Cleaning nut and bolts

L

larry9901

Member
Hello,
I plan on using most to all of my old nuts and bolts.

Other than having them replated, what is the best way to get close to the correct finish and to protect them from rerusting once cleaned?

I planned on glass beading the bolts to de-rust them.
 
blacufo

blacufo

Member
Having them zinc plated would be the best way to go if you want to spend the money and do it right. I have used black magic metal polish on the bolt heads in the past and it seems to hold up nicely and looks decent once the bolts are cleaned or in your case glass beaded. If you thread a nut on the bolt, then lock the nut into a drill where you would normally put the bit, put the drill on high and it makes polishing a lot easier if use a metal polish.

---------- Post added at 09:53 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:52 AM ----------

Also if baking soda is easier for you to use vs glass bead, the baking soda works perfect for old greasy bolts and nuts
 
Ayers Garage

Ayers Garage

120cc
You do have to process each bolt individually by hand. It's tedious. I use it for stuff like the long cylinder studs on the engine and for the kickstart shaft and shifter shaft. It makes a nice look to have them looking perfect on a fresh rebuild. For a lot of the run of the mill hardware though, it's pretty inexpensive to buy new. If you check out Teamfour's build thread, he bought every single piece of hardware new in the bag (genuine Honda) for like 80 bucks.
 
Backinthedays

Backinthedays

Member
Like Kevin says, that kit works great for doing a few items but if you try to do every nut and bolt you will be putting in a lot of time. You need to get the rust off, clean the piece, then polish it to the shine you want and then clean it again, plate it (takes 5 to 10 minutes of plating time depending on the size of the piece) and then re-polish it, lots of work, but great for the hard to find and expensive parts. It would be worth the $80 to be the nuts and bolts.
 
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