Rust happens. It is, to some extent, unavoidable. When you open your toolbox to discover a rusted wrench or a hammer with a rotting handle, you might be tempted to head to the hardware store to replace your once-beloved tools. But don’t let a little corrosion scare you. With some hard work and the right know-how, you can give your tools a second life.
According to Roy Berendsohn for Popular Mechanics: "A neglected tool has an odd, magnetic power. It pulls you in. Pick it up and the next thing you know, you're scraping away rust with your thumbnail, trying to make out the manufacturer's name. You vaguely recall how you came by it: a tag sale, or your father-in-law, or a neighbor who was moving away. 'Everybody has them, these little hidden jewels,' says contributing editor Richard Romanski, a fine woodworker and unrepentant tool collector. 'Restoring them is pretty easy.' We gathered a bunch of forlorn implements and went to work in his studio, a cavernous former church in North Salem, New York. We found that all it takes is some basic chemistry and a little work to salvage tools that look like they've been sitting on the bottom of the ocean for a century or two."
To learn more, read "How to Restore Your Rusted Old Tools" from Popular Mechanics.