Are cast irons not created equal....

[Mike Goetzke]

...as far a rust goes?

First off my garage is my shop. I live in the Chicago area but try to control the heat and humidity as best as I reasonably can.

I have had a Delta Unisaw for about 3 years. I treated it with Boeshield T-9 and past wax it often and have only seen maybe a speck of rust at most. I had a Jet and ShopFox jointers for about two years each and never saw rust. Last fall I bought a new Grizzly 8" jointer and treated the beds similar to the Delta, Jet, and SF. Last weekend I pulled the cover off and it had quite a few rust spots. I know it doesn't affect the function of the tool but I'd rather not deal with it. Any better ways to protect garage kept tools?


Thanks,

Mike

[Carroll Courtney]

Will your cover let air circulate through or trap moisture?It is my understanding that air needs to circulate to help keep it dry and not condensate on the bottom side of the cover.----Carroll

[Jason Roehl]

Yeah--if the machine is in a non-climate-controlled enclosure (but out of the elements), then the cover needs to be a breathable material, like canvas or burlap. Don't use the cheap, polyethylene tarps.

[Mike Goetzke]

Will your cover let air circulate through or trap moisture?It is my understanding that air needs to circulate to help keep it dry and not condensate on the bottom side of the cover.----Carroll

Yeah--if the machine is in a non-climate-controlled enclosure (but out of the elements), then the cover needs to be a breathable material, like canvas or burlap. Don't use the cheap, polyethylene tarps.

Ahhhh....maybe it's the cover. My TS has an HTC machine cover and I drape a blanket (making sure it doesn't lay on the bed) on the jointer.

[Chris Friesen]

Since nobody has responded to the original message, it is absolutely possible that different cast irons are more or less likely to rust.

As an extreme example, look at the Veritas NX60 block plane. The cast iron is 20% nickel and highly rust resistant.

[Larry Frank]

I wonder what a table saw would cost if it was the castings were all 20% nickel?

[Gary Click]

You reallly don't want to know. We use FerroNickel Alloy in some of our metals. FerroNickel is the aditive that would be added to the pig to adjust the alloy nickel content.

FerroNickel is current about $15,000USD per ton or about $7.50USD per pound. It has been as high as $23,000USD per ton. If the top of a table saw was a 100# casting it would require about 20# of ferroalloy to raise the nickel content to 20%. Foundry price for ductile iron is currently about $0.45 per pound poured. This would raise the foundry cost of the casting from about $45.00 for the 100# casting to $200.00. Additionally 20% nickel makes the material several times more difficult to machine, think popular verses azobe.

The result would be a frightening increase in the cost of the machine but o what a machine it would be. The metal would have a bright white appearance, resist corrosion somewhat and be supremely wear resistant.

There are better elements to add to cast irons to get better corrosion resistance, nickel is added primarily to improve toughness and impact resistance.

[george wilson]

Old Hupmobile car engines were cast from cast iron with nickel in it. They were difficult to deal with if you had to ream away a place at the top of the cylinders where the piston rings stopped traveling up,leaving a slightly smaller diameter there. Now,senior moment,can't remember the correct term.

Quality metal,though.