Cleaning up car boot sale tools?

[LFS19]

Buying tools at carboots is addictive!!
You have been warned, by one who knows.

Bod

It is - the Carboot near me has only been on a couple of weeks, and I've already bought 15 or so tools, haha

 

[LFS19]

Yeah - it almost seemed like every second stall had a box of tools to sift through, and there were several tool specific stalls.

You're in clover then. I dream about hitting a big car boot like that on holiday in the UK. Not sure if there'll be enough room in the car for the amount I'd want to buy though =P~

Haha, yes, well mines close enough by so I walk - so I both hope and don't hope that I don't find five bags worth of stuff considering I have to carry the buggers back! :lol:

 

[LFS19]

Funny enough I just finished cleaning up some old files. They weren't particularly rusty but a lot more than the top ebay photo shows up. Salt and clear vinegar for a bit. Scientific timescale was : when I get time to take them out. 'Bout a week in this case, didn't need that long. Probably a 3 second scrub with a wire brush to help out a couple of times then back in. Then probably 15 minutes with a wire brush proper and those little fine ones you can get for a few pennies from halfords. I wash them, then weirdly, but it makes sense to me (its neat, covers everywhere quick and lass hassle), I sieve baking soda on while still damp. Wash it off dry then stick in the oven much to my Mrs disgust. Give em a tiny blast of balisitol. Bosh. New tools.

The ones I couldn't get the handles off will have to wait till I can snitch the Mrs' flower vase and sneak it down the shed... 'No idea Love, haven't seen it for ages...'
I'm after doing the mollases or electrolysis routes next. I find it satisfying and when I'm too busy with real life to get in my little shed I can fit it in in the odd half hour here and there.
Files are Spencer, Stubbs, Frith, Bedford R.B Tools and Tyzack Turner and Sons. No particular order. Any gems?
Just in case in case I don't have to go to work tomorrow after all. You're always hearing about people stumbling on old vintage files and selling them for Billions. :roll:

Cheers
Chris

I got a tyzack file the other day from the Carboot sale - 50p, and it an good condition too, worked pretty well.

That's certainly an extensive routine you have there - I'll have to try that

 

[Bm101]

Files are Spencer, Stubbs, Frith, Bedford R.B Tools and Tyzack Turner and Sons. No particular order. Any gems?

Peter Stubs were always considered among the best for instrument and precision files, every bit as good as the best Swiss makers. They started file-making in Warrington in the late 1700s when that town was the nation's biggest makers of watchmaking parts - the gears, pinions and the like. Kept at it for two centuries - only stopped file-making in the mid 1990s.

No slouches among the other names either. I've not come across Spencer before, but the others are well-known and well respected Sheffield names. Depending on how worn they are (always the unknown with secondhand files), they should serve well.

Thankyou as always for sharing CC. Mostly they are in good condition. Nice to know I've saved a couple of gooduns from the scrap pile. I like the fact that they will probably see me out now. I've learnt a bit today and what you say, particularly about Swiss files reinforces and adds to what I read . And then you get that moment where you realise it all ties in. Swiss watches, German engineering, Sheffield steel. And you have that little moment when you understand the larger world just a little better because you took the time to restore just a few old rusty files.

 

[Bm101]

I got a tyzack file the other day from the Carboot sale - 50p, and it an good condition too, worked pretty well.
That's certainly an extensive routine you have there - I'll have to try that

Good stuff. I could do with boot sales like that.
Leaving them in a bucket of vinegar in the shed for a week isnt that extensive is it? I do the bicarb because of past issues with flash rusting but it takes seconds and it's worked. Its simple and worth a try but not the only way by any means. Welcome to the slope.
Cheers
Chris