Protecting knurling on frozen knob

Stan in Oly, WA

Well-known Member
The knob for the exposure gauge on my roofing hammer is frozen. I sprayed Liquid Wrench on it a couple of days ago with it in position so that the solvent could run down into the threads. A day later I put a drop of ATF on it, because I remember hearing that ATF is good for freeing up rusted parts. Both parts of the knob are nicely knurled. What's the best way to protect the knurling when I try to unscrew the knob? Even if the solvent freed it up, it's not going to be only finger tight.

Stan
 
I would probably go with what I had to work with, cut some brass, copper, aluminum strips, put them between the knob and the jaws of the vice grips, pipe wrench, however you intend to turn it. If it's not too tight, a thick rag or towel might work.
 
Just had a similar issue with an old military entrenching tool a friend had given me as it was stuck shut. They have a threaded aluminum collar on a threaded steel shaft and are known to freeze up from both the dissimilar metals reacting and the fact they tend to get dirt in the threads from the nature of their use. Ended up getting it freed with equal amounts of heat, PB Blaster, and patience--over a week of carefully applying each in turn--but even though I protected the collar as best I could by wrapping it with rags before using channel-lock pliers on it, I still ended up with some scarring. My channel-locks are a large set I got from a traveling tool show many years ago and have very aggressive serrations on the jaws--one thing I'd suggest is using a smoother-jawed pair and using a scrap of leather or rubber instead of cloth.
 
I'll second Steve's idea. Maybe heat it up some with a propane torch, just till it smokes. Put some anti-seize on the threads, or a drop of motor oil. I didn't think anybody besides me still uses a roofing hammer.
 
Snap-on makes a rubber tipped pliers for things like that. However there is only so much pressure they can take before it seems like you will rip the rubber jaws right off. Then you would have to find a Snap-on guy. I would wrap it in a piece of inner tube and use channel locks which would be very similar to the Snap-on pliers I certainly paid too much for.
 
I use friction tape and wrap it with several winds, then take a channel lock and you should be able to turn it. A piece of old inner tube wrapper around it would do l;ikewise.
 
Hi Mike;

All of the bids I got specified roofing nails, and one or two of them were for hammer down, not nailers. I hate to have to do this roof myself, but I've got good incentive. I just had the roofing delivered to the roof this morning (which, by the way, made me feel like shooting myself for never having done that before), and all the materials, fasteners, and delivery came to $1,400. Compared to the cheapest bid I got to have it roofed, that gives me just over $2,000 savings to roof it myself. It's only 14 squares. I'm not currently doing anything else where I make that much.

Stan
 
Some who posted do not know that this is a very small part. Perhaps half an inch long and about three eights inch in diameter with perhaps the threads of a #10 machine screw.
 
I use the cuff on an old pair of welding gloves and a pair of pliers or vise-grips on similar things.
 
Best way I have found to remove parts like this and gear shift knobs that I dont want to damage with the channel locks or vise grips is to put an old hose clamp around it and tighten the heck out of it.
then you can be fairly aggressive with putting it in a vise or vise grips and trying to turn it off.
It has always worked for me. good luck
 
Drill a hole in a piece of hard wood the same size as the knob, then split it with a saw. Put the knob in the hole and then put the pieces of wood in a vice and squeeze it as hard as you can, has worked for me.
 
An old automotive timing belt is handy for a lot of things. For this particular job it can be used as soft jaws in a vice or vice grips, and in vice grips it can be used as a strap wrench. If your local mechanic doesnt have one on hand, he will soon.
 

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