Popular Woodworking – October 2019

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Shop Skills

Removing Patina
If you’d like to achieve a polished
look, use a more aggressive steel
wool, abrasive pad or even a high-
speed rotary tool equipped with an
abrasive disc or brush. Then, once
the patina has been removed you can
decide what level of polish you want
for the new/old surface. By using
fi ner and fi ner abrasives or polishing
compounds you will be able to reach
a very high level of sheen.

Painted or Varnished
Hardware
If your hardware item is painted
over or is covered with old protec-
tive lacquer that looks unattractive,
I recommend using paint stripper to
entirely remove the old fi nish.

Rust Removal from
Ferrous Hardware
Rust, the mortal enemy of steel and
iron, can be removed via a few tech-
niques. You can erode it with abra-
sives and steel brushes, you can use
chemicals or acids, you can submerge
rusted objects in a bath of sodium
carbonate (also known as “washing
soda”) and water, and with the help
of electricity reverse the corrosion
through a process known as elec-
trolysis. And if this is not enough, I
have recently learned about a cutting
edge technology that utilizes laser
beams to incinerate rust away. Which
method is best for your application?
It depends on the object, the amount
of rust on it and how much time you
want to invest to remove it.

Removing Rust
with Chemicals
In my experience there are two
main options: acids and dedicated
pH-neutral rust-removing chemicals.
Over the years I’ve experimented
with 5% vinegar, 20% vinegar, citric
acid solutions and a product called
Evapo-Rust. Among the four, Eva-
po-Rust, and other commercial prod-
ucts of its kind such as Rust-Oleum
Rust Dissolver are the only ones
with a neutral pH level. That means

3 Apply the stripper to the surface and let it soften the layers of finish.

4 Then use any combination of a scraper, steel brush and/or picks remove the

old paint or varnish.

5 If your stripper can be rinsed off with water, then dunk the item in soapy water.

6 Scrub with steel wool or an abrasive pad.

7 When thoroughly cleaned, rinse in water and dry it with a hair dryer or paper

towel. The difference with the original look is like night and day.

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