Homebrew Hall of Fame!

[p1ckf1sh]

Deal's off.

Dang. So, who else is trading a hairy 18yo, 240pound, 5ft2inch firstborn couch potato with no manners and no job for a lockpick subscription?

[Jason13]

[digital_blue]

I think you're on the right track. Now get to sanding those puppies boy!

db

[Jason13]

Ive got the shafts and pick head nice and silver but the handle is hard to get blue of i guess im using wrong sand paper.

not the emery paper no?

[p1ckf1sh]

Ive got the shafts and pick head nice and silver but the handle is hard to get blue of i guess im using wrong sand paper.

not the emery paper no?

Problem with sanding off paint is that the flakes you get off immediately gum up the paper. You can...

a) very gently slide the flat side of the picks along the grinder - do this swift (minimal contact time) and without a lot of pressure, that will prolly take off a good amount of the paint so you can finish with paper and don't get it all gummed up

b) if you have a dremel and a steel brush attachment try to use this to get the paint off

c) obtain some acetone which supposedly will remove all the paint without mechanical work - i don't have that stuff, I used turpentine (sold as paint thinner/brush cleaner etc) and it worked moderately well - it got the paint so soft that I could get it off (well, 90%) with an old toothbrush

d) forget about the shaft and live with the color as long as the tips are shiny and smooth

[devildog]

Yeah, I'd go with paint thinner of some sort, pure acetone will work nicely just be careful and do it outside. This is one of the reasons I like drain snake over hacksaw blades, in addition to the fact that you don't have to grind off the teeth--the stuff is ready to go as soon as you have it.

P.S. Jason, don't drink the acetone.

[Shrub]

Emry cloth in soapy water will rip it off and not clog up, if you have the patience wet and dry will be best, stick with the emry cloth

[devildog]

Sorry, it's not acetone. I told the guy at the hardware store I wanted to take paint off of metal, and he said this stuff would be better than acetone or any of the other stuff. It's 'Extra-Strength Stripper', and it contains 'Gycol Ethers, Methanol, and Methylene Chloride', and it also has 'Danger Poisonous, Fatal if swallowed, Call Poison Control etc. etc.' written all over it...

[illusion]

I once used somrthing to strip paint off of a wooden door. it was like a spreadable acid, and was seriously corrosive it'd burn your skin if you touched it so had to use gloves. This would seriously get the pain off the hacksaw blades, but I don't know how easy it is to get hold of.

[Shrub]

You can buy nitromors from almost any paint seller.

[undeadspacehippie]

I once used somrthing to strip paint off of a wooden door. it was like a spreadable acid, and was seriously corrosive it'd burn your skin if you touched it so had to use gloves. This would seriously get the pain off the hacksaw blades, but I don't know how easy it is to get hold of.

Was it an orange gel? I used something every similar to what you are describing, it was wonderful but very very nasty to smell, probably not that toxic, but corrosive to the skin.

I suspect you could use any paint stripper soak the blades in them then rinse it off when you are ready. Acetone??

[illusion]

Yeah.. that's the stuff. At the time I was using it to remove lead-based paint so had to wear a face mask anyway - that stuff does seriously stink though.

[Jason13]

That soap and emery paper did wonders! theres thers no paint left but like little dots which will never come of

[Shrub]

Nice one jason, those dots are pitting in the material its basically rust spots, if you keep going at it they will come out.

Make sure you dry them off well and then with some wd40 or other light oil in a tissue wipe them down well and they wont rust.

[devildog]

That brings up a good point, Shrub. These hacksaw blades, as well as sewer auger and fish tape, are tool and spring steel, not stainless. They WILL rust over time if not properly cared for. They need to have a very thin coat of oil on them at all times. Most people aren't used to this and would find it strange, since most people are used to using stainless or galvanized steel that they don't have to worry about.