Rusty Ornate 1870s Rim Lock Restoration | Random Restoration

Welcome! Today I’ll be restoring an old rusty ornate cast iron screen door rim lock, manufactured by Russell & Erwin in the late 1860s and into the 1870s. This little rim lock was in pretty bad shape when I got it and was caked in both rust any some extra crusty paint. That’s okay, it gave me an excuse to restore some more antique hardware and an extra rusty restoration project is always enjoyable to watch haha. I started this hardware restoration by spraying down the rusty screws with some penetrating fluid - They looked like they were going to be a hassle to remove, but luckily all came out with little effort. After fully disassembled I needed to go straight to paint stripping. Most of the paint was loosened enough by the rust that it came off with ease. Speaking of rust, now it was time for the rust removal. I use Evapo-Rust, as I can just leave parts in overnight and they’ll be rust free when I get to them in the morning. Now I started restoring the parts in small groups. I started by polishing up the b