Discussion recently touched on use of glassfibre brushes to remove rust. This reminded me that I took some photos a while back but had not got round to sharing them. So this is for anyone who's not familar with these.
I was told about them by a collector of old drawing instruments. He had a superb collection, all entirely free of corrosion, but still looking old, cleaned up with these brushes. It's a good example of where going through the grits with wet and dry paper would destroy the appearance of something.
The brushes are easy to find, in places such as eBay and Amazon. I believe they are often used by railway modellers and to clean electronic contacts. They don't cost much. What you get is a hollow plastic holder which contains a bundle of fine strands of glass. The glass strands can be advanced by twisting a ring, like a propelling pencil. You'll want to buy a pack of refills with your holder.
For this demonstration, I used a Stanley bit depth stop. The nickel plating has rusted through here and there but is in reasonable shape. I wanted to remove the rust, leaving the plating alone. It's all too fiddly to use paper abrasives or a wire brush.
Here it is before I started
and close up
All I did was gently rub over the rust with the brush. The tips wear away to dust as the brush picks up the rust.
And here's the finished thing. I've not removed every last trace but the areas which were black are now clear metal again. The brush was the only treatment I gave this - I didn't use any acid or other abrasive.
I think it's a quick and convenient method. The brushes are cheap and widely available. I recommend them for tools like this or any other intricate metalwork.
I was told about them by a collector of old drawing instruments. He had a superb collection, all entirely free of corrosion, but still looking old, cleaned up with these brushes. It's a good example of where going through the grits with wet and dry paper would destroy the appearance of something.
The brushes are easy to find, in places such as eBay and Amazon. I believe they are often used by railway modellers and to clean electronic contacts. They don't cost much. What you get is a hollow plastic holder which contains a bundle of fine strands of glass. The glass strands can be advanced by twisting a ring, like a propelling pencil. You'll want to buy a pack of refills with your holder.
For this demonstration, I used a Stanley bit depth stop. The nickel plating has rusted through here and there but is in reasonable shape. I wanted to remove the rust, leaving the plating alone. It's all too fiddly to use paper abrasives or a wire brush.
Here it is before I started
and close up
All I did was gently rub over the rust with the brush. The tips wear away to dust as the brush picks up the rust.
And here's the finished thing. I've not removed every last trace but the areas which were black are now clear metal again. The brush was the only treatment I gave this - I didn't use any acid or other abrasive.
I think it's a quick and convenient method. The brushes are cheap and widely available. I recommend them for tools like this or any other intricate metalwork.
