Restoration of Antique Seized Adjustable Wrench

11 months ago
127

In this video I'm going to restore an antique adjustable wrench. My friend found this wrench at the steel waste and I bought it from him for $10. It was rusty and all movable parts were completely stuck. The jaws seemed to be in good condition. I had to soak the whole wrench in rust remover for one day to get it unstuck and I've put it right back into the rust remover for another day after I completely disassembled it. That removed all the rust and the parts almost looked sandblasted after that treatment.
The movable jaw had a lot of play in the t-slot of the body and that's where this restoration begun. First I sanded the guided part of the movable part clean and then I made the t-slot smaller by squishing it together with forging. That all went surprisingly well and it ended up with a perfect fit. I then could file and sand the whole thing completely smooth and gave it a nice coat with nickel plating for rust protection.
The knurled adjustment wheel took quite some time to restore. Especially refiling the whole knurling by hand was very time consuming. I'm not 100% satisfied with the result of the knurling but it was not too bad, still quite an improvement.
The spring was really unique, as it was rectangular shaped. I only sandblasted it and also nickel plated it. Sanding it clean would change the strength of it.
I had to make a new washer because the original one was not thick enough anymore to fit in the body.
Overall I'm very happy how this adjustable wrench has turned out. I really like the brushed finish with the nickel plating.

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