On the pitted vintage hand tools

[diytoolbox]

I have bought recently a set of vintage wood carving gouge set ADIS with 12 gouges in the set.
The gouges must be about 100 years old. All the gouges were heavily rusted when they arrived, so it took me days to clean the rust on the metal parts on the gouges. I used vinegar, WD40 and rough sand paper to clean the rust.

But when the rust is cleaned, I can see heavy pitting on all the gouges blades. The pittings are not structurally going to destroy the metals, but they are quite noticeable visually with the small holes everywhere.

Are there good methods in treating the pitting on the gouges? The only method I could think of was to further grind them under the belt sander, but it may also take off quite large amount of the metal on the gouges making them not strong for actual carving works.

So just going to sharpen and hone to use in wood carving works, but will the pitted gouges last for long? Or will they keep pitted further into more damages on the metal parts ?
Are there better way treating pitted vintage hand tools?

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

Electroylis or Citric acid will convert it to black oxide, then a good wire brish will sort it out.

 

[mudman]

I have bought recently a set of vintage wood carving gouge set ADIS with 12 gouges in the set.
The gouges must be about 100 years old. All the gouges were heavily rusted when they arrived, so it took me days to clean the rust on the metal parts on the gouges. I used vinegar, WD40 and rough sand paper to clean the rust.

But when the rust is cleaned, I can see heavy pitting on all the gouges blades. The pittings are not structurally going to destroy the metals, but they are quite noticeable visually with the small holes everywhere.

Are there good methods in treating the pitting on the gouges? The only method I could think of was to further grind them under the belt sander, but it may also take off quite large amount of the metal on the gouges making them not strong for actual carving works.

So just going to sharpen and hone to use in wood carving works, but will the pitted gouges last for long? Or will they keep pitted further into more damages on the metal parts ?
Are there better way treating pitted vintage hand tools?

The pitting becomes an issue when it coincides with the edge. You will need to grind back to where there is no pitting before putting an edge on it.

 

[--Tom--]

If the potting is where the apex is formed you’ll need to remove it to get a clean sharp edge. If it’s on the concave surface then trickier than the convex.

I wouldn’t try to do the whole chisel - just where counts.

Grinding out pitting takes a bit of time - I redid some old chisels recently and added pics here:
https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/threads/refurbing-chisels.149070/

 

[diytoolbox]

Yup, sounds making sense. The gouges are very sharp, and keep good edge well.
Pittings are around the metal blades body of the gouges, not on the edge thankfully, hence they can be used for wood carving works OK.

 

[diytoolbox]

Electroylis or Citric acid will convert it to black oxide, then a good wire brish will sort it out.

Aren't these for rust removal? Could pittings on the metal be treated with the methods?

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

Aren't these for rust removal? Could pittings on the metal be treated with the methods?

I leave the pits, just get the rust away.
If I need to fill them I use old school car lead filler sticks and smooth off.