Flood damaged tools - salvageable?

[Nomad]

I knew I would be away from home for at least 3 months (it ended up being 5).
Carefully put my decent tools into “safe” storage in an underground room.
I’ve been here many years and never had any sign of damp.
All toolboxes were put on lengths of timber just in case the floor got wet.
This is inside a dry garage.

Pulled the tools out today.
Boxes either end are ok.
The bottom 3 drawers in big toolbox (that was stored in the middle) are holding water, the sockets etc in there are badly rusted.
Some other tools nearby are also soaked.



Any suggestions how to clean the tools?
Can they be salvaged?
I had a blitz a couple of years ago and got rid of tools with flaking chrome as they annoy me, now this

Any idea how water can flood boxes off the floor with no sign on boxes either side?

 

[frank horton]

not sure what it does to chrome but a good soak in wine vineger....
my stuff is always kept above ground level....
when I lived in a watermill everything apart from machines (they got heat) all hand tools got condcensation....
In the end just left the tool oily after use....dirty tools drove mew nuts but better than rust..

 

[Bullet2012]

i predict a spending spree

 

[Cobbler]

Citric acid solution will get the rust of, but I don’t know if it will damage the chrome, maybe @The_Yellow_Ardvark will know.

 

[bricol]

Citric acid solution will be fine on the chrome.

Chrome plating is porous, so it allows the underlying steel t9 start to rust in contact with water. Unless is bad enough to lifing it off, I suspect a rub with oily scotchbrite will work well enough.

I have a 3/4 drive socket set in plastic case stotred under the house, close to my uni notes and thesis stored in a cardboard box. The paperwork and box are fine after 14 yrs under this house.

Some sockets are rusty in the damp plastic case. No idea why.

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

Citric acid solution will get the rust of, but I don’t know if it will damage the chrome, maybe @The_Yellow_Ardvark will know.

Will not just dull it a bit.

 

[Nomad]

i predict a spending spree

My card isn't working (genuine - I was in the bank yesterday, helpful folk told me "It all looks ok on our systems...")
PM me your card details and I'll be very grateful.

 

[Bullet2012]

no need to PM , my card is the ace of spades., Cue up lemmy

 

[Screwdriver]

Citric acid won't damage the chrome unless you use a very high strength concentration, warm it up and leave it for days. TLDR: no.

Ideally dry everything as much as possible as soon as possible and BEFORE dipping in acid of any sort, check for nickel plating or any other "soft" finish. I once dunked a large bucket of old keys (long story) into citric and it ruined pretty much everything! They were mostly nickel/cadmium plated I assume because as soon as I stripped them, they rusted like crazy!

 

[brightspark]

beadblasting