Old tool cleaning part 4 - general cleaning with reviver

[AndyT]

Hi Andy. Can I suggest that this thread - and the others in the "Old Tool Cleaning" series go into your (formerly Alf's) Hand Tool Review Links folder, or a similar sticky folder.

They're a handy reference - but can be hard to track down after a while.

Cheers, Vann.

This has now been done - thanks to whichever mod it was!

Sticky is here:

https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/forums/tool-cleaning-and-restoration-t82859.html

 

[swagman]

Nice work Andy. Appreciate the post.

Stewie.

 

[Bluekingfisher]

Thanks for posting this, very interesting as I often have old fleabay and boot fair tools to clean up. The home brew reviver is especially useful. Does it have longevity once mixed? I assume it will not produce gases which could erupot after a shelf period?

Did you add wax or further protection after the cleaning of the handscrew and plane or is the finish the original top coat.

Many thanks.

David

 

[AndyT]

Thanks for posting this, very interesting as I often have old fleabay and boot fair tools to clean up. The home brew reviver is especially useful. Does it have longevity once mixed? I assume it will not produce gases which could erupot after a shelf period?

Did you add wax or further protection after the cleaning of the handscrew and plane or is the finish the original top coat.

Many thanks.

David

My current part-bottle must be 6 months+ and is still fine and I shall keep using it until it's all gone. No gases are released in the bottle which is tightly lidded.

I am pretty sure that the plane and handscrew were photographed with just the reviver mixture. A bit of buffing with a cloth will raise some shine.

If you want extra protection a coat of microcrystalline wax is what I would suggest, especially good on old metal parts.

 

[Bluekingfisher]

Thanks for the info Andy, much appreciated.

David

 

[AndyT]

Just a quick update - I've found that the reviver mixture is not just for wood; it can also be good for dealing with lightly rusted metal items.

Here are a couple of examples. A plane iron by I&H Sorby

Before

After

And a rather nice patent picture framing clamp (patented 1897)

Before

After

I reckon there are three big advantages.

1.) It is much quicker than other methods - both of these had a quick rub with some 00 steel wool dipped in the mixture, were left a few minutes, then the surplus was wiped off with kitchen towel.

2.) It preserves the aged appearance.

3.) It leaves a clean surface which has some protection against rust and can be further protected with wax if desired.

 

[swagman]

Is there any advantage in using turps substitute in your brew? Other than cost? Reason for asking is a slight allergy to white spirit, and a preference for the smell of the real thing.

http://www.ubeaut.com.au/reviver.html

I have used this product and it works extremely well.

I can also recommend the Polishers Handbook http://www.ubeaut.com.au/book.html

Stewie;

 

[JonnyW]

Brilliant piece, thank you for posting.

I have a box full of old wooden planes that were given to me, and I have absolutely no experience in restoring wooden tools.

How long can the bottle of solution last between projects? (sorry for the stupid question).

Jonny

 

[AndyT]

Brilliant piece, thank you for posting.

I have a box full of old wooden planes that were given to me, and I have absolutely no experience in restoring wooden tools.

How long can the bottle of solution last between projects? (sorry for the stupid question).

Jonny

As far as I can tell, the mixture keeps indefinitely. I just make up a bottle and keep it till it's used up, then mix some more.

As an extra suggestion - if you don't have any experience of restoring tools, it's possible that you don't have much experience of wooden planes either - so you might want to start a thread with some pictures of what you have got, so people can offer comments on the condition/ rarity/ usefulness of what you have. While many of the thousands of old wooden planes are common and not worth a lot of cash, there are a few types and makers which are sought after, and most collectors prefer to do any cleaning themselves.

In writing this note, I rather skipped over the important first stage of "assess what you have and decide how much work, if any, is appropriate."

 

[Dendrophore]

Hi, I'm newly registered on this forum after a few years of reading unregistered.
I would like to say a few things about chemical agents, turp is an unsafe product, highly alergenic because of it's terpen content. Most people think it's safe because it comes from pine but it's not. Most derivated products from petrol are alergenic too. So I think it's best to warn users and especially newbies to protect, wear gloves, mask when necessary, wear ear protection when needed. I'm an old woodworker and suffer from various deseases due mainly to dust breathing, varnish chemicals and so on. We share the same passion about tools and trade so let's make it safer so that we can practise longer!
I'm French so feel free to correct my mistakes!
One more thing, pieces of cloth soaked with linseed oil is can self ignate so keep them in a closed metal box when not in use or put them in a bucket of water when finished.

 

[MIDIManNI]

Very useful information for a complete novice like me!

Thanks

Ivan Flack
Cookstown, N. Ireland

 

[cisamcgu]

I have a couple of rebate planes and a plough plane, two of them marked with my Great grandfather's name - WILSON - (and made by Summer Yarville or maybe Varville ). The plough plane (I think that is the right name) is just like the one that was used in this example, but in better condition

I will have a go at cleaning them up - must be at least 100 years old

 

[Henniep]

Often, old tools don't really need much doing to them. They don't all go rusty or have paint thrown at them. But fifty years of shed or attic dirt needs something more than a duster. By way of example, a nice old screw-stem plough (yes, the one with the enigmatic price code!) and a handscrew. These are some 'before' pictures:

There's nothing seriously wrong, but it's not a tool anyone would want to pick up and use. (It has had the classic repair in use - one of the big nuts has had a bit sawn off it to replace one of the thin ones which must have got broken.)

The first step with the plough is to remove the iron. This is easily done by gently knocking the wedge downwards, which releases it - the taper of the iron locks against the wedge in normal use, so this is just the reverse.

The irons go off into a milk bottle full of citric acid solution - this is a good way to get full immersion from a minimum amount of liquid; there is room in the bottle for any bubbles released by the chemical reaction.

For the wooden parts of these tools, I am going to use a 'reviver' mixture. There is nothing original or difficult about this. It's been mentioned by several people on here who have more experience than me but somehow it's something I had not got round to trying before.

There are various recipes for the reviver. This one has equal proportions of boiled linseed oil, white vinegar and turps substitute, plus 1/4 that amount of meths, and a dash of ammonia. The proportions don't need to be exact and recipes vary quite a lot, some missing out the meths and ammonia.

Mix it all up in a suitable bottle, LABEL IT! and shake well. The ingredients do settle out quite quickly, so I found it convenient to pour just a little into a dish from time to time.

It's then just a case of using the reviver to gently scrub off the dirt. I used an old green kitchen scourer and bits of rag:

You can see here how it is lifting the dirt off:

The effect was especially marked on the handscrew, going from this

to this, in one easy step

Here's the plough finished and back in working order:

Overall, it's a quick and easy fix for old wooden parts - and it's also effective on steel, where it will prevent further rusting. Every home should have some!

Hi Andy.
Thanks for the cocktail recipe. Been looking for a good one for a long time. Will be making a batch first thing in the morning!