As you may know, I have been digging up my old wrenches and trying to sell them. As I find them, I often find a lot of surface rust on them from storing them in my old shop building.
Looking at ways to clean them up, I decided to try the easiest method that won't damage them.
I used a Brillo Pad, water, and a little with a scrub pad found in the kitchen. 5 minutes scrubbing, towel dry, then spray some Kroil, pretty clean.
Hello, Papaw. Thanks for sharing. I will give your method a try. Regards, Lou
Probably won't do a lot on ones that have years of crud and deep rust on them, but for the surface rust it seems to work well. A little more effort with a small wire brush helps.
Very nice. That reminds me, I need to pick up some more round wire brushes. I use them to clean the inside of sockets and box end wrenches.
EvilDr235
Look in your tool box. Get the battery brush, it works great !
I have been using brushes for cleaning barrels on firearms both brass and stainless steel. I also use brushes for cleaning the inside of copper pipe before soldering. I never thought about a battery terminal cleaner.
EvilDr235
The flea market tool sellers have a lot of junk, but one thing they sell that's good is long brushes in varying diameters, nylon, brass and stainless wire. They are about a foot and a half long with about athird of that being the brush length. They sell for $1 to $1.50 and I will pick up a few every time I see them. Very handy for all types of shop work.
I also find a tightly packed brass wire brush does a very nice job on light rust. I didn't know what the brush was until someone posted a picture of Brass Press Tools. http://www.papawswrench.com/vboard/index.php?topic=23728.0 (http://www.papawswrench.com/vboard/index.php?topic=23728.0) One of the brushes I use is the one on top left in the picture. It's about 3 or 4 inches long.
(http://www.papawswrench.com/vboard/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=23728.0;attach=50974;image)
Speaking of brass brushes, I see wire wheel brass brushes for sale in all the stores in many different name brands. None that I can find are brass. They are brass coated steel that are priced higher that plain steel brushes. Same brush, different color and higher price.
EvilDr235
Oh, they're out there, but it takes a bunch of hunting around for real brass. Most of the ones i found are in the 60-90 $ range which puts them on my "i'd like to have, but..." list. I found a real brass one with a wood central spoke at the restore and i've been using it. For some reason i never have my face shield on when the steel or brass wheels start throwing pieces. :rolleyes:
Good ole McMaster Carr carries brass ones that will fit your bench grinder.
I always wear a face shield when using my bench grinders. I am blind in my left eye, so gotta be careful. I had a sharp pain in my right thumb the other day after some rust removing. Found a wire bristle under my thumb nail. Had to cut my thumb nail back as far as possible and was able to grab it. No infection thank goodness. I will keep looking at the Habitat Restore for a brass wheel at a good price. Just picked up two new in box Norton $30.00 six inch eighty git grind stones for $5.95 each plus tax and two boxes of 3M five inch sand paper discs for $4.95 a box plus tax. Each box has a hundred discs. I go to the Habitat store twice a day.
EvilDr235