Cleaning up a Plumb Champion

F

Frank R

Joined
Feb 19, 2015
Messages
17
I just picked up a Plumb Champion axe head. I would like to clean it up and sell it. I would like to make it as presentable as possible without ruining any value.

I have done a search here and see that a brass wire wheel was recommended; I do not have one. I have a lot of other tools though.

What I would like to do is use electrolysis with graphite electrodes to de-rust it. Then file off the very slight mushrooming. Then several applications of Brownell's Oxpho-Blue to give it a nice dark blued finish.

Is this a sound plan?
 
I wouldn't file it at all. Any collector is perfectly capable of filing a mushroomed poll if he wants to. Most will readily recognize the file marks and downgrade the axe. Better to leave the poll unaltered.

Since I'm the one that recommended the brass wire cup brush I'll stick with that suggestion.
 
Just get a wire wheel for under 5$ and use it to remove the rust.

Don't listen to anyone who says to use electrolysis or vinegar, the patina is part of what makes an old axe beautiful.
Why remove something that took the axe a lifetime to create.
( if I was a tree hugger I might say that the life of each tree lives on through the patina it leaves on the axe , but I'm not so I won't say that 😁 )
 
Thanks for the feedback. However, I have some questions.

I buy and sell old machinery, mostly metal working lathes and mills. I have also re-built several machines. I have wire-wheeled a lot of old metal. I know when a machine is "old" and when it is an "antique". An old machine can be cleaned up with wire wheels, electrolysis, Evaporust, or whatever else works. An antique should be treated differently and preserved but gentler methods can be used as necessary.

But I do not know about old axe heads; that is why I came here to ask. I did not want to destroy any value by over cleaning it.

This axe head has more than just patina, more like pitting. But that Champion logo is still visible. I think wire wheeling may be a bit harsh in its current state. Electrolysis will remove the rust but nothing else.

Its hard to tell from some of the pictures I have seen, but it looks like some have filled the logo with black paint or dye and then wiped it off to leave the rest of the axe face shiney. That is far more than I planned.

I'll try and post links to some pictures. Let's see if this works.


CAM00869.jpg
CAM00868.jpg

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ju7mlggi6bp01on/CAM00868.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/vj185ty7wueyn0u/CAM00869.jpg?dl=0
 
I consider that amount of mushrooming very minor and would not file it. I prefer a wire cup cleaning but electrolysis is OK too. Vinegar will color the axe in an unnatural way and if you plan on selling it in the future it may affect value. These are just my opinions and it's your axe to do as you please. I clean up all my rusty axe finds to please myself and do not worry about future value that much since most were very low cost. I will never buy a vinegar cleaned axe personally.
 
halfaxe said:
I consider that amount of mushrooming very minor and would not file it.
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Yeah, maybe I am overdoing it.

halfaxe said:
I prefer a wire cup cleaning but electrolysis is OK too.
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I wirewheel most things because it is fast, effective, and leaves a nice satin finish. But this head's details are borderline.

halfaxe said:
Vinegar will color the axe in an unnatural way and if you plan on selling it in the future it may affect value.
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I don't like using vinegar either.

halfaxe said:
I clean up all my rusty axe finds to please myself and do not worry about future value that much since most were very low cost.
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My usual opinion too. But the prices some of these Champions are going for made me pause and ask.
 
Frank R said:
. . .I wirewheel most things because it is fast, effective, and leaves a nice satin finish. But this head's details are borderline. . .
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Have you ever got a bad result from a wire wheel? I've done all sorts of stuff with wire wheels from tools to antique golf clubs. In my experience, no harm was ever done. If it were mine I would not hesitate. Of course, YMMV.:)

Bob
 
That's a perfect candidate for the wire wheel or cup.
It never hurts anything, and doesn't change the metals color.
 
Frank R said:
Yes, I have. The wheel has worn away fine details like engraved lettering or rounded off edges that should be crisp. Not much, but it happens.
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That's why you have to use a brass wire wheel and be careful.
Don't bear down on it and you won't have a problem. It's not the tool but the user that did the damage. If you use a cordless drill you'll be even safer as they don't have enough power to cause damage.
 
If you do the superficial wire brushing routine (enough to expose the stamps and clean off the dirt and rust) you can attract the most attention and potential buyers. When you figure on devoting 8-12 hours of labour plus $20+ on resurrecting an old head C/W new handle in lottery-type dreams of attaining 'big bucks' (oftentimes only turns out to be $75-100 at auction) you will actually have 'lost your shirt' compared to having moved along a $25-30 otherwise untouched item.
Museums and purists will insist you don't touch the head at all.
 
Square_peg said:
I agree. If it were my axe it would see nothing but a brass wire cup brush followed by some of my beeswax/BLO/Turps mix.
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I just remembered something.
One time I was using a brass wheel in my dremel, and the wires were so fine and the speed was so high that it left a brass color all over my hammer ( it disappeared when when I used the Steel wheel though ) but that'll never happen with a full sized wore wheel, but still interesting.
 
Well, I just did some more searching and found many pictures of these that were originally quite black (or dark, dark gray) to begin with, NOT shiny. Those must have been altered by sanding or grinding.

My original plan to blue it after rust removal seems like a good restoration method after all.

A few of those photos showed some pristine Champion heads. Mine will never be that nice when I am done due to the pitting. I might just clean it up and place it on a shelf.
 
Frank R said:
Well, I just did some more searching and found many pictures of these that were originally quite black (or dark, dark gray) to begin with, NOT shiny. Those must have been altered by sanding or grinding.

My original plan to blue it after rust removal seems like a good restoration method after all.

A few of those photos showed some pristine Champion heads. Mine will never be that nice when I am done due to the pitting. I might just clean it up and place it on a shelf.
Click to expand...

That why you should just wire wheel it, it has so much pitting that you nothing else will look right.
The photos you found were likely dark from patina and we're heads that were wire wheels.

Here's an example of a 1950's Vaughan/ craftsman hammer head that I wire wheeled.

 
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