Hello All. I'm a newbie member but frequent visitor and have learned a lot here. I have a question that I can't find an answer to anywhere. I've got a hammer and dolly set that continues to rust on me, even though I've tried to remove the oils, wax and grease, and such. I read in the old Metal Fabricator's Handbook to "Make sure to clean and oil your dollies". So my question is, what kind of oil are you supposed to use on them that won't leech into the metal that you're working on? I inherited a heel dolly from my brother-in-law, who worked in body shops, and his dolly seems to have a dark gray color and doesn't ever rust. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Old guy from the HS football booster club I worked for back in the 80s used the beeswax mixture for the wooden lead working paddles. He would still use lead on top of hack panel welds to keep the mud thin enough. We would make $2500 s10s, rangers and Jap mini trucks out of wrecks. But he used dollies every day. Long term maybe look at some gun stuff. Just make sure it has no silicone.
I’m a bodyman and use my dollies daily and they still get a little rusty Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Like the idea of gun bluing. Seems that any oil, incl mineral, would raise havoc w/paint. Chems like phosphoric, Metalprep, would leave a grey, but as it is a corroded layer, I'd bet it would be brittle. And flake.
I work a lot of aluminum, so my hammer faces and dollie surfaces need to be polished. I bought a cheap HF polisher to maintain them, one side is a buffing wheel and the other is a rubberized scotchbrite wheel and hit them just before useage. When done for the day, I throw them in a old sock to keep from dinging them up
I live in a dry climate. Had my body tools for over 40 years, seldom use them and the dollies are still shiny. Sent from my SM-T350 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
What is HF polisher? That sounds like the way to go. Like you, throwing them in a sock or at least giving them a good rub down after each use would probably work wonders for me too.
He probably means HF= Harbor Freight as opposed to High Frequency, Hydrofluoric acid, High Finance, Hydrogen Fluoride, ****** face....
The weather in your area is going to have an effect. It's pretty dry here where I am in southern California. That being said, to maintain my metalworking tools, if they have had any dings, they get sanded out, then sanding marks get removed with what is basically a scotchbrite wheel that goes on a bench grinder, It looks almost polished at this point, but still goes to the polisher for a real polish. I find that just being polished seems to resist rust (at least in my climate) But, I also do just give them a wipe down with Gibbs, just the same as the metal I'm working on. If there are no dings in the hammer or dolly, it gets just the scotchbrite wheel and/or polishing.
I occasionally polish the working faces of the dollies and hammers. I keep them in their own drawer to keep them from getting dinged. Though they're very crude tools, you have to think of them as precision tools. They're tools that are not to be tossed around, clacked together or misused for "caveman" type work. Remember; any dings in the working faces will transfer to your work. Drives me nuts when I watch the car building shows and see guys using a really nice body hammer to hammer on cold rolled steel (or anything other than sheet metal). Don't they have a ball peen in their tool box? I saw one scene where they were busting down ball joints with a 3 lb. sledge backed with a body dollie...
Wipe with motor oil when you are thru with them. Wipe off with a clean rag before you use them. Wipe the bodywork down with a rag and prep sol or thinners to remove any oil residue before applying lead or filler. Did this for years, never a problem.
Hmmm, something about Rusty O'Toole posting on a thread on rusty tools...guess I'd listen to his advice. Guess being in NM it's never been an issue for me, some of my hammers and dollies I've had for over 40 years, never got a bit of rust on them. I basically have two different sets of hammers/ dollies. Some I don't do much with care wise, use them for roughing out stuff or panels I know will get some filler at least, why beat up polished tools if it don't matter. I also have some I keep polished to almost a chrome like finish I use on stuff that is going to be metal finished. One day a helper picked up my best polished hammer to beat a rolled pin into something, he got an ear full from me.
When I attended one of Gene Winfield' metal working cl***es in Post Falls a few years ago keeping your body hammer faces and dolly faces polished was one thing he was pretty adamant about. I Seem to have the rough work hammers and dollys and the finsh work set. Wipe down with a bit of oil (motor or Gibbs) and clean off when you use them and repeat seems to work.
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