Cleaning nuts, bolt & washers

[JayEstes 172]

Hey all-

 

I have tons of nuts bolts washers as I am going thru the restore, and I am curious what the best way to clean them, and shine them up is?

 

I know you can wire brush, use thinner etc, but some are really small. Seems to me I could use some kind of tumbler I could put them in with solvent, and let them tumble for a while with some media that would get them good as new.

 

Do any of you guys do anything like that? Thanks for any suggestions.

 

Jay

[69gtcoupe390 10]

Try to find a machine shop with a tumbler.....takes no time at all with one and cleans them back to natural finish.

Edited May 20, 2012 by 69gtcoupe390

[miketyler 15]

If they are rusted you can let them soak in one of the acid-based rust converter products. I have done that before and they look pretty good.

 

For the non-chemical treatment I have read where some guys have taken a hobby rock tumbler/polisher and used it with walnut shells? I have never tried it but the pictured results look pretty amazing.

 

I understand yellow cad plating is a pretty cheap coating. If you know a plater, they may do a whole bucket of clean hardware for you cheaply.

[MustangChuck 16]

I keep seeing Metal Rescue advertised a lot. Granted that doesn't mean anything (other than they have some advertising dollars burning a hole in their pocket). I haven't tried it.

 

M/C

[Pakrat 1,043]

If these are all in one big miscelaneous pile I would honestly say your money is better spent just buying the hardware assembly kits. All brand new stuff ready to go and grouped by part and labeled so you can't go wrong.

 

Once you factor in all the time and money spent cleaning, sorting and fixing bad threads the $100+ bucks spent is well worth it.