The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Cleaning rust from bolts

Watching one of the Car Shows this morning and they were doing a demo on cleaning rust from bolts. We all have used a wire brush or a wire wheel on a drill, usually ending up with sore fingers or pieces of wire embedded in hard to get to places. Out comes a tool called the Thread Wizard. Zip zip no rust and even took the zinc coating off a grade 8 bolt. If I was doing a nut/bolt resto on one of these trucks it would be in my tool box in a heart beat. FYI, I don’t have stock in the company and am not a paid spokesperson. I found them on Amazon and EvilBay.🛠

For bolts smaller than head bolts, I use a vibratory tumbler with either clean sand or 1/4" pyramid abrasive resin media. Does not harm threads.

i cannot stress enough how amazing chelation liquids are
anyone who hasn't use one for small parts doesn't realize how much better their life could be

it is seriously the only way to not disturb underlying metal, it's not an acid or a base
it makes the oxide water soluble so the rust or aluminum oxide dissolves like salt into the water without touching the underlying metal

you can clean rusty metal that is literally 0.0005 inches thick without removing any original non rusted metal
if it melts away in the chelation bath, then it was 100% rust and you lost nothing

works best with a heated ultrasonic bath, or just let the part sit for 48 hrs with occasional gentle stirring once every 12 hrs

after the chelation bath, you can use mechanical methods to finish the surface to get the look you want
-s

I use a wire wheel on a bench grinder and I also put them in a french fry basket I got at Goodwill, then into my sandblast cabinet. Clean as a whistle. Of course, we don't want to destroy any plating on them. But old hardware does not have plating per se. It is a Black Phosphate Treatment. Not to be confused with black oxide. I like to keep that look. Can be called Parkerizing. Light blasting and wire wheel are my choice. I like the Thread Wizard because it is just a wire brush method. I find that hand held against a bench grinder wire wheel or a group basket is very fast. I always use the old hardware. 99% is reusable.
Using a drill with wheel is harder to do unless clamping drill in vice and using it like a bench grinder. I do wear off my finger prints now and then on the small ones. Cleaning hardware is therapy for me. Don't know why, just is.

I don't like using chemicals if I don't have to.

Wire wheeling rusty parts as therapy. I thought that I was the only one weird in that way.
I find that I get into a zone behind the bench grinder wire wheel. I am not too excited about looking for hard to find fasteners that turn loose on me however.
I like the wire wheel method because all I need to do is wipe with acetone and they are ready to paint right now.

Everyone is too hung up on their old familiar way of doing things to even pay any attention when the OP offers a new and superior suggestion. They just can't wait to tune him out so they can brag about their tired old method. Well I watched the Thread Wizard video - dang, that's a great device. I gotta get one.

Jay Zed: "Everyone is too hung up on their old familiar way of doing things to even pay any attention when the OP offers a new and superior suggestion. . . . "

Not everyone - I ordered one.

Also, I'm sure some will think the way I do. I see how easy it would be to make one out of aluminum or steel plates and a wire wheel.

Neat tool, I'm always interested in a better mousetrap LOL. I could have put it to some heavy use lately but my trusty old wire wheel and some new fastners took car of the business. May add it to my inventory for future endeavors.

Dave

Interesting tool, I might have to get a couple for my new overfull tool box!

WHAT is cleaning the bolts? are the holes filled with wire brushes?

Yes

It is a regular small wire wheel sandwiched between plates that have holes. The wire wheel is just past tangent on all the holes. The little bit of wire wheel sticking out lets bolt "thread" thru while wire brushing the bolt threads. Won't clean nuts or washers or the head. I will still have to use my blaster or bench grinder.
So while "neat", it's just a gadget for $25 and up. Just being real. I've done thousands of pieces of hardware.

Looks cool, but how long before the internal wire brush goes bad. Seems like one is asking a lot out of small bit of wire brush inside that housing.
And as bartamos mentioned, you still have to clean the head of the fastener. The head is the part which I am the most concerned with, as it is the part which shows.
If you gotta get one, then go getchya one.
Carl

Tumbler, vibratory, plastic barrel with washing soda and battery charger, molasses, braided wire brush, muriatic acid, and for high volume in a hurry a five gallon can with mesh bottom and pressure sand blaster. Tend to mostly use what will clean while we are doing other work. On alloy parts we use an ultrasonic bath or a vapor degreaser. Probably others with a home shop do it differently but we can't charge a customer shop hours for doing one bolt at a time.

The blaster with hardware in a basket, like I have, is definitely the fastest group clean method with no chems. Home depot garnet. 3 minutes max.

I send my wife, with some rusty bolts, out to the shop where the bench grinder with wire wheel reside. How much easier than THAT, can it get?


But seriously, the thread wizard might be ideal for someone who catches themselves cleaning a bunch of old bolts.

I told my wife to put a Thread Wizard on my Christmas present list.

I bought one for my wife. It was an expression of love. If she isn’t happy, no one is.

As an aside: I find soaking them in lacquer thinner over night and inside a sealed rubbermaid plastic thing I stole from the kitchen works well. Then I dump most of the solvent out, leave some, and shake them to the beat of some good new age music, and then dump em out on a paper towel. If I am in an ornery mood, a good polka or Zamfir music seems to do the trick. Either genre shakes the rust loose.

If necessary I repeat with new solvent. Takes the paint, some rust, and grease right off. A wipe down and soak in zinc phosphate after thread cleaning has been my process.