Tool cleaning and identification

[E-wan]

I have recently picked up a job lot of chisels of ebay. They seem sharp enough but some of them have a bit of rust on them. What would be the best way to clean them up I was thinking of fine wire wool.

It also came with a few tools I can't seem to identify. 3 items that looks like a cross between a chisel and punch in a screwdriver and something that looks like the tip of an auger bit with an adjustable bar.

Thank you for any suggestions

Ewan

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[Tasky]

something that looks like the tip of an auger bit with an adjustable bar.

That's pretty much what it is:
https://www.screwfix.com/p/adjustable-f ... 75mm/7261v

 

[ED65]

Nice haul!

What would be the best way to clean them up I was thinking of fine wire wool.

As always there's no one best way but steel wool will certainly work for lighter rust. Since this is for rust on tool steel you don't really want to use fine, this is a job for something more robust than that. Grade 1 is fine if you have it.

One or two spots, e.g. on the expansive bit (that's the adjustable drill bit), look like steel wool won't quite cut it so for those I'd use a wire wheel chucked in a power drill, that is if you want to get the rust off. Just wiping it well with oil or wax would probably stabilise it just fine if you're so inclined.

It also came with a few tools I can't seem to identify. 3 items that looks like a cross between a chisel and punch in a screwdriver...

The two screwdriver-looking things that have wooden inserts in the handles, those are known as "perfect handle" screwdrivers among other names. The third thing might be from an early multitool.

When you find old screwdivers the tips will often have been reshaped by a previous owner, and when they're no longer shaped the way a flat-head driver should be it's just that they did a bodge job of it! If there's a very sharp edge it is possible that is deliberate, a user modification to convert it into a crude chisel.

 

[Rorschach]

The other thing with the 2 screwdrivers is a small cold chisel for working metal.

 

[AndyT]

Nice haul. Some good quality chisels and gouges too.
For rust that slight, pretty much any abrasive will do, so start with whatever you have. Wire brush (hand, no need for power), any abrasive paper (silicon carbide, wet n dry, garnet, aluminium oxide), glassfibre brush, wire wool, Brillo pad, green scourer, knitted aluminium scourer, Garryflex blocks, Barkeeper's Friend - they'll all work. Dry is ok, so is wet with oil, WD40, turps, etc.

 

[Cheshirechappie]

The fourth photo shows seven gouges. The top two, out-cannel firmer gouges, are old - early to mid 19th century (which is why they're shorter than the others - more of them has been sharpened away). The third is mid 20th century. The fourth is an incannel scribing gouge, early to mid 20th century. The fifth is a carving gouge, probably early to mid 20th century. The sixth is a mid to late 20th century scribing gouge, and the last is a modern (late 20th early 21st century) firmer gouge.

Firmer gouges are fairly strong tools used for heavy waste removal. The use of carving gouges is fairly obvious, and scribing gouges are joiner's paring gouges used to fit moulded window parts and architectural mouldings to one another where the meet at an angle, such as skirting boards at a room corner. One board is cut straight across and fitted to the wall, and the other at right angles is shaped to follow the moulding profile of the first using gouges and chisels, then fitted to the second wall with the shaped profile tight against the first. (Scribing gouges are not the easiest tools to sharpen - patient work with a small oilstone slip or shaped wood with fine abrasive paper glued to it is the usual way, but great care must be taken not to dub or round off the straight gouge back.)

 

[MikeG.]

Some lovely tools there.

Irrational, I know, when you haven't yet sharpened them, but it makes me feel a bit queasy to see the edges of chisels sitting on concrete.