Been reading some bike restoration posts and thought I would tell my experience with old chains.

I have been cleaning up old bikes and reselling them and when I get a bike the chain is often quite rusty. As in frozen.

Most times I can bring it back to usable condition.

The first thing I do is check for chain stretch with a Park chain gage I bought from Amazon. Often the chain was hardly used and though rusty and stiff , passes the test.

I have a drill press and I install a small wire wheel in the chuck and bring the wire down till it just touches the drill table
(Make sure the wire brush is contacting the table so that the chain can't slip under it)

Next I put on good safety glasses, turn on the drill press and holding the chain in such a way that I can't get caught in it I hold the chain against the rotating wire brush.

I pull the chain back and forth and rotate it so I get contact with the brush on both sides and both faces.

Now the chain should be more supple. I hang the chain from a piece of bailing wire and drop it into a wide mouth 2 liter juice bottle with enough paint thinner to cover the chain. I cut a notch in the bottle neck and hook the wire over it and screw down the top.

I will let it soak in paint thinner for awhile and periodically shake the bottle around to dislodge as much gunk as I can then remove it and let it dry.

If it needs it I will do the wire brush again

When done I put it back in clean solvent and shake some more.

Finally I dry it off and spray with wd40 and place it in a zip lock bag.

I have taken a chain that was rusted stiff and by this method had it look almost new by the end.

Of course you can always go out and buy a $10. chain and save the trouble but where is the fun in that?

Hey, nice work! Do you have any Sachs chains that you brought back?