Ink | Pen | Paper

When I was a kid my father always used to say, "Always clean your tools and return them to their proper storage areas after using them. This way, you can always depend on them to function properly, because they are clean and well maintained." He still reminds me of this every now and then.


Pictured above are the two tightening bolts that secure the bench vise to the worktable. The one on the left is the state of the bolts before I removed and cleaned them, all covered in rust. The one on the right shows the post-cleaning state. I call this method the "Romyfication process", because my father, Romy Herrera, taught me how to clean and maintain iron/steel tools and components, and he was really good at this. I try my best to apply his methods, even though sometimes I feel that I fall short of his really strict standards in tool cleaning and maintenance.


The rest of the stuff on the worktable are the items/tools I used for cleaning, which includes fine-grained sandpaper, sewing machine oil, and a brass brush.


This is the bench vise and you can see in the background where these bolts go (look at the base of the vise).

That said, I'm doing a lot of Romyfication this week, starting off with my father's workbench/table area, and will be cleaning dozens of tools, mostly the steel/iron ones, to get rid of rust/residue, and to lubricate them properly.


Only after cleaning the tools will I begin on the many projects I plan to start soon, such as teaching myself wood carving (using those Marples chisels, which I believe are still unused), and also getting back to oil painting. I'll be posting photos of some of the oil painting stuff that my sister Notch Herrera brought out for my use.

-RODION