Replies

1. 
   JohnWW | Mar 20, 2008 12:45am | #1

   You could spend a lot of time, and some money, setting up to clean it electrically or chemically, or you could do the job quickly and easily with just steel wool, fine sandpaper, and Scotchbrite in an hour or so. I wipe off the dust as I go with paper towels sprayed with a little penetrating oil but there is no need to soak anything.

   Plated parts, and the paint of course, shouldn't be rubbed with the abrasives, but they shouldn't be rusty. The easiest way to do a good job is to completely disassemble the plane before you start.

   Sargent made very nice planes, you've got a good tool.

   John White

2. 
   alanplanesaw | Mar 20, 2008 03:54am | #2

   d2c,

   I am not an "expert" but I have de-rusted a lot of old Stanleys.  The answer depends on what you want when you are finished!  If an accurate restoration, then that means asphaltum / japanning, etc.

   If you want a user -- then I have some ideas.  I have done the electro method using a car battery charger.  But, I think the easiest and quickest is a wire brush on the end of drill.  Gets you down past the rust quickly.  Then either paint or wax the metal.  When I have taken off rust where there should be jappanning, then I have painted with a high heat resistant spray paint (big box stores) with a satin finish.  Or gloss and then steel wool to get rid of the gloss if you want.

   Evapo-Rust, available at some auto parts stores, is another option.   You let it soak the rust off.

   With a relatively fine wirebrush on a drill, you can get rid of the rust without getting rid of metal, clean it up, paint and wax it and you can have a great user.  For a user, this is simple, straight forward, fast, and you learn a lot about your plane.

   Alan - planesaw

1. 
   d2c | Mar 20, 2008 08:56pm | #5

   Thanks for the input. In the past I have tried lemon juice mixed with salt and a scotchbrite pad. Worked pretty well but can get a little messy. I did find the Evapo-Rust product online and was impressed by how it removed the rust but not the japanning on a Stanley plane. I ordered a gallon to try it out. Will take before and after photos to document the change.Thanks again for help.

3. 
   WoodLess | Mar 20, 2008 07:55pm | #3

   I just cleaned the rust off of an old Stanley 112 scraper that was given to me using lemon juice.  I when to the local supermarket and bought the store brand of lemon juice (I used 4 quarts).  Put the plane in a 5-gallon bucket and covered it with the lemon juice.  Let it soak for about 8 hours and then just washed it off to remove the lemon and oiled it up so that it would flash rust again.  Cheap and worked great.

   Chuck

4. 
   Joe Sullivan | Mar 20, 2008 08:50pm | #4

   The guys who mention the wire brushes are dead right, but Evaporust is easier still. I just keep an open bucket of the stuff and drop stuff in. As Evaporust does not etch or corrode anything I just leave stuff in until I feel like pulling it out and washing it off. Works very well.

   Joe

5. 
   john05 | Mar 20, 2008 10:01pm | #6

   Another good product is Citric acid, I obtained some fro a local Micro brewery for free (along with some of their other product not free but very good) mix it with some warm water soak the dismantled tool for about an hour and the rust is sorted.

   Cheers

   John