Estwing #1 hatchet rebuild

[barbourdurham]

I picked up an Estwing #1 hatchet at the market today. No sheath and very rusty both on the head and on the bolster. The cutting edge has been abused to buggery as well, but for £3 who can argue! Im all up for cleaning this little beauty up and restoring it to former glory but my question is:

how do I remove the rust that covers it without damaging the metal too much? Im up for makng my own new leather sheath to so i will be on the hunt for some leather pretty soon to....

 

[Adze]

Wire brush, then some wet and dry. Don't try for a polished finish, it won't do you many favours, if any in fact, lots of effort required too.

 

[demographic]

The odd times I've cleaned up old Estwing hammers* I've used Garryflex blocks but that's mostly because I have a few of them kicking around.



*I'm almost ashamed to admit that I have about six of them.

 

[swotty]

Try soaking in molasses for a few days, should remove most of the rust and won't damage the metal at all. 1part molasses to 5 parts water.

 

[barbourdurham]

Try soaking in molasses for a few days, should remove most of the rust and won't damage the metal at all. 1part molasses to 5 parts water.

molasses? as in dark runny sugar??

 

[Grebby]

Yes.

Checkout youtube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vq5IUiYMhRM

Another approach would be electrolysis, but this needs more stuff.

 

[swotty]

molasses? as in dark runny sugar??

Yep...the very same

 

[barbourdurham]

Yep...the very same

right then........ im on it!

 

[swotty]

right then........ im on it!

You have to leave it in to soak for a few days but we tried it with some rusty tools at work and it worked really well. Let us know how it goes.

 

[swotty]

Here you go.....

http://www.homercidal.com/molasses/

Don't make term then solution needs to be diluted