Being a relatively new member (here), I'm always intrigued by the tooling and shop forums. I read Nelson's thread on How to clean and sharpen files, (posted 11/22/12 and thought "yeah, right. Vinegar?" Being a retired machinist and being in the trade for many years... Back in the day, there were companies that would acid dip your old files, but the EPA has restrictions on "hazardous materials, so that practice went by the wayside.
Yep, I went and bought a galon of vinegar and an aluminum pan, as some of these ancient files were of length, a brass wire brush, and brought the vinegar to boiling point and poured the contents over the files.
Now I will tell you that I inherited a toolbox many years ago with all sorts of mechanics tooling. some I replaced but there are two drawers that are..."junk," These files are rusty, loaded with grunge , and had been that way for thirty plus years.
I began to wirebrush the cleanest ones first after about five minutes, and by the time I had all my 16 files cleaned ...I was totally amazed at the difference in the metal. Wow!
I will not say they all looked brand new, two of them are still slightly brownish discolored, whereas the rest are the color of cast iron.
Saved a bunch of money there. Thanks to Nelson's tutorial. Thanks Nelson, and NO, I won't split the money I saved with you!
dinkin
Yep, I went and bought a galon of vinegar and an aluminum pan, as some of these ancient files were of length, a brass wire brush, and brought the vinegar to boiling point and poured the contents over the files.
Now I will tell you that I inherited a toolbox many years ago with all sorts of mechanics tooling. some I replaced but there are two drawers that are..."junk," These files are rusty, loaded with grunge , and had been that way for thirty plus years.
I began to wirebrush the cleanest ones first after about five minutes, and by the time I had all my 16 files cleaned ...I was totally amazed at the difference in the metal. Wow!
I will not say they all looked brand new, two of them are still slightly brownish discolored, whereas the rest are the color of cast iron.
Saved a bunch of money there. Thanks to Nelson's tutorial. Thanks Nelson, and NO, I won't split the money I saved with you!
dinkin
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