Rusted punches stuck in wooden box ....... HELP !

[Endeavor]

Not all is at it seems

I bought this good looking Helios stacking set. According to the seller in good working condition with some "easy to polish off" surface rust.

Upon arrival it became clear that the set had more than "surface-rust" and I couldn't get the punches out. The parts of the punches sticking above the wood don't look too bad, but it seems that they are, most likely, rusted stuck in the wood.

I put in an eBay claim and the seller admitted that he stored the set on his attic and never checked the punches.

Hoping that I could save the set (thinking; how bad can it be?), I negotiated with the seller a 50% refund.

My first plan was to dry the box on the radiator, to make the wood shrink. That didn't work. Today I had the set in the oven @ 80degrees C (176F) for 5 hrs, hoping that the wood would shrink even more. After 5hrs the punches were still as stuck as stuck can be. My pin-vice just slides off.

The set is back in the turned off oven for the night, hoping that tomorrow the sun starts to shine  ........ So far for my; "how bad can it be" !

Anybody any ideas to free these punches apart from smashing the whole box to bits??

Would WD40 help or just makes the wood to expand again. Of course if "nothing" works, WD40 could be tried.

Any woodworkers or anybody among us with idea's ......??

 

Edited November 14, 2022 by Endeavor

[tomh207]

Does the wooden insert come out of the box? Maybe the holes for the stakes go all the way through and you could knock the stakes out with a parallel punch? 
 

Tom

[Endeavor]

I had a look at that.

It seems that the wooden block containing the punches is glued onto the bottom of the box. The bottom of the box seems to be the same type of wood as in which the punches are situated, but they are for sure two separated pieces of wood. The sides are made of a different type of wood.

So, my suspicion is that the, let's call it the "punch-block"  is glued onto the bottom plate and the sides of the box are glued onto the bottom. It also seems that the holes, in which the punches are situated, are fully drilled through the "punch-block" and that the bottom of the box acts as an "end".

I was also thinking of trying the free the bottom plate of the box-sides, destroy the bottom plate which would than give me access to the "punch-block" and knock the punches out from underneath. A rectangular bottom plate can be easily constructed again. That's an option, perhaps a bit further down the line ??

***UPDATE***

I decided to pursue the idea of trying to separated the bottom with the sides of the box and had some suc6 !

Now trying to separate the box-bottom from the punch-block ....... perhaps the sun comes up tomorrow after all? 

*** 2nd UPDATE ***

Oh Lordy, no wonder that they were as stuck as stuck can be. They are slowly coming out one-by-one and quite some work ahead to save this set ...;

Not such a good idea to store tools in an unheated garage or on the attic

 

 

 

Edited November 14, 2022 by Endeavor

[tomh207]

Well done for that, do some time with them in vinegar with an ultrasonic and rinse them off with IPA followed up with a coat of renaissance wax.

Tom

[watchweasol]

Hi  they were well rusted in, once cleaned up and waxed run a drill through the block to remove any rust adhering to the wood. Asv suggested either vinegar or Coke will soften the rust prior to wire wool and wax.  If you have a lathe or a drill put each punch in it and spin using the wire wool to clean.  Once its tidied up and the box fixed it will make a good set. there is nothing missing.        good luck.

[tomh207]

Or you can sell it to me and I’ll do it

Tom

[Endeavor]

According to the seller; "With some easy to polish off surface rust"

Anyhow, they are all out and with no real damage to the box or the punch-holder.

Will put the punches tonight in the vinegar and tomorrow it's another day

@tomh207 After the refund I paid €100 for the set. Once done, I'll make a special "you are my friend"-price 

Thanks all for your help / support and I'll be back with the end result

 

 

 

[tomh207]

Well, without doing anything but putting it in in a box I’ll give you 150 euros and carriage

 

Tom

[JohnR725]

15 hours ago, Endeavor said:

"With some easy to polish off surface rust"

unfortunately like so many eBay purchases definitions can be a subject to interpretation.