Last weekend, I got this rather dirty and rusty wrench at a garage sale in my neighborhood. It’s an odd wrench, stamped with So. Pac. Co., which rather raises the likelihood that it was a wrench used on steam locomotives, and my guess would be that it’s probably closer to a century old than newer than that. I just think it is a cool artifact, even if it probably has a value not much greater than the $5 I paid for it, and I thought it would be get rid of blobs of paint that were on it and clean up the rust, grease and grime that covered (and likely protected) it.

So, I gave it a light scrub with a metal brush to get rid of the loose dirt and scale, and then I sprayed it down with some purple degreasing spray, gave it a few quick wipes, and then put it in a bath of Metal Rescue for derusting, where it has been sitting for a little over forty-eight hours.

After eight hours, it began to show a fair amount of improvement. Some of the rust around the stamped Verona Toolwoorks logo was removed, and I began to see a faint PITTSB imprint below it. Cool. The other bits of engraving on the tool began to stand out further. I gave it a scrub with a green pad. The paint that was on it hadn’t softened at all, so I took it over to my drill press where I had a small wire wheel chucked, and then did a very light pass to just get rid of the paint, doing as little to the underlying metal as possible.

After 24 hours, the main part of the handle was looking not just rust free, but much cleaner. It settled into a fairly constant steel gray. The end of the wrench was still fairly dark and stained. I suspect that a fair amount of grease was still on the wrench, so I gave it another good cleaning. A few small bits of junk were still caught in the sharp part of the jaws, so I fetched a little pick and removed them. And, it’s back in the Metal Rescue. I suspect that when I am home tonight it will be essentially done.

Which brings up the question: “what finish should I apply?”

This is a railroad wrench. It was a hardworking tool, used it a harsh environment. I suppose to some degree the right thing would be to have simply cleaned it and leave it at that, but the rest removal revealed a lot of the details in the casting and engraving that I found interesting. I don’t feel like it would be appropriate to file, sand or polish the wrench. It was never shiny, and to make it shiny would be to turn it into something that it is not.

I could just rub it down with some paste wax or beeswax, and leave it the way it is. That would protect it from rust. But the grayish color of the wrench’s clean steel seems… oddly out of place. I am considering the possibility of bluing the steel, which ironically is the reverse of what the Metal Rescue has been doing. It will basically convert the outer layer of the freshly restored tool to black iron oxide.

What do people think?

I’ve been thinking about what I want to do with the wrench. I’m pondering just mounting it in a shadow box, perhaps with a picture of a period appropriate steam locomotive, or maybe even a model locomotive.

Anyway, if someone has some opinion or ideas, let me know.