Restoration Guides
How to Remove Rust from Old Tools with a Drill
Car boot sales, auctions and the back of the shed are full of old tools that are better made than anything in the shops today. Most just need the rust taking off. With a drill and the right abrasive discs, that takes minutes rather than an afternoon with wire wool.
What you need
- A drill and a set of abrasive nylon cleaning discs, such as our Rapid Cleaning Kit with coarse, medium and fine discs
- For a bright finish afterwards, the Ultimate Metal Cleaning and Polishing Kit
- A vice or clamp to hold the tool
- Light machine oil or paste wax
- Eye protection, gloves and a dust mask
Step by step
- Take it apart if you can. Remove handles and separate moving parts.
- Clamp it down so both hands are free for the drill.
- Strip the rust with the coarse brown discs. Stack a few together on the mandrel for a firmer tool, run the drill under 3,000 RPM and keep moving.
- Smooth it with the medium, then fine discs. The fine discs leave a clean satin finish, perfect for a working tool.
- Polish if you like. For a show finish, move on to polishing mops and compound.
- Protect it straight away. Bare steel starts to rust within hours in damp air. Wipe on light oil or wax.
Blades and edges
Clean the flats and bodies of chisels, planes and shears, but keep mops and discs away from the cutting edge. Sharpen edges separately once the tool is clean.
More ideas in our tool restoration guide.
Questions
Will the discs remove heavy rust?
They strip surface rust and scale well. Deep pitting will remain once the rust is gone, but it won’t affect most tools.
What about wooden handles?
Sand them smooth and finish with boiled linseed oil or a wood oil.
How do I store restored tools?
Somewhere dry, with a light coat of oil or wax on bare metal.
Strip rust in minutes with your drill.