Give ’em the clamps, boss!

[solarbird]

I de-rusted and restored some more C-clamps. These aren’t labelled “Pony” or “Jorgensen” but are labelled “Adjustable” so I’m wondering if that refers to Adjustable Clamp Company, which is the maker of both Pony and Jorgensen clamps. But I don’t know.

As always, I am terrible about “before” photos but these were covered in so much rust they were a mix of furry and scaly and I brought them home in a plastic bag. But two days wrapped in paper towels soaked with rust remover does a lot, and a wire brush does a lot more on top of that.

this actually is really cleaned up a lot already

I particularly like how well the screwed cleaned up, wire wheels are pretty great for this

This wasn’t nearly as big a job as the last clamp I restored, that one was bent up and weird. These were fine except for just being caked in rust. After a lot of wheel time they were ready to blue, and they blued up really well.

Following advice from Mastodon I also coated the screws in a thin coat of WD-40 – well, okay, a thick coat that I repeatedly wiped down into a thin coat – and that should keep them nice and rust-free for a decently long time, I hope.

It’s kind of neat how well these old clamps clean up. They look so bad but they come back so well.

cleaned but not yet blued vs. out of the de-ruster but not cleaned yet at all

cleaned, de-rusted, wire-wheel brushed, blued, and oiled. like new!

Posted via Solarbird{y|z|yz}, Collected.

Comments

[armiphlage]

There's at least two types of WD-40; best to check that the can says "Corrosion Inhibitor". I used the "Penetrant" type on a chain on an electric skateboard, and it all volatilized and actually caused the chain to rust even more.

[stickmaker]

Oh, there are more types than that. Besides"Original Recipe" and the two you mentioned, there's also extra-thick, lubricant residue and a few others. For a while the local Wal-Mart _only_ had the variants, and I had to go to Lowe's to get the plain.

[solarbird]

Thank you, I did not realise they were meaningfully different and did exactly the same thing; I have now re-coated with a proper corrosion inhibitor.

[solarbird]

I wasn't able to find the WD-40 corrosion inhibitor at either nearby store that carries such things, and ended up with a different brand but it is supposedly particularly good for cast iron clamps like these, so I feel fine with it.