Stanley 45 recovery

[john k]

Right  now am cleaning  my 45 and kicking myself at the same time.  Due to family illnesses and such had many of my tools have been boxed up in a shed.  Wanting to fancy up some moldings,  dug out this 45.  Thought i had it well covered,  mice found it anyway.  Mouse nest  was  most of a shop towel,  and two generations of mouse pee, talk about stink.  First looked like a total loss, the plane wasnt pristine to begin with.  But has most of the accessories, and full box of cutters.  Got everything laid out, rusty pieces pried apart, moving parts sprayed with wd40.  Small pieces  went into a jar of vinegar.  Cutters each had a small spot of rust,  this scraped off.   Brass brushing revealed  only 2 bad places of nickel loss.  All the screws, thumbscrews are working now.  Rods polished up well.  Only really nasty rust is on the fences, not critical areas.  Hopefully this the only real nasty surprise I stumble on

[gibsontool]

Lots of parts and pieces on a 45,that should keep you busy for a while. Good luck and maybe you can post some pics when your done,

[coolford]

Enough to make a grown man cry!  Recently checking some of my tools came across rust on a couple of ratchets caused by a spider killing and eating dinner.

[john k]

The 45,  thnk am done for awhile. All the adjusrments slide and the screws turn.  Washed out the box  but still smells rather strong.

[Bill Houghton]

Mine is about that pretty, and it's made enough molding and grooves to justify its presence in the shop.

[gibsontool]

Looking good.

[p_toad]

  sorry to hear about the mice.   couple of years ago swmbo and i were picking stuff from a storage place from her aunt's estate and the mice had been in there and ruined i don't know how much stuff.   a lot went to the dump and when we got home invested in a bunch of plastic bins to protect it from more incursions.   hope you get the rust off.   invest in some scent-free fabreeze (if you can find it) or some Zorbx and give that box a drenching (well, not literally). 

wtf kind of spiders do you have there, coolford? 

[geneg]

Fill the box with kitty litter (new- not used) then bury it in a tote or plastic box full of litter, close it up & leave it for awhile.  shake or rotate every now & then.   

[Yadda]

Put a small mesh bag of charcoal, The kind used in aquarium filters inside the box. It will absorb a lot of the odor. 

[oldgoaly]

Been there done that! I wash mouse / cat pee with dawn dish washing detergent. That seems to get rid of the smell and doesn't do other damage. My wife says I use more of it than she does and I don't do dishes!

[Bill Houghton]

Our son bought a place as a flipping project (it ultimately defeated him, but at least he didn't lose money - sold it for enough more to pay for his time at his usual rate).  The previous owner had cats, but did not, apparently, understand the concept of litter boxes, so our son stripped six layers of cat-pee-soaked flooring.  The urine had even saturated the subfloor.  He did some research, and found a product he refers to as "urine digester" at a janitorial supply house.  Fantastically effective; it eliminated the odor in 24 hours.

[Northwoods]

At least they didn't gnaw any part of the handle.  Or is it a tote.  Can't always keep my saws and planes straight.