Restoring wrenches

[bmwpower]

I have a bunch of old tools that are rusty. Is there anyway to restore/refinish the finish on them?

 

[sharpshooter]

I stick my wrenches in the bead blaster, then hit them with a can of clear coat,

 

[bmwpower]

Bead blaster? As in sand blaster?

Would powder coating work too?

 

[rizzorace]

you can soak them in white vinegar for a few days and the rust wipes off with a rag!

 

[wilbilt]

You can use cleaners such as Lime-A-Way or CLR, but need to watch closely, as they will start to remove the chrome if left on for too long.

 

[bmwpower]

Can these things be rechromed or is it not worth it? Never had something chromed before. I have a bunch of old wrenches of various sizes... all vintage USA made stuff.

 

[sjsfire]

I was able to clean up some old crapsman sockets with my 6" bench grinder. Installed a cotton wheel with some jewelers rouge (sp?)

 

[eschoendorff]

Bead blast and powder coat - that would be cool!

 

[toolfreak]

I think you could probably buy new wrenches cheaper than having them rechromed.

 

[sharpshooter]

yeah you could powder coat them. that is if you have already got the stuff to do it, I wouldnt suggest going out and buying the setup just for your wrenches. bead blasting would work well, you could also sand blast them if you chose to do so

 

[Big_John]

If you powder coated them, you would need to mask the business end of the wrenches as the powder coating would make the openings smaller.

 

[ranger_dood]

Bead blaster? As in sand blaster?

More as in... bead blaster. Glass beads, I believe.

 

[chevy302dz]

Use Naval Jelly, brush it on let it sit for for a few minutes then rinse well in water. If there is any rust left just repeat.

 

[Charles (in GA)]

Bead blast them and have a gunsmith blue them, parkerize them or black phospate them.

Charles

 

[wantedabiggergarage]

You might also use citric acid. If you google citric acid and planes, you'll see what I mean.

 

[Uncle Buck]

Use a wire wheel on the bench grinder. If the tool is worth saving, that should do you just fine!

 

[strizzy]

http://www3.telus.net/public/aschoepp/electrolyticrust.html

 

[eschoendorff]

After the wire wheel, hit the wrench with some CorrosionX. I use taht on all my tools.

 

[wythors]

I've got a lot of old Plomb stuff I inherited from my father-in-law that has a very nice patina. Some have a little surface rust or paint on them and most have lost a lot of their finish but I'd never consider trying to "restore" any of them. That would ruin the sentimental value and wouldn't make the tool perform any better. A wrench doesn't need to be pretty to turn a bolt.

 

[bmwpower]

I've got a lot of old Plomb stuff I inherited from my father-in-law that has a very nice patina. Some have a little surface rust or paint on them and most have lost a lot of their finish but I'd never consider trying to "restore" any of them. That would ruin the sentimental value and wouldn't make the tool perform any better. A wrench doesn't need to be pretty to turn a bolt.

True, but a lot of them have enough rust to make the wrench hard to grip (as the rust falls off). Not to mention it's hard to read the brand name and sizes. These don't hold any sentimental value (yet) as I bought them at auction.

I'll have to post some pictures of them. I think they're pretty neat. Nice from a wrench "history" perspective. And maybe some of you can help me dicipher some of the unbranded ones.

 

[ZRX61]

Soak em in the stuff from Rusteco.

 

[delaware george]

put them in vinager or bead blast them.....heat them with a torch and drop in oil...that'll give them a cool blued finish and keep them from rusting

 

[cloud]

No mention of steel wool? Works great on removing surface rust from chrome.

But if you start waxing them...well...yeah.