Cleaning up stainless steel tools with dirt and rust on them?

Deedsie

Hi, just wondering if anyone has any tips on cleaning up stainless steel tools with dirt and rust on them?

scudo2

Deedsie wrote: »

Hi, just wondering if anyone has any tips on cleaning up stainless steel tools with dirt and rust on them?

Not quite stainless ehh !

WD40 + steel wool.

Deedsie

scudo2 wrote: »

Not quite stainless ehh !

WD40 + steel wool.

To be honest they have been mistreated over the years. I just didn't want to do more damage trying to clean them than I do through a few years of neglect.

jack of all

How big are the tools? If small enough you could try polishing with a felt mop in a drill or Dremel type machine, use Autoglym metal polish as the abrasive. If only moderately stained a good clean with nylon pot scrubs with light oil as a lubricant followed by Autoglym might be sufficient.

Deedsie

jack of all wrote: »

How big are the tools? If small enough you could try polishing with a felt mop in a drill or Dremel type machine, use Autoglym metal polish as the abrasive. If only moderately stained a good clean with nylon pot scrubs with light oil as a lubricant followed by Autoglym might be sufficient.

Just regular hand tools mostly, vise grips, spanners, crew drivers etc...

DarByrne1980

Bit of a soak in white spirits - then some elbow grease with the steel wool. do you need to have spannesr and vicegrips etc shiny? Ive a few vicegrips and spanners that have plenty of dirt and grime on them but they work fine. The vicegripss must be 25 yeas old.

yellowlabrador

you could try electrolysis. Add washing soda to water and connect to a battery charger like in the video below

Sir Arthur Daley

Regardless of the size of your tool it shouldn't rust as long as you use it regularly. Wd40 is good to keep rust at bay but don't offer any lubricant what so ever so when you want to use your tool again use 3 in 1 oil for example.

Tokyo

Are you sure that they are stainless steel - by the sounds of it they are chrome plated tools, and the chrome layer has chipped or corroded away. You can clean the rust off, but you can't do anything to restore the chrome layer other than rechroming, which is more often than not more expensive than the tool itself.

If you want to clean off rusted metal in general, the two ways I recommend are either molasses, or electrolysis. If I remember correctly, an 8:1 mix of water:molasses, leave the tools soaking in them for a few weeks and it dissolves the rust away - it's a great method for big items - I've done a land rover chassis like this. Electrolysis works as shown in the youtube clip above - however NEVER use electrolysis with chrome tools, as the process can release chromium in gaseous form, which is toxic.



you are playing with electrolysis in order to clean tools (it works amazingly

iano.p

Go to aldi buy 4 bottles of cheap coke cost about €2.50 put the tools and coke into a bucket over night wash them off most of the dirt will be gone.

Deedsie

mike_ie wrote: »

Are you sure that they are stainless steel - by the sounds of it they are chrome plated tools, and the chrome layer has chipped or corroded away. You can clean the rust off, but you can't do anything to restore the chrome layer other than rechroming, which is more often than not more expensive than the tool itself.

If you want to clean off rusted metal in general, the two ways I recommend are either molasses, or electrolysis. If I remember correctly, an 8:1 mix of water:molasses, leave the tools soaking in them for a few weeks and it dissolves the rust away - it's a great method for big items - I've done a land rover chassis like this. Electrolysis works as shown in the youtube clip above - however NEVER use electrolysis with chrome tools, as the process can release chromium in gaseous form, which is toxic.

you are playing with electrolysis in order to clean tools (it works amazingly

This is the issue. They would need to be re-chromed it seems as they are chrome plated. Any where in Dublin able to do this?

I hate my things looking like they werent kept right. If I could get them re-chromed at a reasonable price I would consider it.

Tokyo

Deedsie wrote: »

This is the issue. They would need to be re-chromed it seems as they are chrome plated. Any where in Dublin able to do this?

I hate my things looking like they werent kept right. If I could get them re-chromed at a reasonable price I would consider it.

You could call around the plating shops in your area, but I can pretty much guarantee that replating will cost more than the tools are worth...

fergal.b

Deedsie wrote: »

This is the issue. They would need to be re-chromed it seems as they are chrome plated. Any where in Dublin able to do this?

I hate my things looking like they werent kept right. If I could get them re-chromed at a reasonable price I would consider it.

There is nowhere in Ireland that does hard rechroming you might be able to get it plated but it will not last your only option would be to post them to the UK but as said it will cost more than the tool is worth.



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Deedsie

fergal.b wrote: »

There is nowhere in Ireland that does hard rechroming you might be able to get it plated but it will not last your only option would be to post them to the UK but as said it will cost more than the tool is worth.

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Ya, I may forget about it. Annoying. I have a lot to be worrying about dont I?

Thanks for the replies everyone

fergal.b

Deedsie wrote: »

Ya, I may forget about it. Annoying. I have a lot to be worrying about dont I?

Thanks for the replies everyone

Keep them for those stubborn jobs that might need a belt of a hammer


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Deedsie

fergal.b wrote: »

Keep them for those stubborn jobs that might need a belt of a hammer


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They are still 100% functional just look very worn etc.

Tokyo

Deedsie wrote: »

They are still 100% functional just look very worn etc.

Personally I'd prefer to have decent 100% functional tools that have chipped chrome and a bit of dirt, than crap, shiny chrome plated tools.

Take a brillo pad to them, clean them up, give them a rubdown with an oily rag to coat them, and put them back in the toolbox for the next job that comes up.

wexie

mike_ie wrote: »

- it's a great method for big items - I've done a land rover chassis like this. Electrolysis works as shown in the youtube clip above - however NEVER use electrolysis with chrome tools, as the process can release chromium in gaseous form, which is toxic.

Electrolysis will release hydrogen either way (which is somewhat explosive) so make sure if you go that route you do it somewhere well ventilated.

and....

I gotta ask......what did you use to soak the land rover chassis in? :eek:

Tokyo

wexie wrote: »

I gotta ask......what did you use to soak the land rover chassis in? :eek:

I have a varied assortment of ex water treatment plant tanks here - used one of the bigger ones as a molasses bath. I have an old attic water tank set up in the shed, and a 24V battery charger as an electrolysis tank for smaller items.

CJhaughey

Just be aware of hydrogen embrittlement when using electrolysis on anything subject to loads, tools and chassis, bike frames etc.
It does work well for things like motorcycle fuel tanks that are hard to get clean by abrasives and acid.
The process works better if you have a large anode surrounding the items that are to be cleaned. I have found cutting the base out of a metal sweet tin and using that in a bucket works very well.