My $2 Turkey Day (& a half) Restoration.

[MayerMR]

Well, I had a pretty laid back Thanksgiving. We didn't go anywhere and we just made a little dinner with the family, so I had some day to burn. I decided it was a perfect time to tackle the rusty 18" Ridgid pipe wrench I picked up for $2 at a vintage tool store in their outside "Everything is $2" bin.

How I got it:

I started by scrubbing it down with a wire brush to knock the grime and loose rust off and then I put it all into a container of Evap-o-rust.

This is after the Evap-o-rust bath and some additional scrubbing and drying with many paper towels. I taped off the bottom jaw and then hit it was some primer and then some paint that I had laying around

I also used some Birchwood Casey's Perma-Blue that I had on hand to reblue the knurled nut and moving top jaw. This took about three rounds of application, steel wool/brass brush polishing to get it to look good 'nuff for a pipe wrench.

I can't remember exactly, but I believe this is after the third coat and then a wipe-down and polishing with some paste wax.

And then finally the finale...I added some white paint to the handle lettering just because, what the hell right? I'm pretty happy with how she turned out!

 

[manwithtools]

WOW, that is awesome sir! Great work!

Edit: I'll add an "You ****" - $2 for a 18" Ridgid pipe wrench is crazy cheap!

 

[1/2 Cup]

MayerMR awesome work, thank you for posting

 

[woody 73]

Very nice I like the paint job.

Speaking of paint what is the color that Ridgid uses for their tools ?

 

[jd_1138]

Stunning work. And that wrench would be like $50 if you bought a new one so $2 is awesome.

 

[jd_1138]

Very nice I like the paint job.

Speaking of paint what is the color that Ridgid uses for their tools ?

Hemi Orange.

 

[MayerMR]

WOW, that is awesome sir! Great work!

MayerMR awesome work, thank you for posting

Thank ya gentlemen, I appreciate the kind words!

Very nice I like the paint job.

Speaking of paint what is the color that Ridgid uses for their tools ?

Gracias. Ridgid uses an orange and black color scheme for their power tools, but their pipe wrenches are red for some reason. I'd assume because their supplier uses red for other companies and it saves them some money? Beats me. I thought orange would look more "Ridgid-y" (my word, pat. pend.) so that's what I went with.

 

[PassnThru]

Impressive. You may receive a large, heavy box from me in the future.

You know what to do

 

[thejimmy]

Impressive!

(2 sec YT link)

 

[Shelbylex]

Bravo!

 

[MayerMR]

Thanks again fellas! Appreciate all the kind comments.

 

[bob from indiana]

Time well spent. A rusty relic restored to a useful tool!

 

[PugetDude]

Looks great, Mayer! How did you do the lettering?

 

[MayerMR]

Looks great, Mayer! How did you do the lettering?

Puget, white paint pen from paint aisle at Home Depot or Michael's. They cost slightly more than this wrench, lol

 

[Sevenhills1952]

I never heard of Evapo-rust until now. I would have sand blasted it but the chemical sounds like it would be better. I'll get some.
It's strange, the before picture if it was laying around no one would even look at it. Now it looks better than new.

Sent from my SM-S320VL using Tapatalk

 

[Richard Cranium]

You done good.

 

[Unruh]

I love seeing tools brought back and given new life! Great work

 

[d.mcfarland]

Nice!

 

[413dan]

that looks great. threads like these give me a new perspective on "junk" people are either giving away or charging in the area of two dollars. nice job OP. might have sparked some ideas to take up some time over this weekend stuck inside during the cold.