Hi All
Just found another a pair of old billhooks in the shed. They look like French and about 100 year old.
The wooden handles look original and solid a few small splits on the grain, but they seem will work fine.
But the rust, they are very rusty, and could do with cleaning up on the whole blade and also the tangs.
My question is, what is the best way to clean up the rust from old tools like this?
And what if, it does not get cleaned up? If just sharpened and kept used, then what would the rust do to the metal structure of the blades? And especially the tang, they are thin and narrow, which are rat tail tang.
Will they last for another hundred years without problems? Or will they get weakened and break from the rust?
If the rust has to be removed, then how do you clean the rust on the tang without taking them out from the original handles?
Just found another a pair of old billhooks in the shed. They look like French and about 100 year old.
The wooden handles look original and solid a few small splits on the grain, but they seem will work fine.
But the rust, they are very rusty, and could do with cleaning up on the whole blade and also the tangs.
My question is, what is the best way to clean up the rust from old tools like this?
And what if, it does not get cleaned up? If just sharpened and kept used, then what would the rust do to the metal structure of the blades? And especially the tang, they are thin and narrow, which are rat tail tang.
Will they last for another hundred years without problems? Or will they get weakened and break from the rust?
If the rust has to be removed, then how do you clean the rust on the tang without taking them out from the original handles?