hello i was on avintagewatch.com and this man always has the cleanest tools around...i was wondering what is a decent cleaner on vintage tools to clean them without out leaving anykind of flim or anything... i tried wadding polish on my staking punches but it didn't come out as good as i thought it would...
Just keeping them wiped down and free from water, grease or oil is a start. When we had a lathe or staking set that was full of grease or dirt from being in a barn or basement, we used the clock cleaning fluids, in the large ultrasonic tanks. The fluids are waterless and it always worked quite well. Rust is another story, however, and depending on the finish of the tool, you can use a mild acid rust remover, or simply buff the rust off with some blue polishing compound, which is what I did when I inherited my Grandfather's staking set. It's time consuming, but works well. Clean tools are critical for this work, as are clean hands, of course. The school's policy was to dismantle and clean the lathes every year or two, and it was the incoming student's job to do this to his assigned lathe.
As for polish, I find that it leaves a film, and I have used ammoniated cleaning fluids and alcohol to remove it.
I would polish them first, then ultrasonic the residue off. If you use a water based ammonia solution in your ultrasonic, you must chase the water afterwards with alcohol, by dipping the part or tool in it and blow drying with a hair dryer. If your solution is not water based, the alcohol rinse is not necessary. A lot of the old tools are unplated steel and will begin to rust immediately if they come into contact with water.