Advice needed - bolt that is rusted in place

[Captain Pre-Capsize]

I got this vintage cast iron coin bank recently. The intent was to have it as a blade bank or maybe just to display. I thought the eagle looked kind of cool. It arrived and the bolt won't unscrew. I muscled it as much as The Captain was able but no dice. Went to my friendly hardware man and he swore by brake fluid being just the thing to free up a rusted bolt. The thing is, I am not able to access the spot that is rusted since it is interior. Soooo, I bought three bottles - yes, really - of brake fluid and submerged this eagle into it. I let it soak for three weeks, pulled it out and it was still firmly stuck.

At this point the eagle is a display piece which I am fine with as is. But I thought I'd see if anybody has an idea that would work.

 

[Multum in parvo]

I got this vintage cast iron coin bank recently. The intent was to have it as a blade bank or maybe just to display. I thought the eagle looked kind of cool. It arrived and the bolt won't unscrew. I muscled it as much as The Captain was able but no dice. Went to my friendly hardware man and he swore by brake fluid being just the thing to free up a rusted bolt. The thing is, I am not able to access the spot that is rusted since it is interior. Soooo, I bought three bottles - yes, really - of brake fluid and submerged this eagle into it. I let it soak for three weeks, pulled it out and it was still firmly stuck.

At this point the eagle is a display piece which I am fine with as is. But I thought I'd see if anybody has an idea that would work.

View attachment 1742563

View attachment 1742564

Drench in WD-40

https://tchristy.com/wp-content/pdf/specsheets/15029SS.pdf

 

[Filudo]

 

[Whisky]

Is it the bolt that holds the talons to the rest of the bird?

 

[SmokedStanley]

I would put the screwdriver in and tap it with a hammer while applying pressure. Both counter clockwise and clockwise. Sometimes it helps to go both ways and if you get any movement work it back and forth till it frees up. If it does not move at all, drill the head off and then remove the rest of the screw after it is apart. If you drill, start small and remember you do not need to drill the whole head off, just the diameter of the threaded section and the rest will pop off, or even just close to that size and then twist the rest of the head off with the screwdriver.

 

[Captain Pre-Capsize]

Is it the bolt that holds the talons to the rest of the bird?

The bolt is hard to see - it holds the two halves together. So it is divided down the middle. The halves are more easily seen in the first picture.

 

[Old Hippie]

That old Grandpa trick of mixing brake fluid and automatic trans fluid sometimes works. I tend to prefer Aero-Kroil.

I used to restore vintage (century and older) sewing machines, also nonelectric lighting of the same vintage. The first thing I learned was the idea that since it didn't get locked up overnight, you shouldn't expect it to unlock in a jiffy. A shot of Kroil, then go away for a day. Tap it a little. Another shot of Kroil, and go away again. Eventually it'll break loose.

A slightly faster method was one a friend used occasionally: Get a steel nut about the same size as the head of the bolt. Hold the nut in pliers, and hold it against the bolt head. Using a wire welder, weld the nut to the bolt head filling the thread well in the nut. Let it cool. Should turn right out. Obviously this is destructive of the original bolt and can pretty well flush a finish, but if it's gotta come out that's one way to do it.

O.H.

 

[luvmysuper]

Spot heat with a propane torch. If you don't have one, a kitchen Brulee Torch will work.
Don't over heat it, it doesn't have to be cherry red, just hot. You just want to get a little dissimilar expansion happening between the pieces so that the screw breaks loose.

 

[Legion]

The red skinny nozzle from a WD40 can should poke through the coin slot. Id leave the eagle face down, and give the inside near the screw a good squirt a couple of times a day over a few days, to hopefully give the oil time to work into the threads a bit. That, combined with some light tapes with a small ball peen hammer should hopefully get it to let go.

 

[ColtRevolver]

I'd heat it with a propane or butane torch and then give the screw a try with my 1/4" impact driver.

 

[ctr]

Soak it in penetrating oil for several days. That doesn't work go to heat and percussion. Patience not force.

 

[borwish]

I tend to prefer Aero-Kroil.

Same here. And like Old Hippie I'd give a few days to work with a little shock therapy.

A manual impact driver that you smack with a hammer can sometimes do wonders. A 1/4 impact as recommended above may also do the trick.

Have you tried a tight fitting bit in a socket/ratchet for more torque? An impact driver is often safer than brute force torque though.

 

[Breen]

Leaving advice to those with more experience, I came here to say that thing is VERY cool Captain! Good luck crackin’ it open!

 

[Columbo]

Normally for frozen threads, some combination of penetrating oil such as kroil, localized heat to the female threads, and some impact force, will eventually break it free.

But I think for a piece like this, it looks like the female threads are actually in the front half of that bird on the inside, and not easily accessible for any conventional method. It could be just a cast standoff inside. Depending on how corroded the screw and threads are, it could be fully seized into that standoff. And while cast iron is normally pretty sturdy, you may run the risk of either cracking off the front standoff, or shearing off the fastener inside of it. You’ll get the bird open, but you’ll have a hard time fastening the halves back together again without some machine tooling.

I’d just leave it be and admire it as a conversation piece. Or if you must, keep soaking it in a penetrating oil at a warmer temperature for 2-3 weeks, and see what happens. Or, you could try heating up the front opposite the screw with a bernzomatic, at the risk of discoloring the front and destroying and finish coating. But I wouldn’t overtorque that retaining screw too much.

 

[DrStrange]

In terms of "muscled it as much as The Captain was able "
I would wrap the bird in cloth and put it in a bench vise, and not squeeze it,
but just use the vise to hold it and keep it from turning.

Then I would use the largest screw driver that fits,
and then I would put a crescent wrench on the screw driver blade right next to the screw
and try to turn it that way.

 

[Wombat ESQ]

Heat heat heat heat
no percussion no percussion
penetrating oil penetrating oil

last thing i unstuck i was about to huck it out the window, frustrated it would not budge, gave it one last try and it was as easy as obviously it reached a lower temperature and the red devil gods aligned
cast iron is used in fire for cooking it is fairly resilient to heat, you may even need to heat and let it cool naturally multiple times

percussion of any sort [not being a 'maybe' man] will either crack it or not there are only the two choices, once cracked the repair is with nickel arc weld or brazed with brass, both ugly as sin for a nice item like that

heat and wd40 or similar, judgment is needed not to cool it too fast with wd40, or it will deffo crack

if you are willing to wait? Molasses + water, 1 part liquid black gold 4 parts good old water
1109.99% fool proof and harmless as picking your nose in public
submerge your item in the solution for couple days [week?], the molasses will only actively attack iron oxide [rust] turning it into water soluble ferric oxide [it is slow but safe]

that will clean up the rust area round its legs feet area too

ME?????? I'm impatient some days!!!!! my molasses brew has a combo of vinegar, citric acid and phosphoric acid, I get into it no ***** footing round on the big stuff, each on their own will attack rust, i figure its all good so long as i write a note reminding self that self better not leave it a week !!

busted breaker bar [half ] soaked in molasses brew for 24 hours

Roden wood stove cast iron oven catch ... soaked in molasses, then heated and painted [poor mans powder coat]

No access to molasses? [its on the super market shelf here at an inflated price, you buy it at the feed store by the 1000lites]
you can try all the black things from the sauces isle [soy, oyster, vegemite, teriyaki, if its black, buy it mix it ALL together, oh I had garlic in mine the first time making jerky] does wonders for baked on gunge on steel skillets, if you get the consistency boiled down to like grease you can paint it on or wipe it on and set aside to do its magic, or make it runny to get inside where you need get in.

 

[Columbo]

Just out of curiosity, I looked up these old iron bird banks. They draw some serious coin …

VINTAGE CAST IRON BIRD SAVINGS BANK 650-G | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for VINTAGE CAST IRON BIRD SAVINGS BANK 650-G at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

This smaller one lists for close to $400. Same single screw fastener design as yours.

Here’s another one, with some damage:

Vintage Cast Iron Rooster Still Bank See Description | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Vintage Cast Iron Rooster Still Bank See Description at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

Maybe you could contact the sellers and they’ll give you a disassembled photo or two, so you can get a better idea what you’re dealing with inside.

A lot of these old cast iron banks were made by A.C. Williams and are collectible. So I’m pretty sure others have dealt with your exact problem. Some additional Internet sleuthing may lead you to how to get it safely open, but I’m going to leave the rest to you.

The only other solution would be to carefully drill off the head of that screw, and then more directly extract the remaining fastener from directly inside. Still risky, and you might need to drill out the remaining fastener and cut new threads for a new screw.

 

[TheShaun]

I need to know if this got unstuck!

 

[Hopalong]

Heat should break it loose, but will discolor it.
To get your blackish color back, reheat it and brush some WD40 onto the area.
It will bake on; the hotter, the blacker.
You can also use black Kiwi paste boot polish, or a 50/50 mixture of beeswax and boiled linseed oil, baked on.
You can play with it to match the color you want.
You guys can use this method to keep metal from rusting without painting. Painting looks so tacky on a nice piece of iron.

 

[Hopalong]

I can't tell from the picture what the "patina" on the eagle is. I would think that if it was old it would not be paint. If it was paint, I'd heat the whole thing up and get rid of it and treat it like above. While it was cooling but still hot, you could brush it lightly with a brass brush and the golden color will transfer unevenly, in a textured sort of way because of the uneven surface.