Old Screw Resurface or Reshine

The old slotted screws are of very good quality, worth cleaning and polishing. The hardware stores sell mainly Philips crews and those with all different types of heads, but slotted. The resurfacing method here is taught by Mr. Jude Reveley, shop owner of Absolute Piano Restoration.

These four brothers are covered with old lacquer and filled with foreign objects. One's instinct maybe to throw them in the trash. They can be restored and reused instead of ending up in the dumpster. Somebody about 140 years ago took time making them.

On a big sheet of wood or laminated board, stick strips of sandpaper of 80, 120/150, 220, 320, and 400 grit. Place and tighten a screw up side down in a drill press chuck. Turn the press on, lower the spinning screw to the 80 grit sand paper, move the chuck with the screw up and down, lightly sand the screw head one second at a time. If putting too much downward pressure, the sandpaper will be ripped and the screw surface damaged. When seeing a dark circle on the 80 grit paper, the screw surface is cleaned. Move to the next grit, sand in the same up and down motion until a dark circle is obvious. Repeat the same motion on each grit. For every grit, about 5 strokes of one-second sanding is usually enough. The sanding result after the 400 grit paper is as shown in the picture. Higher grits of sandpaper can be used if a shinier result is desired.

After sanding, the screw is still hot. Before it cools down, run a file in the slotted groove to clean out all the gum and dirt. The heat helps with the cleaning process. Often times, the rusted color can not be completely filed off. It is ok not to be perfect. Too much filing can remove extra original material thus diminish the function of the screw.

Now that the brothers are cleaned, they can be sprayed with protection material such as Lacquer for Brass. Welcome back to life screws! You can still shine after 140 years! Many thanks to Mr. Jude Reveley.