The last tutorial I posted was warmly greeted. So in the interest of, 'Striking while the iron is hot,' I thought I'd post a short tutorial on the methods I use for saving/restoring old original parts to their former glory.

My way needs tools, but it works. Nothing terribly expensive I promise.

Make the rust go away, step by step: (Please see photo illustrations)

1. Soak tension rods in Dawn Dish Soap and warm water for 24 hours.

2. Fold a piece of 00-00 steel wool in the jaws of a pair of pliers. (see photo)

3. Place the threaded tip of the tension rod inside the fold and squeeze the

pliers gently. Don't put too much pressure on the pliers.

4. Attach a drum key and twist/thread the tension rod through the wad of steel wool until you reach the very top of the tension rod.

The tension rods will thread through the steel wool like it's being threaded

into a lug, winds right in all by itself. The tension rod will emerge out of the

other end of the plier jaws looking shiny and new.

Step 5 requires a thread cutting die.

5. Using a 12/24 thread cutting die, (see photo) wind/chase the length of the tension rod threaded portion through the die. The threads will be dressed and they will thread smooth as silk into any lug. Run the rods through the die until the die spins freely on the tension rod. Takes a little work, but it makes rusty old tension rods look and work like new.

For everything else.... I use a professional bench-mounted buffing station. 6"

cotton wheel. Cleans and polishes lugs, mounts, etc and the job comes out

looking 'professional.' You can find buffers on fleabay starting at $25 - $35

and up. Worthwhile investment if you do more than one or two kits a year. I use mine fairly often, so it was really worth the investment for me.

If you don't mind investing a little sweat equity, you won't have to buy any more replacement tension rods!

John