Painting old chrome wrenches

[larryq]

I have some older chrome wrenches that have surface rust in spots. They're nothing special. I was thinking of sanding and painting them with rustoleum, just to keep them looking decent, and maybe use them as drawer pulls down the road.

I've never sanded a chrome wrench and painted one before, is there anything special I should know going in?

 

[mrholeshot]

The paint wont last. Wire brush the rust and use them. That will keep them in good looking shape

 

[Wrenches of Death]

I've never sanded a chrome wrench and painted one before, is there anything special I should know going in?

Bead blast, blow clean, totally degrease, hang, paint, let dry, bake, enjoy.

We did some a few years back for a friends boat. He had latched onto a bunch of that yellowish green military chromate aviation paint. The paint probably cost more than the tools.

They did look good though.

WoD

 

[filtered]

Painting chrome is a pain, best luck I had was sanding it completely, then use a couple coats of self etching primer, then paint over top of that. Sand between coats, use light coats and lots of them.

 

[larryq]

Thanks for the suggestions, I'll try them out.

 

[Outlawmws]

Don't do the abrasive solution's (Sorry guys)

Either SOS pads and water, or fine steel wool and oil do wonders for rusted chrome. the Soap or oil keeps the "abrasive" pads from scratching the chrome.

 

[Outlawmws]

Here are some before and after pics of some rusty Snap-On wrenches I picked up this morning. All I have done so far is used an SOS pad on the easy to reach places. of course if the rust is etched deeply, your screwed, but you can see it got 90% or so..."

Before:

After:

Will Snap-On replace for peeled chrome?

 

[Hammer1963]

Keep the Chrome. The durability is 100 times over the paint. Clean them as Outlaw described and then apply a small amount of rust converter to the rust areas. I use Winzer Rustkon. Bake and use 000 or 0000 stell wool on them. You still have Chrome, rust is stable and they will long much better

 

[Virgil Cain]

You know, if you really want to restore them you could re-plate them. I have several plating kits from Caswell ( http://www.caswellplating.com/ ) and they work well and are easy to use. Their electroless nickel is very good and easy to use and electroless nickel is the gold standard for nickel plating in the industry. Lots of hand tools are nickel plated (which takes on a very slight yellow tint with age compared with chrome). If they originally were chrome plated then they've got a Copy Chrome kit which looks very similar to chrome. It's actually cobalt plating which has a similar look but isn't quite as hard as chrome. It's slightly harder than nickel but doesn't get that slight yellow tint with age. I've used it and it is easy and works well. And if want real Chrome they have that as well, but it is a little harder to do and requires a bit more money/equipment to set up.

I've gotten good results and with the right surface prep I think you could get your wrenches back very close to their original look as long as they aren't too beat up.

 

[dodge610]

Or you could go the bead blast and powdercoat road I have done this for other customers. They love it have color coded them to there toolchest I have done some of my own and made them a plum crazy color. that sort of makes them a little different from everybody elses wrenches also.

 

[steve2000c5]

Or you could go the bead blast and powdercoat road I have done this for other customers. They love it have color coded them to there toolchest I have done some of my own and made them a plum crazy color. that sort of makes them a little different from everybody elses wrenches also.

Sounds interesting. How durable is the powdercoating for use??

 

[dodge610]

Sounds interesting. How durable is the powdercoating for use??

The powdercoating is very durable and mine and the other wrenches i have done have held up well i would guess it puts up to the abuse 10 times better than paint clear coat them and they are pretty much bullet proof,

 

[larryq]

Thanks everyone, these are all great tips!

 

[dr_clyde]

From an abrasive standpoint, powdercoating is very resilient, but it is prone to chipping. If you drop them, be prepared for the powdercoat to chip.

 

[dodge610]

From an abrasive standpoint, powdercoating is very resilient, but it is prone to chipping. If you drop them, be prepared for the powdercoat to chip.

Yes but you reduce the chipping greatly by clearcoating over the powder coating i do this on a daily basis.

 

[Outlawmws]

You clear coat for tools on a daily basis? isn't it hard do work with them wet?

 

[dodge610]

You clear coat for tools on a daily basis? isn't it hard do work with them wet?

I think we are misunderstanding each other i powdercoat in the evening after my day job. You cure the powder then put the clear on and cure itI do tools, rims,center caps right now I am doing a set of motorcycle fenders and the frame of the motorcycle. Just to memtion some of the parts i do.

 

[Outlawmws]

Damn, messed up my own punch line..

That was supposed to be "You clear coat your tools on a daily basis? isn't it hard do work with them wet?"

I understood you completely, I just screwed up trying to be humorous...