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Tuesday, August 10, 2010

De-Rusting Reeds

I've been working on de-rusting the reeds for the loom. I started out with steel wool and rubbing the heck outta the reed. After a few days of this practice I'm really not getting anywhere fast and my right arm is sore enough to need and ice pack which is not good.
I then consulted Mr. Deepend and asked him if he thought I could use the small Dremel Drill with some attachments to clean the reeds. He thought it would work so we took a trip to Home Depot to pick up these Carbon Steel Brushes, I'd never been so excited to purchase brushes before, the salesman looked at me and must have thought I was crazy, but I was very happy to start working and seeing results.





I started on the #10, it's very rusty but not pitted and I think that's pretty good considering the rust on the surface. The small drill heats up quite a bit so I'd turn it off to cool and would scrub the reed with a toothbrush and some metal cleaner that Mr. Deepend had in the garage.






After about two hours of work and two attachments later I only had 1/4 of the reed with back and front cleaned off, I was very disappointed. This is what the poor brushes looked like after my torture to them, I'm holding a new one for comparison. Once I'd finished for the night I took the attachments, reed and drill back to Mr. Deepend. He looked at all of it and said "Maybe you need my drill and bigger brushes, as I suggested". Yeah I thought so too, the only thing is that his drill is massive, heavy and really powerful. I think I need to peruse the power tool isle at the Depot and see what I can handle to get these done, I guess I should warn the salesguy not to freak out at the crazy lady that going to get really excited about a damn drill.

14 comments:

Acorn to Oak said...

Wow! That's turning out to be a lot of work! I'm wondering about the kind of tools that go back and forth instead of spinning and wondering if there is some kind of attachment that would work for that. Seems like it might work better with all the parallel lines of the reed. I'll ask Mr. Acorn and see if he has any ideas. Good luck! :-)

Delighted Hands said...

You have to do whatever it takes to get the job done! It is going to be fantastic when it is finished!

Leigh said...

What a difference a dremel makes. Excellent idea to use it. The reed is coming along very nicely.

Life Looms Large said...

You are a better woman than I! (I just bought new stainless reeds rather than try to rescue the rusty ones I have. Not to tempt you too much, but Gowdey Reed charges something like $1.90 an inch for stainless steel reeds.)

Before I decided to just buy them, I read that some people use naval jelly to remove rust. It's a marine supply item that I guess people use to de-rust parts of their boats. It might help. I don't know.

Good luck!!! I admire your perseverance!!

Sue

Theresa said...

Another who admires all that perseverance. I too would just order new reeds.
Other ideas that might or might not work is to take it to an autobody place and have them sandblasted...

Peg Cherre said...

I was going to suggest the naval jelly. I used it successfully on a used reed a few years ago. It wasn't overly easy, but sounds a HECK of a lot easier than what you're doing. I think it's available at most hardware stores - that's where I got mine.

Anonymous said...

I found a great product for removing rust. Metal Rescue
You can buy it at most big box stores. Home Depot, Menards possible Ace.

Looks and smells like water, safe on everything except rust. use it over and over again. It'll turn black but you can still use it over. Great stuff.

Unknown said...

We are manufacturer of textile reeds from india
Remember us if you required our assistance

Prashant Patel
+91-869-000-7900
export@raigointernational.com

Unknown said...

We are manufacturer of textile reeds from india
Remember us if you required our assistance

Prashant Patel
+91-869-000-7900
export@raigointernational.com

Unknown said...

We are manufacturer of textile reeds from india
Remember us if you required our assistance

Prashant Patel
+91-869-000-7900
export@raigointernational.com

Unknown said...

We are manufacturer of textile reeds from india
Remember us if you required our assistance for repairing or buying reed very cheaply

Prashant Patel
+91-869-000-7900
Click to whatsapp :
http://bit.ly/Whatsapp4Reed
export@raigointernational.com

Unknown said...

We are manufacturer of textile reeds from india
Remember us if you required our assistance for repairing or buying reed very cheaply

Prashant Patel
+91-869-000-7900
Click to whatsapp :
http://bit.ly/Whatsapp4Reed
export@raigointernational.com

Unknown said...

We are manufacturer of textile reeds from india
Remember us if you required our assistance for repairing or buying reed very cheaply

Prashant Patel
+91-869-000-7900
Click to whatsapp :
http://bit.ly/Whatsapp4Reed
export@raigointernational.com

Unknown said...

We are manufacturer of textile reeds from india
Remember us if you required our assistance for repairing or buying reed very cheaply

Prashant Patel
+91-869-000-7900
Click to whatsapp :
http://bit.ly/Whatsapp4Reed
export@raigointernational.com