![]() ![]() The first one applied four different rust removers against the task of removing rust from a series of large and small vintage rectangular forged nails. In order to determine which of the chemical means of reducing corrosion works best, I set up a series of experiments. The oxalic acid paste really does work very well (it is stronger than vinegar), and I would recommend it for large objects that cannot be immersed in a liquid rust remover. A close-up of the border between the rusted and de-rusted regions is shown below. I took this photograph without washing the de-rusted region of the sole with anything, hence the residual paste at the top and bottom. The surface rust had been removed from the sole of the plane, as is evident in the photograph. Well, I have to say I was intrigued after scrapping off the dried crust of BKF. No doubt using BKF with a scouring pad and some elbow grease would provide some reasonable results, but just having it sit there, somehow absorbing the rust? The paste dried over a period of six hours, and to be honest, I wasn’t really expecting there to be a good result here. I then applied it to the exposed portion of the plane sole. To test its usefulness in removing rust, I masked off a section of the sole of a rusty block plane, and made a paste of BKF powder and a little water. BKF is an acidic cleaner used to remove rust stains from bathroom fixtures, and so is likely ideal for removing rust from metal. This one was a tricky one to run an experiment on, because the best source of oxalic acid is Bar Keeper’s Friend (BKF), which comes in liquid form, and also in powder form. Removing rust – the experiments (iii): oxalic acid The sole and sides have minimal pitting, and will be sanded back to produce a smooth finish. However, on the upper portion of the blade, where there was more corrosion, the remaining japanning will be removed, and the plane repainted. There is also a good amount of micro-pitting on the plane body from the effects of the corrosion. In the overall scheme of de-rusting a rust-bucket of a vintage plane, that cost me US$1, the outcome is tremendous. As you will notice, the rust has been converted to a gray coating over the entire body of the plane. Overall, the Evapo-rust performed extremely well. The best way to determine how well the Evapo-rust performed is to compare regions of the plane before and after de-rusting.Įven the lateral adjustment lever has been completely stripped of rust: The frog is also in reasonablely condition. In most regions, the rust obviously formed under the japanning, and was stripped off with the chelation action of the Evapo-rust. Looking a little closer, one can see that the rust has effectively been eliminated from the front portion of the plane, with some japanning left in place. Here is the plane (or at least the non-damaged parts), after de-rusting. The machine screw holding the lateral adjustment lever had loosened enough to remove it (unfortunately the screw required the use of vise-grips to remove, and will have to be replaced). After an additional 24 hours, the rust on the inner portion of the plane had been removed, and much of the Japanning. The rust on the sole, and two sides was also gone at this stage. After the first 24 hours, I was able to remove the front thumb-rest, and the mouth plate. I’m going to de-rust it by dunking it into a bath of Evaporust. The lever cap is damaged, and will be replaced. The front and rear brass knobs are seized, as is the mouth plate. The only parts that can be removed are the lever cap and blade. Then maybe some of the seized parts will be easier to deal with. The first step in rehabilitating the plane is de-rusting it. The plane itself is a rusted piece of trash that I bought for $1 in Maine. A while back I talked about identifying a block plane, that turned out to be a Stanley No.15. ![]()
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