Renovating rusty garden tools (yard, sale, ground, new)

[jacqueg]

Yes, I'm careless

I have several hand tools, including some snippers, that I have allowed to be overwhelmed with rust.

What would you do to free them up again?

[Zoisite]

Are the snippers completely seized up?

If I get rust on some of my older hand tools I soak them in oil (whatever kind of oil I have handy but preference is for mineral oil). Sometimes at yard sales I find good old antique hand tools that have rust on them. If they're seized up but not bonded by rust I unseize them with WD40 and then give them a soak in mineral oil for 48 hours to loosen or dissolve rust and let the oil absorb into the metal pores. Then scrub them with a wire brush or steel wool soaked in oil, and then wipe clean. Then sharpen anything that needs a new edge put on it.

If they're really badly rusted cast iron they can be ground down but personally I've never had to do that with anything except rusty cast iron cook ware.


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[Hemlock140]

Originally Posted by Zoisite

Are the snippers completely seized up?

If I get rust on some of my older hand tools I soak them in oil (whatever kind of oil I have handy but preference is for mineral oil). Sometimes at yard sales I find good old antique hand tools that have rust on them. If they're seized up but not bonded by rust I unseize them with WD40 and then give them a soak in mineral oil for 48 hours to loosen or dissolve rust and let the oil absorb into the metal pores. Then scrub them with a wire brush or steel wool soaked in oil, and then wipe clean. Then sharpen anything that needs a new edge put on it.

If they're really badly rusted cast iron they can be ground down but personally I've never had to do that with anything except rusty cast iron cook ware.


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I agree, WD30 and steel wool is what I do, then if not used often, rub with thin machine oil before storing.