Help removing rusted clamp from Italians

MintamenaPie

A Completionist’s work is never done!
MLPTP Supporter
Joined
May 23, 2006
Messages
408
Hi everyone. I recently got my first Italian pony, an Applejack. She was showing some signs of rust out her tail hole and I generally go into all my ponies that I get second hand to make sure that they’re clean. This is what I found. I have no experience with this, I’m good at removing tail rust and rust from the bodies itself, but I’ve not had an Italian before and I just wanna make sure if there’s an accepted process I’m violating.

If I were to go in with no advice I would just use pliers to try and remove the clamp, use a ziptie to go where the string is, and then work on removing the rust from the tail. I don’t generally zip tie my regular release G1, I’ve just had a lot of luck placing the tail clamp across the hole perpendicularly after removing the ring, and I rarely have ponies that are so loose the tail will pop out. Obviously I can’t get away with this here.

Any advice would be appreciated! <3
3FFD8CE6-5C11-438F-98A0-2CAE700820D9.jpeg6911A5B6-2FE1-47B0-9929-860AAEC0D31E.jpeg81E36021-74AA-4197-8F74-AA714D0EEA46.jpeg
 
In my personal opinion, variant pony or not, once that clamp/washer has gone rusty, there's very little going back. I think you'd be looking at a lengthy and chemical-involved process to fully remove the rust and refinish the metal and/or seal it. The rust will only get worse with any exposure to moisture, so I concur with the 2 zip-tie method ;)
 
Thanks everyone! Trust me as soon as I pulled it out I thought about how satisfying it would be for me to take my pliers and pinch and squeeze and get that metal off, but I just wanna make sure I’m not doing anything that’s thought of as untoward towards a variant. I don’t have a lot of them, and this isn’t necessarily one that I spent a lot of money on, but I just wanted to make sure I’m proceeding properly. <3
 
You can also replace the metal washer with a rubber one.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Tak
pliers are your best friend, occasionally an Italian I've had to take the metal snips to it and risk a few hairs. I only replace washers that have started to rust but do behead everything coming into my collection so those who have retained washers I just keep an eye on. Thankfully my house is fairly dry
 
Back
Top