Tools for Trade--Part 2

Cleaning Rusty Tools

Some of you may have found that your steel tools have started to rust a bit. This can happen if your tools are in a garage and exposed to the elements a lot or you happen to live near the ocean. That salty air will rust anything.

The best way to clean up rusty tools is Vinegar. Good old vinegar from the supermarket and soak the tools in it.

Recently I purchased a bunch of old tools from an jeweller who no longer made jewellery. HE lived near the ocean and the tools needed a little TLC.

The picture above shows the tools soaking in the vinegar overnight. After they come out of the vinegar give them a good rinse with water and scrubbing brush to remove the rust and vinegar.

At this point the rust will be gone but the tools may appear dull in colour. You can give them a polish with some metal polish and a soft cloth, you can buff them up on a buffing wheel.

IF its important that it has a high shine on them such a ball pein hammer or a hammering block you can sand it with some sandpaper starting at about 1200 and work finer. This will get a nice mirror finish on them.

After doing all this work to clean them up you will want to keep them looking new. You can coat them in machine oil. I use singer sewing machine oil purchased from the supermarket and lightly coat the tools and them cover them with glad wrap. This is for tools that do not get used all the time. The other thing you can coat them in is Vaseline, again this is readily available from your supermarket and this provides a coating over your tools stopping the air from getting them.

For tools such as files which tend to get used on a daily basis, I don;t use anything on them. I just keep them away from water and liquids and keep them in my drawer when I am not using them.

[From: Wendy Hearn]

Tools for Trade---Part 1

In the event that we were in a long-term emergency, and bartering was the norm for obtaining goods and services, tools would be an important bartering object. Not many people do their own repairs and therefore don't have many hand tools.

Today, most people love yard sales, and this is a good place to acquire tools cheaply to be put aside for bartering. Tomorrow's post will be on cleaning rusted tools.


Tools for Trade

One of the best and handiest items for trade or barter is tools. There is something about a tool that most men can't resist. Any kind of tool has the ability to become quite useful when something breaks or a repair is needed. Let's face reality. Sometimes your hands alone aren't enough and you are going to need some kind of tool to help you get

the job done. A person without tools isn't going to get much accomplished. You need the knowledge and skills to make that emergency repair but it most likely won't be accomplished without some basic tools. Tools will always make good items for trade.

In the picture above are just a sample of some of the types of small hand tools that I acquired quite cheap at a yard sale. I recently purchased a dozen hand tools at a yard sale for only $3.00. That's only a quarter for each one. I even got two fairly good quality tools in the mix and have added them to my good tools. The others will go in my junk tool box.

I have my tool box for the farm which has some specialty tools that are necessary for some specialized type of work that is usually only needed at the farm. I have my truck tool boxes and even Mrs. RW has her own tool box for around the house repairs. I also have a junk tool box with an assortment of cheap tools that I've picked up for bargain prices at yard or garage sales. These are often real bargains and sometimes you even find a good quality tool in the mix. An old fishing tackle box or some cheap tool box will make a great place to keep some tools for trade. I've even traded a whole box of junk tools for some really good quality items. The good tool bargains are usually added to my good set of tools and the junk tools go in another old tool box. These I use to trade, sell or barter.

[From: Stealth Survival]

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[Winter Gardening--Peas]