I picked up a old Matco flex head ratchet, in rough shape. Yesterday I was messing around in the shop and decided to give it a little love. I took it apart cleaned and lubed it. Pressed out the pin cleaned and stretched the spring and cleaned up the ball. It still looked ugly. I had a Mac hard handled, clutch screwdriver so I pried the handle off, drilled it out and fit it to the ratchet. Turned that matco into a pretty nice ratchet. The handle is old and grimey. I want to kinda polish it, but am not sure what to use. Fine sandpaper, emery cloth, I don't know. If anybody has done this with success, please chime in.
Anyone ever shine up a old hard handle?
- Thread starter Larch
- Start date
From another forum member who came up with this procedure and I'm just passing a condensed version on to you.
1) Thoroughly clean plastic handle to remove all grease.
2) Go over the handle with auto polishing compound to remove fine scratches and scuffs. By hand or with a buffer wheel.
3) Polish to a high gloss with auto paste wax.
It's what I did to bring my set of vintage Proto drivers back to a fairly decent glow.
1) Thoroughly clean plastic handle to remove all grease.
2) Go over the handle with auto polishing compound to remove fine scratches and scuffs. By hand or with a buffer wheel.
3) Polish to a high gloss with auto paste wax.
It's what I did to bring my set of vintage Proto drivers back to a fairly decent glow.
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I have. The problem I ran into with sand paper is that the original finish is comprised of longitudinal scratches. They are not smooth or shiny. Those scratches actually make the handle matte looking and easier to grip. I tried to match the original finish by roughing the handles with 60 or 100 grit sand paper.
You can locally sand out or blend in deep scratches and knicks using coarse sand paper. Otherwise, I would clean the handles with superclean or purple power. Don't use BrakeKleen because it melts plastic handles.
You can locally sand out or blend in deep scratches and knicks using coarse sand paper. Otherwise, I would clean the handles with superclean or purple power. Don't use BrakeKleen because it melts plastic handles.
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Those Proto drivers look great! If I can get the Mac Handle to look nice, I will try that on my yellow protos. Yes Adam, the Mac are very similar to the Snap On.
Stuart in MN
Well-known member
Figure out what kind of plastic the handle is made from before using a buffing wheel - if it's a thermoplastic, it's really easy to melt the plastic when buffing it.
Dave455
Well-known member
I was given one of the old Snap On drivers with the square hard handle (think they were Tenite)!
Cleaned it with warm water and detergent then polished it using Autosol metal polish. Came up almost like new!
Cleaned it with warm water and detergent then polished it using Autosol metal polish. Came up almost like new!
Those Proto drivers look great! If I can get the Mac Handle to look nice, I will try that on my yellow protos. Yes Adam, the Mac are very similar to the Snap On.
I wish I could take all that credit, but, the camera makes them look better than they really are. They are not bad, and they are working tools.
superautobacs
Well-known member
jeffmoss26
Well-known member
That is a beauty.
JoeSnapOn
Well-known member
Tripoli compound and buffing wheel