Painting hand tools - Does it work out?

[Beerhippie]

just reversed

Polarity for electrolysis and plating is the same. Positive to the sacrificial (or donor) anode, negative to the work.

 

[humber2]

Plenty of evidence out there with Screwdriver shanks left painted after opening and stirring cans of enamel.

YMMV

 

[Bennylava]

Plenty of evidence out there with Screwdriver shanks left painted after opening and stirring cans of enamel.

YMMV

But of course that paint will stay there forever, until deliberately removed. And it will be so thick that even if you knock a chunk off doing something else, you'll see that there's just more paint under there

 

[whateg01]

I started playing around with plating after I learned how to do elecrolysis rust removal - it's actually a similar process, just reversed and with different chemicals. But I liked the results, it ended up more a frosty silver than shiny like chrome, and it was a lot more durable than paint. IMO it's one of those things that once you kow it you use it.

I like the black chromate finish after zinc plating

 

[Lassen Forge]

Polarity for electrolysis and plating is the same. Positive to the sacrificial (or donor) anode, negative to the work.

For Electrolysis, your rusty piece of whatzit hangs in the middle of the tank, and is the donor for the recipient rebar screen. The rusty **** is drawn from the donor to the rebar at the side of the tank. In short, you're "plating" the rebar with rust and gunk.

For plating, it's reversed Your donor is now the pieces of nickle (or copper or silver or whatnot) around the edges, and the recipient is the whatzit in the middle of the tank.

 

[Beerhippie]

For Electrolysis, your rusty piece of whatzit hangs in the middle of the tank, and is the donor for the recipient rebar screen. The rusty **** is drawn from the donor to the rebar at the side of the tank. In short, you're "plating" the rebar with rust and gunk.

For plating, it's reversed Your donor is now the pieces of nickle (or copper or silver or whatnot) around the edges, and the recipient is the whatzit in the middle of the tank.

Well, that isn't how electrolysis works at all. Atomic hydrogen is produced at the cathode (-), which reduces the rust. Atomic oxygen is produced at the anode (+), which causes it to rust. If you use a non-ferrous metal for the anode, it still works just fine, but the anode doesn't rust.

Nickel plating uses the exact same polarity, but now metal ions are being exchanged in addition to the H and O being generated.









I've plated a few items and use electrolysis frequently for rust removal. Used it day before yesterday, in fact.

 

[Lassen Forge]

Darn, then I really DON'T know how my stuff worked, maybe the battery charger reversed its polarity on me... sneaky bastage!
Or maybe that's why my nickel turned out frosty? No idea, I only know that what I did worked.
BTW, yours looks great.

 

[seber]

I didn't realize that is why the donor rusts. From now on I'll be using stainless.

 

[LopezBart]

I didn't realize that is why the donor rusts. From now on I'll be using stainless.

Careful; the resulting oxidation of the chromium in stainless steel is nothing you want hanging around.

 

[redwrench60]

Let’s not overthink this. Degrease the tools with brake cleaner or acetone and then spray them whatever color you like. Keep paint from creeping into any ratchet mechanisms or moving parts. It will wear and chip just like any other finish. When it wears out, do it again.

 

[four.cycle]

I would explore other options before applying paint of any sort to any kind of hand tool.
My trail working tools are painted bright yellow, because that's the only way one can find them when they go flying off into the brush.
I rarely use any of them now.
BLO is a much better choice, but it takes forever and a day to dry. Cutting it with turpentine prior to applying seems to hasten the curing process.
@RTM uses a mix of BLO, turpentine, and beeswax. I bought a bag of beeswax pellets, but haven't tried the "cook it in an old pot on a one-burner stove outside" method yet myself.

 

[Beerhippie]

I didn't realize that is why the donor rusts. From now on I'll be using stainless.

Bad idea. Depending on the particular SS alloy, you might be generating a LOT of chromium salts waste. Highly toxic stuff and can get you in a ton of trouble if it goes down the drain.

 

[crguy]

I'm guessing that's a joke

But yeah a bit of both really. I'm tired of them getting a coating of rust, and I see no reason why they can't look better.

I like to keep clean tools cause not every job requires you to get dirty. When you just need to grab a pair of pliers to do something real quick, it's nice if they don't get your hands and shirt dirty.

If you keep your tools clean and dry, they won't get your hands dirty just picking them up.