Question About Flood Damaged Tools

[haneyrm]

I got back to my home in SW FL on Sunday to find that my workshop was under 5’ of salt water after hurricane milton. The entire bottom section and a portion of the top section of my tool chest were completely submerged. This is only the 2nd time in 57 years that water came over our seawall. The 1st time was 2 weeks prior during hurricane helene. Been a tough month for sure…

Anyways, I have a few socket sets and a some other tools that I want to try to save. I bought two gallons of WD40 and have been soaking the ratchets and other tools that have any type of moving parts. The rust is really bad and they will never look the same again but if I can get them back to working shape, I can put them in the borrow box or similar.

100% of my corded power tools, air compressor, chop saw, Flukes, Dremels, nail guns, compactor, pressure washer, etc. are trash. Also lost my golf cart and Gravely zero turn. This is gonna hurt for a while.

Anybody experienced anything like this in the past? Just want to see if I’m doing the right thing by soaking the hand tools in WD40 or if this is also a lost cause.

Thanks!

 

[Old Man Roger]

Soaking in wd40 has saved a bunch of tools for me. Usually it’s something I got in a bucket of tools at a yard sale. 2 particular tools I remember were an adjustable wrench and a set of needle nose pliers that were rusted rock solid till I soaked them for a few days.

I use the term “soaked” but actually I just squirted them a few times and let them sit.

 

[four.cycle]

I have not experienced such. We don't have hurricanes here - just lots of rain. Over the last year I have salvaged and reconditioned a few pieces that came out of an open shed located about 4 miles from the Pacific Ocean.
"Evaporust" is fairly amazing - I just recently started using the stuff and am amazed at how quickly it works, although I'm finding some stuff discolored after several days soaking (not that it matters on sockets that are going to be used on Detroit diesel engines.)
I have an old pipe wrench, the "open cage" on which was completely frozen with rust. Shot it with a product called "Kroil" and it broke free. (That was after hitting it with a torch and dousing it with another product called "PBlaster". (I could not find my favorite K&W "Knock-er-Loose" anywhere.)

Hacksaw Rescue

Tin Snips rescue using WD40 and brush only

 

[finn]

I would soak them in a solution of powdered citric acid diluted with water for several hours, rince, and then a liberal wash of WD40.

Some say baking soda added to the citric acid concoction helps, but I have never felt the need to try that so far.

The citric acid works as well as Evaporust and is way cheaper.

 

[Old Man Roger]

I would soak them in a solution of powdered citric acid diluted with water for several hours, rince, and then a liberal wash of WD40.

Some say baking soda added to the citric acid concoction helps, but I have never felt the need to try that so far.

The citric acid works as well as Evaporust and is way cheaper.

Wouldn’t baking soda counter the citric acid?

 

[Ohio Andy]

I've used the citric acid and it works, but I prefer evaporust.

For either, if you can, he's a wire brush to remove as much rust as possible before the soak. With evaporust you convert the rust. I'm guessing the citric acid is the same but I don't really know.

And especially if you are using a wire wheel, eye protection, perhaps a dust mass, etc

 

[Stubby1743]

I would have completely rinsed all the tools in fresh water first to get rid of all the salt. WD40 is not formulated to remove salt.

 

[GaryM909]

I was on a job once and was working on a scaffold about 20' in the air. I put two Makita grinders in a metal five gallon pail and went home for the weekend. A big storm blew in and continued all weekend. I got back up the scaffold Monday morning and the bucket was uncovered and completely full of water.
I hung the grinders by their cords over the side of the scaffold for about an hour and then plugged them in.
They were company tools so I wasn't overly concerned if they didn't work.
They worked fine and I used them for another three months until the job was completed.
Salt water could be a different story but I would try soaking them a bit in fresh water and then let them dry out before scrapping them.

 

[gregs]

Unfortunately the salt water is the worst part. If you can get things rinsed out with fresh water and a little simple green shortly after the flood you can save most. We will be on the 3rd go around for appliances that got flooded from hurricanes. I have replaced some parts like fan motors but everything else is fine and most parts I get used off ebay. So last year I think I spent $150 repairing washer/dryer, 2 fridges, stove and dishwasher. This year its been about the same except I also had to work on the 2 outdoor a/c units. Pulled the covers of and washed out everything including the circuit boards with water and simple green. Lost 1 fan motor and one start capacitor and relay.

The neighbor thats slightly older than me brought me some small engine stuff. He said he figured I could fix it and could keep it. So he gave me 2- Honda EU2000I generators, a Echo chainsaw and a fairly new TORO walk behind mower. Over the course of the last few weeks I have cleaned them out (water in the fuel and oil) cleaned and dried out the electronics and got them up and running and functioning again.

 

[finn]

Wouldn’t baking soda counter the citric acid?

That’s why I haven’t tried it. Some guys claim it works, something to do with chelation…..

I never liked chemistry, despite my FIL being a PhD biochemist….

 

[RTM]

I agree with a fresh water rinse before you try anything, get the salt and sand out of everything. The sand may do more wear to gears and bearings.

Then WD40, Evaporust, etc.

Sorry to hear this, good luck.

 

[rsanter]

You May be able to save many of the electric motors by washing them with water to dissolve the salt, then take them apart and remove any rust then grease the bearings

 

[KenC]

Ditto on the fresh water wash, Hot if possible. Then derust with your choice of chemicals, I use white vinegar, Citric acid, phosphoric acid etc. Then immediately scrub the black off, rinse and dry (hot water rinse makes dry faster) then WD40 followed by one of the fancy rust preventatives, like Boesheild (sp?).

 

[msharley]

I got back to my home in SW FL on Sunday to find that my workshop was under 5’ of salt water after hurricane milton. The entire bottom section and a portion of the top section of my tool chest were completely submerged. This is only the 2nd time in 57 years that water came over our seawall. The 1st time was 2 weeks prior during hurricane helene. Been a tough month for sure…

Anyways, I have a few socket sets and a some other tools that I want to try to save. I bought two gallons of WD40 and have been soaking the ratchets and other tools that have any type of moving parts. The rust is really bad and they will never look the same again but if I can get them back to working shape, I can put them in the borrow box or similar.

100% of my corded power tools, air compressor, chop saw, Flukes, Dremels, nail guns, compactor, pressure washer, etc. are trash. Also lost my golf cart and Gravely zero turn. This is gonna hurt for a while.

Anybody experienced anything like this in the past? Just want to see if I’m doing the right thing by soaking the hand tools in WD40 or if this is also a lost cause.

Thanks!

I soak water damaged hand tools (rusted like all get out, here in the "Rust Belt" is a thing)...in a bucket of ATF & off road diesel...

Ratchets & such? I add a splash of acetone....(Ed's Red)...

Really works good.

Put some in your oil can & do the slides/hinges on your tool boxes....

Put some ATF/Fuel (2/3 ATF & 1/3 Fuel) on a rag and wipe the snot out of your tool boxes...

Do not dry. Just the film will soak in & remove/loosen rust you can not see/has not yet formed. (no acetone on the paint work)

 

[Old Man Roger]

That’s why I haven’t tried it. Some guys claim it works, something to do with chelation…..

I never liked chemistry, despite my FIL being a PhD biochemist….

Oh I love those caramel apple cinnamon chelation thingies at Taco Bell

 

[Sleeper]

After you wash them down, you might try soaking them in Evaporust for a while to free them up. Then a good soak in WD40 or oil them up. I’ve used it to save a good number of tools that were submerged in fresh water and rusted pretty solid. Your results might be different with salt water, that’s pretty destructive stuff but it’s worth a shot. I use the Evaporust so much I bought a 5 gallon bucket of it, pretty amazing stuff but kind of $$$.

 

[haneyrm]

Excellent advice here as usual.

I ended up setting up multi-bucket cleaning station with the first bucket being fresh water, then WD40, wire brush or Scotch Brite, another fresh water bath and finally submerging in the WD40 bucket. For some of the rustier tools, I used a bucket of white vinegar followed by a fresh water rinse with some baking soda added to offset the acidic vinegar.

The socket sets came out looking very nice. I pulled the ratchets apart and cleaned up the innards, fresh oil and they all work perfectly. Some of the pliers still look a bit rough but most of the hand tools came out better than I had expected. Did have a few that were just lost causes and they got trashed.

I did also learn that air compressors do indeed float. Makes sense. Only problem is that they float upside down. I get a click when I throw the switch but cannot get it to rotate. Need to tear that apart after I fix a few other things.

My insurance company totalled my golf cart and picked it up yesterday. The rollback driver said he’s been picking up carts constantly for weeks now. They are picking them up 6 at a time.

Thanks again!

 

[budget76]

100% of my corded power tools, air compressor, chop saw, Flukes, Dremels, nail guns, compactor, pressure washer, etc. are trash. Also lost my golf cart and Gravely zero turn. This is gonna hurt for a while.

don't count them out quite yet. Dry them out, rinse them with freshwater, and let them dry for a while. you may get lucky and save some

I'm still using, to this day, a sawzall that was underwater during Sandy. we chocked it up as dead, i brought a new one down for Dad when i went down to help, but it still keeps on ticking.


we saved a commercial mower that was fully submerged too. neighbor lost their house, the mower was just trash at that point / too much to think about. we spent a couple minutes hosing it down / clearing the cylinder, put some oil in the cylinder, drained the oil, and let it sit there. week or so later we played a little more and got it running (poorly, carb wasn't happy). he was thrilled to get it back pretty much ready to run again. Pretty sure we flushed the gearbox and stuff too, or it may have been belt drive, been too long


Good luck, definitely a bummer. hope insurance doesn't give you too much of a hard time on what they may consider the "trivial" stuff

 

[MOS3522]

If you went straight to soaking them in WD-40, that was a mistake. The oil is going to trap salt next to the metal. The tools need to be cleaned first and desalted. I like the product below for that.

If the tools been sitting with the WD-40 for two weeks it is probably too late to make any difference now. Given the relative humidity in Florida, no matter how well you try to keep them oiled in the future they are going to continue to rust. That is unless you send them out for new chrome plating, which is far more cost than they are worth.