Restoring Rusty Hand Tools
As tools are used their cutting or contact surfaces become worn and dull. Then the tool no longer works well and is often set aside and forgotten.
Often the original wooden handles are broken or missing. The steel tips become badly corroded.
To restore a hammer and hatchet, I removed their failing handles. Then I clamped each head in a vise and punched out leftover pieces of the handle.
To remove extensive corrosion I submerged the heads in a pail of white vinegar. I covered the bucket with a piece of plywood and let the parts soak for about 5 hours. Then I scraped off the surface rust with steel wool. It didn’t get all the rust, but there was a noticeable difference. Back into the vinegar with the tool heads, and this time they soaked overnight. Then I hit them again with steel wool removing the last of the rust. I rinsed the tools thoroughly in plain water to remove any last trace of vinegar and wiped them dry.
Sometimes tool heads are severely pitted, so I smooth them with an d abrasive disc sander. On a couple of the ball-peen hammers, the steel at the striking point had been beat down by repeated hammer blows. To repair the damage, we clamped each hammer head in a vise and then hand-filed the surface smooth.
Lastly, I wiped the tools clean with mineral spirits and primed them with a rust-preventive metal primer and painted them with gloss enamel. The cutting edges on the hatchets were hand sharpened on a series of water stones used for woodworking tools. Then each tool was fitted with a new custom shaped hickory handle.
