Alf
Established Member
In my continued attempts to shove further victims down The Slope :twisted: , and as I've recently been dabbling in using citric acid for cleaning up tools, I though it might be of interest to some members to see the process. Non-galoots feel free to pass by; there's no evidence of real woodworking here. :wink:
A 10” sweep J.A.Chapman ratchet brace and some solid centre or Irwin pattern bits were to be cleaned up ready for their new owner. The ratchet was seized, but the rest was not bad, even some plating still intact in places. The bits were largely in good condition, except for the 1” which I failed to spot was bent. #-o Not having a direct replacement spare, I swapped in a very crispy 3/16” instead. The bit roll was part of the deal too. It may be in rough condition, but it's better than nothing and this type seem to withstand the rust better than any other. A dunk or three in hot soapy water and you could at least bear to touch it without going yeuch... :lol:
First task is to mix up the brew, and here are the vital ingredients. I went into some detail and chased up some links here, if you're want to try for yourself.
I started on the bits first, knowing I didn't have time to give the brace the necessary bath before Tools '05. Here they lurk in the citric-y depths at about 3pm.
9am the following day, and they've gone black and you can see the bubbles as the acid does its work. Time to fish them out.
Here's one having had its shank scrubbed with a 360grit Webrax pad under the cold tap. Shiny, no? It was at this moment that I noticed the shank was bent and muttered more than somewhat in consequence...
The absolute easiest way to clean up any tool IME, is to use the shoe-shine technique whenever possible. Auger bits lend themselves to it brilliantly, as long as you have a suitable way to hold them still. Here you can see where I've already been nearest the tang, while the pointy end is still to be done.
A quick burst with a file to sharpen up the relevant edges, and there's nothing left to be done but see to the lead screws.
IIRC, it's Galoot Tom Price who can claim credit for drawing this technique to the on-line world's attention. Time and again you find rusty, blunt, unhappy lead screws on auger bits, and it used to be there wasn't much you could do to help them. Here's what you do. Either procure some valve grinding paste or some other abrasive suspended in oil/grease/paste of some sort. I started out using the grit from one of those Japanese lapping kits and some 3-in-1 oil. It occurs to me I could have tried the diamond compound too. :-k Also required is one piece of scrap softwood and a working brace.
Chuck the bit to be cleaned in the brace, and just start the lead screw into the softwood with a turn or two.
One small and rusty hole; note the current state of the lead screw btw. I shall be expecting oohs and ahhs later... and not just 'cos it's in focus...
Apply a small blob of your abrasive substance into the hole as well as you can.
Start the lead screw back into its hole and turn it right into the wood. Backwards and forwards a little too, to really work that abrasive against the screw.
Behold. One clean, sharp, beautiful lead screw. If one pass doesn't do the job well enough, don't hesitate to add more paste or make another hole. I was lucky in this case. To clean off the paste I've found on the large bits you can just keep boring and let the wood do the job. Smaller bits seem to often need a fresh hole though.
Some holes later...
... and 11 bits ready to go. After they've had a coat of wax to inhibit further rust formation, natch. No, they're not “like new”, but they'll work like new.
See?
So next the brace. Or rather braces. In the meantime I'd snagged a nice little 5” sweep one, so I figured I might as well clean that up at the same time. I decided a quick run using the existing solution to see how things would go was worth while, before I went hunting for a larger bath tub.
Well that looked okay, so time to top up the mix and immerse them properly.
Otherwise things are only partially covered, as you can see by the “high water” mark here.
And here. But this part gave me an idea of whether the existing plating would be zapped off or not. But it's good stuff, and where it's still firmly attached, just fine. Looks a little dull though...
So I resorted to my old habits of sharp knife for cleaning out the knurling and wet'n'dry to impart a modicum of shine to the metal. I can't for the life of me remember where I picked up this tip, but a strip of duct tape on the back of paper-backed abrasives give them the necessary strength to cope with the shoe-shine technique.
A little elbow grease later, and I'm quietly pleased.
I didn't bother with the wet'n'dry on the 5 incher, as you can probably tell – particularly if you compare the chucks. The woodwork on both looks “not good” though.
No lacquer present needing removal with scrapers, so I went straight to a fine-ish foam-backed abrasive pad and sanded with the grain. A tack cloth to clean up and then the metal surfaces adjoining the wood where masked off. It's no good telling myself I'll be careful; I always end up getting the finish where I don't want it if I don't make that extra effort. :roll:
I used blonde de-waxed shellac on the handle of the 10” because the natural colour was so good, but garnet on the pad and the beech of the 5”. Wiped on, lightly sanded between coats.
The finished set ready to be packed up and sent off. The ratchet works like a Swiss watch.
Is citric acid the answer to all my tool cleaning tasks? Well it's a start, but I couldn't live with that dull look on some tools, so the wet'n'dry and elbow grease hasn't bitten the dust entirely yet. It certainly does speed up part of the process of cleaning bits, I must say. It also did a better job on the ratchet than I ever could. :roll:
Hope some of that might be of use to someone.
Cheers, Alf
A 10” sweep J.A.Chapman ratchet brace and some solid centre or Irwin pattern bits were to be cleaned up ready for their new owner. The ratchet was seized, but the rest was not bad, even some plating still intact in places. The bits were largely in good condition, except for the 1” which I failed to spot was bent. #-o Not having a direct replacement spare, I swapped in a very crispy 3/16” instead. The bit roll was part of the deal too. It may be in rough condition, but it's better than nothing and this type seem to withstand the rust better than any other. A dunk or three in hot soapy water and you could at least bear to touch it without going yeuch... :lol:
First task is to mix up the brew, and here are the vital ingredients. I went into some detail and chased up some links here, if you're want to try for yourself.
I started on the bits first, knowing I didn't have time to give the brace the necessary bath before Tools '05. Here they lurk in the citric-y depths at about 3pm.
9am the following day, and they've gone black and you can see the bubbles as the acid does its work. Time to fish them out.
Here's one having had its shank scrubbed with a 360grit Webrax pad under the cold tap. Shiny, no? It was at this moment that I noticed the shank was bent and muttered more than somewhat in consequence...
The absolute easiest way to clean up any tool IME, is to use the shoe-shine technique whenever possible. Auger bits lend themselves to it brilliantly, as long as you have a suitable way to hold them still. Here you can see where I've already been nearest the tang, while the pointy end is still to be done.
A quick burst with a file to sharpen up the relevant edges, and there's nothing left to be done but see to the lead screws.
IIRC, it's Galoot Tom Price who can claim credit for drawing this technique to the on-line world's attention. Time and again you find rusty, blunt, unhappy lead screws on auger bits, and it used to be there wasn't much you could do to help them. Here's what you do. Either procure some valve grinding paste or some other abrasive suspended in oil/grease/paste of some sort. I started out using the grit from one of those Japanese lapping kits and some 3-in-1 oil. It occurs to me I could have tried the diamond compound too. :-k Also required is one piece of scrap softwood and a working brace.
Chuck the bit to be cleaned in the brace, and just start the lead screw into the softwood with a turn or two.
One small and rusty hole; note the current state of the lead screw btw. I shall be expecting oohs and ahhs later... and not just 'cos it's in focus...
Apply a small blob of your abrasive substance into the hole as well as you can.
Start the lead screw back into its hole and turn it right into the wood. Backwards and forwards a little too, to really work that abrasive against the screw.
Behold. One clean, sharp, beautiful lead screw. If one pass doesn't do the job well enough, don't hesitate to add more paste or make another hole. I was lucky in this case. To clean off the paste I've found on the large bits you can just keep boring and let the wood do the job. Smaller bits seem to often need a fresh hole though.
Some holes later...
... and 11 bits ready to go. After they've had a coat of wax to inhibit further rust formation, natch. No, they're not “like new”, but they'll work like new.
See?
So next the brace. Or rather braces. In the meantime I'd snagged a nice little 5” sweep one, so I figured I might as well clean that up at the same time.
I decided a quick run using the existing solution to see how things would go was worth while, before I went hunting for a larger bath tub. 
Well that looked okay, so time to top up the mix and immerse them properly.
Otherwise things are only partially covered, as you can see by the “high water” mark here.
And here. But this part gave me an idea of whether the existing plating would be zapped off or not. But it's good stuff, and where it's still firmly attached, just fine. Looks a little dull though...
So I resorted to my old habits of sharp knife for cleaning out the knurling and wet'n'dry to impart a modicum of shine to the metal. I can't for the life of me remember where I picked up this tip, but a strip of duct tape on the back of paper-backed abrasives give them the necessary strength to cope with the shoe-shine technique.
A little elbow grease later, and I'm quietly pleased.
I didn't bother with the wet'n'dry on the 5 incher, as you can probably tell – particularly if you compare the chucks. The woodwork on both looks “not good” though.
No lacquer present needing removal with scrapers, so I went straight to a fine-ish foam-backed abrasive pad and sanded with the grain. A tack cloth to clean up and then the metal surfaces adjoining the wood where masked off. It's no good telling myself I'll be careful; I always end up getting the finish where I don't want it if I don't make that extra effort. :roll:
I used blonde de-waxed shellac on the handle of the 10” because the natural colour was so good, but garnet on the pad and the beech of the 5”. Wiped on, lightly sanded between coats.
The finished set ready to be packed up and sent off. The ratchet works like a Swiss watch.
Is citric acid the answer to all my tool cleaning tasks? Well it's a start, but I couldn't live with that dull look on some tools, so the wet'n'dry and elbow grease hasn't bitten the dust entirely yet. It certainly does speed up part of the process of cleaning bits, I must say. It also did a better job on the ratchet than I ever could. :roll:
Hope some of that might be of use to someone.
Cheers, Alf
