Rescuing A Classic Split Sleeve York Barbell

[wakk0]

Rip,

We spoke on the phone earlier today about the York barbell set on craigslist. Well I went ahead and picked it up, and was *shocked* when I got it. You see the previous owner had this gigantic electrical tape "padding" on it. I asked him why he would do such a thing and he said, "I don't want callouses." I started laughing at him, and then realized he wasn't laughing. I showed him my hands which have callouses all over them and he said they looked "scary." When I related this story to my wife, who is one of the nicest people you will ever meet, she called him a "pussy." That seemed to echo my thoughts exactly.

I thought it was my job to rescue this neglected piece of equipment from the fool and bring it back to life as my *first* real barbell. After measuring it like you did in the video it seems to be 3-4 mm off center on the right side of the picture. As far as the rust / paint on the barbell would you take a steel brush and mineral spirits to it or not use the steel brush to save the knurling? Also, is there a good way to get rid of the grime in the split on each end?

Finally, did York sell this as a set? I was just wondering if it is missing any plates. It came with the following weights:
(4) 20 kg
(2) 10 kg
(2) 5 kg
(2) 2.5 kg

It is a damn shame that people don't take better care of their equipment.

Here are some pics:

[Mark Rippetoe]

That's a later model set, because most were produced with pound plates. The wire brush will clean out the knurl -- if the knurl was soft enough for a wire brush to hurt it wouldn't be a York bar worth saving. Just brush the shit out of the whole thing, spray a bunch of WD 40 into the sleeve ends, and wipe the whole thing down with thinner, which will take the tape glue off too. Then mark the bar so that you can tell when the bend has the ends pointing down at the floor. Nice find.

[Brian Harlin]

I just picked up a rusty bar myself. There is no way the wire brush will hurt it. The rust was hard to get off with just the brush, so I got a roll of paper towels and filled a spray bottle with vinegar. I then proceeded to spray one end of the towel so that it would stick to the bar. Then Wrapped the bar as tight as I could with the paper towel, then saturated that wrapped section with vinegar. I repeated this section (1 paper towels length) by section down the bar until the whole bar was wrapped in vinegar saturated paper towels. After this I wrapped ittightly in plastic wrap to prevent evaporation and compress the towel to the bar. After letting it sit for about 2.5 hours I removed it all. I used the soaked paper towels to wipe down the bar, A lot off rust came off with just the towels. The rest came off quite easily with wire brush dipping in simple green as I went ( but I'm sure water would have worked just as well).

[Brian Harlin]

As you can see(if my images loaded correctly) I have yet to fi the sleeves.

[s3fo]

Rip,

I train at World Gym in San Diego. They're well-equipped although much of what they have is well-worn. When I walk in the first thing I do is look for a straight bar. Many of the ones on the floor are bent - some pretty badly. They have a few old York bars and I've noticed that they seem to have held their shape better than the other makes. Better steel?

I've noticed that the York bars lack a center knurl. Is that standard for York or is that indicative of a particularly old bar?

[Mark Rippetoe]

I just picked up a rusty bar myself. There is no way the wire brush will hurt it. The rust was hard to get off with just the brush, so I got a roll of paper towels and filled a spray bottle with vinegar. I then proceeded to spray one end of the towel so that it would stick to the bar. Then Wrapped the bar as tight as I could with the paper towel, then saturated that wrapped section with vinegar. I repeated this section (1 paper towels length) by section down the bar until the whole bar was wrapped in vinegar saturated paper towels. After this I wrapped ittightly in plastic wrap to prevent evaporation and compress the towel to the bar. After letting it sit for about 2.5 hours I removed it all. I used the soaked paper towels to wipe down the bar, A lot off rust came off with just the towels. The rest came off quite easily with wire brush dipping in simple green as I went ( but I'm sure water would have worked just as well).

Cute little trick. Where did you hear about this?

Rip,

I train at World Gym in San Diego. They're well-equipped although much of what they have is well-worn. When I walk in the first thing I do is look for a straight bar. Many of the ones on the floor are bent - some pretty badly. They have a few old York bars and I've noticed that they seem to have held their shape better than the other makes. Better steel?

I've noticed that the York bars lack a center knurl. Is that standard for York or is that indicative of a particularly old bar?

The steel is much better, although it will bend. At that time, York was not using a center knurl. Their later power bars had one.

[Brian Harlin]

"cute little trick. Where did you hear about this?"

After googling what household product would remove rust I made the rest up, since soaking a 7' bar in vinegar would be an otherwise daunting task.

[Michael Loucas]

Rip,
I thought it was my job to rescue this neglected piece of equipment from the fool and bring it back to life as my *first* real barbell. After measuring it like you did in the video it seems to be 3-4 mm off center on the right side of the picture. As far as the rust / paint on the barbell would you take a steel brush and mineral spirits to it or not use the steel brush to save the knurling? Also, is there a good way to get rid of the grime in the split on each end?

A great way to remove the grime from the split on each end is to take it apart and clean it. All it takes is an allen key (if your york bar is the same as mine). I uploaded a video to youtube of me disassembling my york bar.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Most old York bars are assembled with a pin, not an Allen screw.

[Steve Hill]

Cute little trick. Where did you hear about this?

Vinegar is mainly acetic acid, which works quite well on removing rust if it doesn't evaporate first.