Hey Jimbo!

[Bwana]

Don't recall if I asked you this before but do you shine up old wrenches you put up for sale on the bay or leave them in their original condition?

I bought a bunch of old wrenches at my dad's farm auction and don't have use for all of them so thought I would see about disposing of them for some coin. Any suggestions you have would be appreciated.

Thanks

[LJ3]

If he offers you money, tell him you want double and ignore his silly talk of profit margins. It's all smoke and mirrors. He's actually a millionaire!

[Arty]

Any old wrench goes to Cappy at a 20-1 profit. Don’t you know that?! You are definitely a junior noticer. I think Airbud Just surpassed you in noticing skills! :)

[Thumper]

Bof’a youse can bite me! ;)

Bwana, ask 10 people what their opinion is on this subject, and you’ll get 10 different answers. Personally, 90% of the old tools I pick up are just old, rusty/dirty tools. If they’re nothing super special, I simply clean them up with the wire wheel on my bench grinder, then hit ‘em with an oily rag to keep ‘em from rusting. If the tool has decent collector value and has light surface rust, I may soak it in vinegar to remove the rust, rinse with warm water, hit it with a blow dryer (to dry it thoroughly), then clean it up with an oily rag, while leaving the patina intact.

If it’s a high value collectible, I wash it in warm, soapy water and soak it in a citric acid bath. It’ll usually clean right up without harming the collector value (unless you forget about it and leave it soaking for a few days)! Soak too long and the acid will start attacking the metal once the rust is gone. Citric Acid is cheap and effective.

[BarryBobPosthole]

Thump’s Albanian Clap cure.......soak it in cider, leave the patina on your tool.

Got it!

BKB

[Bwana]

Thank you sir, but where does one find citric acid? Squeeze a bunch of oranges?

[LJ3]

Here you go!

https://www.amazon.com/Milliard-Citric-Acid-Pound-NON-GMO/dp/B00EYFKKZC/ref=sr_1_3_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1516891678&sr=8-3&keywords=citric+acid

[Thumper]

Thank you sir, but where does one find citric acid? Squeeze a bunch of oranges?

Sorry Bwana, we went to breakfast and I missed this.

My buddy and I buy it in bulk on-line (Amazon, eBay, etc) and split it, but if you want to experiment a bit, you can buy it almost anyplace in smaller quantities (it's cheap). Heck, even Wally World has it. Check the canning isle where you'd find Ball jars, etc. Many grocery stores carry it and I believe I saw it in ACE Hardware (or maybe Lowes or Home Depot, can't remember). It's one of those things that is relatively easy to find, but you'd never know it if you've never thought about looking. The good part about it is that it's basically harmless and disposal is no problem (I just dump it down the drain).

Also, on some more delicate or collectible items, I'll dip the item in a water/baking soda solution to immediately neutralize the cleaning action of the acid so it won't etch the piece. (no big deal really, just rinse it immediately with water if you want to skip the baking soda step).

[Bwana]

Thanks guys!

[Thumper]

We’re driving home right now, so I won’t take the time to check, but you may want to Google (or check YouTube). Search for something like “remove rust with citric acid” or maybe even “clean rusty tools w/citric acid”. I’m sure you’ll run across something.

[Captain]

Ah hell. Put it in some vinegar

[Thumper]

Ah hell. Put it in some vinegar

Well, I mentioned vinegar in my first post, but trust me, it’s SLOOOOW compared to citric acid.

[Captain]

Everybody is in such a hurry these days.