ....I am searching amazon now for wire brushes for my angle grinder.

I like Walter the best but have had good luck with Made in China off eBay



Waiting for Weldcote to come out with a line




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[Hooterville]

nice, thanks for the info. Walter it is.

 

[wrenchguy]

I have a Clizbe sickle grinder and want to mention the stand most likely had a bench grinder or buffer mounted to it. Clizbe called them floor models when mounted to stand.

 

[Hooterville]

good call "wrenchguy" ...the site historian at Vintage Machinery said the same thing ...most likely sold with grinder/polisher, see ad attached. See 2nd pic ...I am puzzled by the nub and cutouts on top base ...not sure why they are there.

 

[NJ Marty]

good call "wrenchguy" ...the site historian at Vintage Machinery said the same thing ...most likely sold with grinder/polisher, see ad attached. See 2nd pic ...I am puzzled by the nub and cutouts on top base ...not sure why they are there.

Cut outs 4x look like drill holes to make cutting quicker when the top of the base was modified for something other than the original buffer.

 

[Provincial]

The cutouts and nub are present because one base was used for a number of tools. If you look close at the VM ad in your post, the platform of the base has a raised lip around the edge, and the platform is larger than your stand. The excess was cut away to adapt the stand to the base of a tool that was installed in the past. The nub was intended for use with a tool that was never installed on this base.

 

[wrenchguy]

My experience with cast stands is the grinder is 1 piece and sits in a cast tray with lip. Those 2 pieces are prolly individually fastened to the stand. I got a similar stand that confounds me as it looks to have field windings cast in the core.

 

[Stevettt]

Very cool pedestal.
The cutouts don't look original, someone evidently reshaped the top to fit something specific. Still plenty left to bolt on whatever grinder you end up finding.
The nub is a puzzlement.

 

[Hooterville]

Update on what to place on my Clizbe stand ....I finally found a decent block grinder on CL that is size-appropriate for the Clizbe stand. I wanted a pre-block grinder but haven't seen one in California yet. For now, I am happy with my two grinders, the block grinder and my go-to-grinder = 8" Baldor.