Secondly and more to the point I've been neck deep in a 1950's vintage table saw restore. That is a post that really has nothing to do with my geek side and so, Kludge Spot has been void as of late. Every waking moment of free time has been devoted to looking up motor wiring diagrams, tracking down compatible bearings, vintage color charts and removing 49 years of rust. This one is the kicker...
When you're removing rust off a table top like this, it is important that it remains dead flat. Compromising that compromises the work you can create. What that means is that nothing more abrasive than your knuckle hair and can be used to remove the rust build up. In addition chemical products like naval jelly, discolor the surface, leaving it yellowed and patchy. So it you really want it to look like it did when it came off the assembly line in 1950, you get two things. A green scrubber and a can of WD-40.
Removing rust gives you lots of time to think.... Here is a shot of what it looked like the day it arrived in my garage.
So I set to work. Four hours alone with your thoughts can be a bit daunting. Luckily that can be overcome by the sound of blood pounding through your temples. This is accomplished by sheer exhaustion. See a man who spends 40+ hours a week sitting at a desk typing is in little shape to preform the repetitive back and forth scrubbing motion for four hours straight. In addition I was sweating like crazy. Which was dropping salty water all over the surface of my table. Sweat that would turn into rust, if not cleaned up. I was working against me. After 4 hours...I got maybe 15% clean. You can sort of see it under the other parts.
The next morning I awake to find I couldn't move my legs. How disappointing. I wept. Then rolled out of bed and stumbled to work. Over the next 4 days I recuperated enough to try again. Two more weekends of work and about 10 more hours of rust cleaning time, brought me here. I had now disintegrated 22 green scrubbers and emptied 3 bottles of WD-40. I smelled like a mechanic shop and the grease under my fingernails took three days to completely remove. But... I'd removed a fair amount of rust.
I have to say I'd never really give rust much though before. I mean you get a little on tools from time to time. You spray some lightweight oil and it mostly comes off. Really bad rust you sand it off. Not this stuff. Some of this stuff hadn't seen the light of day for decades! I think It still thought Eisenhower was president. Korea? Vietnam? Persian Gulf? Never heard of it.
My shorts, are now brown. They used to be grey! I literally have a terra cotta stripe across my crotch area, which is where the level of the top meets my broken and twisted form. Another 5 hours of work, 2 cans of WD-40 and 6 green scrubbers brought me here...
It's really close now. Not completed, but close. I would guess another 4 hours or so till I can say I'm done scrubbing rust. I hate rust. I probably hate it worse than brussel sprouts at the moment. But when I'm all done and smiling at my face in the cast iron, I'll think...
Boy I wish I could get out of this wheel chair and use my saw...
