restoration tool kit
#6
I'm working on cleaning up some old planes, saws, and chisels to sell at a booth. As I was working on one the other night, trying to get the scouring pad or steel wool into the nooks and crannies, it dawned on me that there must be an easier way. I started thinking about bits for my rotary tool and I figure there must be some good ones that are perfect for this work. Does anyone have recommendations based on experience? Otherwise think I've got everything else I need: gray 3M pads, steel wool, metal and nylon brushes, sandpaper for lapping sole, and stones for sharpening. Can anyone recommend any other supplies or tools that make the job a little easier? I've only ever fixed up for myself and my standards on the appearance of a tool are low as long as it cuts well. If I hope to sell for a decent price, I'll need to shine everything up a bit more than I'm used to.
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#7
I clean up old hand tools for my daughter's antique mall. Basically all I do is remove rust, clean, and bring the sides and bottom of planes to clean metal. I clean up the blades re-square the edge when necessary, and sharpen using 1000 and 8000 stone. I do not flatten the back of the plane blades but opt for the Charles Worth ruler trick to but a small back bevel on the plane blade. I do shine up the brass parts and ensure the contact points for the frog are clean. I will file the frog and sand to get it pretty flat but I'm not overly obsessive about it, just make sure the blade bakes good contact. I polish the lever cap. The planes I work on fly out of the mall because they are ready to work, I give eggbeaters a similar treatment, remove rust and shine, oil them up and make sure they work. Chisels should have the back flattened and an initial sharpening, clean up the wood then oil and wax. People will compare your tools to the others available in the shop, yours will be clean, somewhat shiny and sharp. My daughter prices her stuff based on the on-line auction solds to include shipping less about 10% or so. As I said those tools move quickly particularly in comparison to other vendors selling similar un-worked items. So to answer your question you are on the right track and need not worry much about the small nooks and crannies, the new owner will want to play with it too.

One type of item I find really useful is the nylon (Nylok) brush wheels in the three grits. These fit in a drill or chuck on the lathe. They do a great job of removing crud and light rust.
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#8
(12-20-2020, 12:46 PM)mr_skittle Wrote: I'm working on cleaning up some old planes, saws, and chisels to sell at a booth. As I was working on one the other night, trying to get the scouring pad or steel wool into the nooks and crannies, it dawned on me that there must be an easier way. I started thinking about bits for my rotary tool and I figure there must be some good ones that are perfect for this work. Does anyone have recommendations based on experience? Otherwise think I've got everything else I need: gray 3M pads, steel wool, metal and nylon brushes, sandpaper for lapping sole, and stones for sharpening. Can anyone recommend any other supplies or tools that make the job a little easier? I've only ever fixed up for myself and my standards on the appearance of a tool are low as long as it cuts well. If I hope to sell for a decent price, I'll need to shine everything up a bit more than I'm used to.

Your toolkit sounds about same as mine.  I've tried some small cup brushes and regular wire wheels in my dremel and they do good work but seemed to wear out so quickly that I just never bothered getting more as the cost/benefit didn't seem worth it when thinking in terms of restoration for resale.  One thing that I use just as much as sandpaper is single edged razor blades.  I'll use them to try to "cut" the rust off of flat surfaces on planes/chisels, etc.  I've also got a couple of chunks of very course sharpening stones that I'll use to clean the surfaces of very crusty axe heads and other "crude" tools that don't need to be shiny but could use some basic improvements.

As I've gotten more experience, I've gotten a bit better at recognizing tools to stay away from in as much as rust in the wrong areas that'll be too much of a bother to clean up.  Clean handsaws are a hard sell in the booth I sell from so I generally try to steer clear of buying more if they need more than 10 minutes worth of work.  Hard to pass them up, but they just sit in the booth taking up space too long to be worth the effort for me.  

My final step to just about any tool before putting it out for sale is to give it a light rub down with boiled linseed oil.  The wood benefits obviously, but even metal parts as well.  Helps blend in anything that wasn't 100% cleaned and with little nooks/crannies, I'll get in with a toothbrush that has just a little BLO on it also.  That seems to clean up those hard to get areas well enough without having to actually get in there with any other sort of method.

Good luck,
Andrew
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#9
(12-20-2020, 12:46 PM)mr_skittle Wrote: I'm working on cleaning up some old planes, saws, and chisels to sell at a booth. As I was working on one the other night, trying to get the scouring pad or steel wool into the nooks and crannies, it dawned on me that there must be an easier way. I started thinking about bits for my rotary tool and I figure there must be some good ones that are perfect for this work. Does anyone have recommendations based on experience? Otherwise think I've got everything else I need: gray 3M pads, steel wool, metal and nylon brushes, sandpaper for lapping sole, and stones for sharpening. Can anyone recommend any other supplies or tools that make the job a little easier? I've only ever fixed up for myself and my standards on the appearance of a tool are low as long as it cuts well. If I hope to sell for a decent price, I'll need to shine everything up a bit more than I'm used to.

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I recommend you buy a "deburring wheel" for your bench grinder rather than use wire wheels, especially on cast iron...They are a non-woven composition that is charged with an abrasive such as aluminum oxide and come in fine, medium and coarse, but medium is most often used..They do an outstanding job that takes lots of time to duplicate by hand. Amazon has them for a good price.

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#10
If you are trying for shiny, you might consider some brass wool or bronze wool instead of the steel wool.
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