mreisner
Well-known member
I thought for a moment Garage Journal had gave me some bad advice, but in the end it proved to be spot on.
I recently came across a mostly complete set of Snap-on short 12 point end wrenches. While I have a set in standard I have been looking for metric and came across these at an estate sale for a ridiculously cheap price. Set is complete from 6 to 19 however was missing and 8 and a 12 which I got off of eBay for fairly reasonable. The wrenches were in rough shape appearance-wise although both ends were in excellent condition. I'm not at all a fan of the black oxide finish, but for the few bucks I have into this set I can overlook it. After cleaning them up in a Sonic cleaner and removing the rust with evapo rust there was a lot of bare metal. I did some research and a few threads on here recommended the Oxpho Blue from Brownells. I got a couple of small bottles of it and used it as directed and was not very impressed. The color of the steel had barely changed and I thought I had wasted my money. I did several applications and the color did not seem to get any darker. I let them dry overnight and for the hell of it and because I thought they would rust otherwise I put a light coat of oil on them. And then I saw the magic! A deep dark blueish black and quite even also. Apparently the oil is a big part of developing the finish. After letting the oil soak for about an hour I wiped them down with a paper towel and must admit that they felt very nice in the hand. Not rough at all although you could still get a good grip on them. They didn't feel abrasive or like a lot of older oxide finishes almost chalky. I'm very impressed with the finish of this and the ease of use. I cleaned up a few other impacts extensions and sockets that had a little rust on them and used this to touch them up and it blends in very well. I'm very happy with the results and should not have doubted The Garage Journal experts in the first place.
I recently came across a mostly complete set of Snap-on short 12 point end wrenches. While I have a set in standard I have been looking for metric and came across these at an estate sale for a ridiculously cheap price. Set is complete from 6 to 19 however was missing and 8 and a 12 which I got off of eBay for fairly reasonable. The wrenches were in rough shape appearance-wise although both ends were in excellent condition. I'm not at all a fan of the black oxide finish, but for the few bucks I have into this set I can overlook it. After cleaning them up in a Sonic cleaner and removing the rust with evapo rust there was a lot of bare metal. I did some research and a few threads on here recommended the Oxpho Blue from Brownells. I got a couple of small bottles of it and used it as directed and was not very impressed. The color of the steel had barely changed and I thought I had wasted my money. I did several applications and the color did not seem to get any darker. I let them dry overnight and for the hell of it and because I thought they would rust otherwise I put a light coat of oil on them. And then I saw the magic! A deep dark blueish black and quite even also. Apparently the oil is a big part of developing the finish. After letting the oil soak for about an hour I wiped them down with a paper towel and must admit that they felt very nice in the hand. Not rough at all although you could still get a good grip on them. They didn't feel abrasive or like a lot of older oxide finishes almost chalky. I'm very impressed with the finish of this and the ease of use. I cleaned up a few other impacts extensions and sockets that had a little rust on them and used this to touch them up and it blends in very well. I'm very happy with the results and should not have doubted The Garage Journal experts in the first place.
