restoring old bolts

[FJB2069]

Is there a recommended way to restore door hinge bolts or other body bolts? Sand blast, soak in rust/paint remover?

[ENP]

I sand blasted mine. If you have some spare cash buy some new ones.

[bnickel]

if you want an original black oxide finish, sandblast the bolts/nuts and soak them in gun bluing (available at wal mart) for a few minutes and then coat them in a light oil

[atomicjoe23]

A good alternative to sand blasting is to use a tumbler. . .this is a very cost efficient alternative as well if you have a large number of bolts that need cleaned up or if you are going to be doing more than just one project. . .you can get them from Eastwood (3 different models. . .3 different price ranges). . .they work very well and are not nearly as messy as sandblasting or soaking/dipping. . .throw 'em in the tumbler and forget about them for a while. . .no messy sand or wiping of solvent off. . .just blow em off with some compressed air to get rid of any residual grit. . .then you can paint/coat them any way you want or just leave them the way they are. . .these are the same things that hunters/shooters use to clean their old bullet casings for home reloading. . .my uncle uses them and they work very well.

[68sixspeed]

Tumbling for sure-- doesn't mess the threads up like sandblasting.

http://dillonprecision.com/template/...6&min=0&dyn=1&

I've had one so long I actually wore through the bottom of the plastic, but I was using ceramic media. Dillon is a good company, they sent a replacement tub no charge and it had been quite a few years since I had bought the unit. -Dan

[atomicjoe23]

Those Dillon's look really good. . .they look like they probably have a greater capacity than what they sell in Eastwood and the prices are almost the same (actually might be cheaper if I remember correctly). . .thanks for sharing your good experience with them!

[Ricoch3T]

bringing back this old thread, but was interested in one of the above tumblers. I've have boxes of bolts laying around everywhere, some from current project(s) some just collected over the years. Since these are cheaper than Eastwood I was considering buying one. What type of media are you using with this machine?

[John S]

I bought a Hornady tumbler that is identical to Eastwoods dual purpose tumbler at our local gander Mountain. And it was about $70 cheaper. I did by Eastwoods pyramid media though and I am honestly not too thrilled with it. It works ok on large parts but does very little on nuts and bolts.