Thread: Help to restore Stanley 78 from around 1900s

And another photo...

Probably the most gentle, least paint disturbing way of removing the rust would be Evaporust. (but you can always recreate the japaning)

Three ways to remove the rust are electrolysis, molasses and citric acid.
There is some info on the forum on them or google them.
I may have a new blade somewhere if you want one.
H.

A wire wheel will take off a surprising amount of steel, likely to be bad for threads and fine detail, my preference to deal with the rust is electrolysis, its fairly easy to set up (make sure you get the polarity the right way around and remember that it works on a straight lines between the anode and the cathode). I have an ancient battery charger to drive it and the rest of the assembly was a deep white bucket, steel bar and some wire from Bunnings. Washing soda and a low voltage seems to work best for several hours, followed by some polishing (a sisal mop and a cutting compound works for me) followed by a coat of oil.

The japan will flake off where it has rust under it, you may lose a fair bit of what is left, but there is not much you can do about that.

The blade looks fairly far gone, in places anyway, and getting it flat enough on the back edge to sharpen it properly could be interesting.

One method I use and swear by is the use of Lemon juice.
I also do use electrolysis for larger hand planes or tools.
Having done quite a few 78's with LJ...never needed to buy Evaporust @ 30 dollars a gallon.
But should add do have friends who swear by it.
Citric acid also is great and does the same as LJ...Vinegar, have had some metal loss with it and do not recommend it.

Here is a pic of a 78 clean up

78 and lemon juice (Large).jpg

Lemon juice runs about $1 a quart at the dollar store, they even sell containers there,
which a 78 will fit.

Edit: Make sure all the parts are covered by the juice.

Just leave the parts in the juice for about 8 to 10 hours, rinse with very hot water and soap.
Compress air or a hair dryer will help clear the water from the metal parts.
Scotch pad does help in the shine also, when cleaning the plane.

That looks great cowboy and there are a lot of lemons ripening at the moment, perfect

I can vouch for the lemon juice method too. I've just de-rusted about twenty circular saw blades , half a dozen hand planes and a few other heavily rusted tools and they came up a treat. Sure there was pitting in a few places due to the rust but after a good scrub in hot soapy water with a scotch brite as acowboy says I was surprised how well some of them came up. The citric acid did attack some of the paint or Japanning on the planes though so you'd have to be judicious in how you used it.

Stewie

I should add to what Stewie has wrote.

What ever method you use to d-rust expect some japanning loss. Even Nickel plating also.
Unseen or not visible, is rust under the paint or plating.
_{That will explain the loss of japanning}