An embarassing, highly virulent, perfect rust storm. (Plus down a traitorous path)

[Fitzhugh Freeman]

Removing rust from garage sale tools is fun. Removing rust from ALL my tools is not...
I guess I never understood rust. Thought it was something that happened to other people, or me if I left a tool outside. Not something that could strike quickly inside. Guess it's from living in California.

Three parts to this rust crisis:
First I got the landlord's permission to pull up the rug in the room between the living room and bathroom, exposing nasty, torn linoleum I can sweep and not worry about damaging (though OH MY GOD the SMELL that involved. I had no idea how nasty it is under ancient rental unit wall to wall carpet). This means I now have an awkwardly located but full time shop room. Before the shop doubled as the guest room. I no longer have to move everything into boxes and in the corner every couple months but I didn't think about the shower steam being released into the shop.

Second, I {mumbling under breath} got some power tools.* I hadn't caught up on my Popular Woodworking reading in months and hadn't noticed Chris Schwarz' focus on sawdust=rust. Wow is he right. I finally got the shop kinda set up, dust collection ordered but not delivered, just in time to knock out some last minute Xmas presents. I was so rushed I left the place covered in shavings and sawdust for the two weeks we were gone. I came back, started cleaning up, noticed some rust, and the bathroom wall developed a hole from a long hidden leak. This leads to the...

Third, the landlord's guys have had to do a complete bathroom renovation. One bathroom house so we stayed elsewhere. Got home, there is currently no bathroom door and now more sawdust and tons of sheetrock and drywall joint compound dust all over EVERYTHING in the shop. Plus the window is all steamed up, guess from the drywall stuff drying.

Rust everywhere. Only thing safe are the power tools, as I'd just taken them apart to the last screw and electrolyzed and cleaned and waxed every thing. Many of my saws, chisels, etc have some rust. My card scrapers are amazingly bloomed. I clearly did a terrible job leading up to this but never saw a spot of new rust on these things in the prior years.

Now I'm faced with the task of restoring my own tools. At least we have a new bathroom and we caught it without falling through the shower floor.

So, I convinced them to put in a vent fan in the bathroom ceiling and I'll become a tyrant about closing the door until all the steam is gone. What else do I do in terms of environment? My tools will now stay wiped down with camilia oil or waxed but is that enough? The shop is COLD in the winter - no heat reaches it from the one terribly placed wall heater and the house (excepting the bathroom, now) has NO insulation anywhere. None.

* A shopsmith. Actually, a pair of shopsmiths. I rarely post here because I almost always find answers by searching, but it is where my woodworking heart best finds a home. However... I'm a few years into my woodworking addiction with no power tools beyond a dremel and grandfather's unimat sl, and though I spend much of my shop time making tools (oh, and a $40 belt grinder to shape the blades for those tools) I still wasn't getting around to making the rip frame saw I needed for resawing, the treadle lathe, or finding a magically affordable post drill. Resawing is one thing that I have physical trouble with due to a neck injury - anytime my head leaves vertical for more than a few seconds I start hurting bad. A frame saw would get around that, but as I said, haven't made one yet. So when I looked for a bandsaw and drill press and found shopsmith with all the usual, plus bandsaw, scroll/jig saw, planer and whole second shopsmith for just $250 I took the plunge. Got a jointer, conical disk, and speed reducer for another $300. But really I HATE the whole thing. Actually, no, I really kinda love them as fetish objects because they are beautifully made and so cleverly and sometimes crazily designed... until I turn them on and they make noise and dust. Then I realize restoring them is more fun than using them by far. It may be woodworking, but its not FUN woodworking. So power tools are definitely there to let me do hand work, not replace it. Hmmm... Defensive much?

Anyhow, long post, sorry. Guess I now have to face the wreckage and start wiping things down.

[Frederick Skelly]

I have good luck paste waxing my tools, but periodically they still need a touch up for rust. I do sweep up religously after a weekend in the shop.

I caught that the house is uninsulated. But you are in SoCal, so maybe this will help: Try a space heater that is sized for the shop. They have some that have thermostadts, though youd need to make sure its not running too much. Heat might help reduce rust.

Good luck.
Fred

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

Ever winced I moved in with my now wife, I've been battling rust. A poorly insulated 1800's house combined with a whole lot of plants and a turtle tank and fish tank, we don't have the dry, stable environment of my old house. I found it much easier to build a reasonably sealed tool cabinet with a goldenrod heater to store my tools, rather than try and combat the environment in the whole room.

[Frederick Skelly]

I found it much easier to build a reasonably sealed tool cabinet with a goldenrod heater to store my tools, rather than try and combat the environment in the whole room.

Well thats a better idea, isnt it?

[Curt Putnam]

Two things for consideration:

Use CorrosionX HD http://corrosionx.com/corrosionx-heavy-duty.html or a truly synthetic motor oil such as Mobil1 to wipe down your tools. Seems to bond to the metal and works wonders - at least for me.

Be aware of the dew point at approach it unprotected at your own risk. Example weather report for Berea KY : http://www.wunderground.com/weather-...:40403.1.99999

Get to the dew point, or even close, and your tools will rust. Protection involves heat (gets you above dew point) and coatings (protects you from other stuff like dust & shavings.) Cabinets work as a sort of coating - just not as good.

All of this is just my experience and opinion. Your mileage will vary.

[Chris Hachet]

I find using a light coating of oil to help, along with keeping the tools clean

[Andrae Covington]

Ugh, that's no fun.

My first line of defense is a dehumidifier. They can be expensive to run in an uninsulated house or a permanently-moist basement (I have both). Of course, tools are expensive too... I run mine with a timer at off-peak electric rate overnight, and that's enough to keep the shop 65% to 45% relative humidity, depending on how humid it is outside (usually close to 100% in the long rainy season).

My second line of defense is a tool chest. It could be a wall cabinet, but I think it's important that the lid / doors are designed with an effective dust seal. I close the lid when I'm done in the shop for the day, and any time I use power tools (I just have some handheld monsters and a drill press).

My third line of defense is cleaning and oiling the tools before I put them back in the chest. I've used camellia, WD-40, and mineral oil; I don't think it matters much. But sometimes I'm bad and leave a tool or two out on the workbench, thinking 'I'll be back down tomorrow'. Then a week goes by... But the dehumidifier seems to protect me in those cases.

[Shawn Pixley]

I've had to become a rust prevention expert. My shop is our garage and we are 250 feet from the ocean. As Joshua said, it is easier to prevent rust when they are in a cabinet or other similar smaller enclosure. I wipe the tools down with camilia oil, the planes go in socks, the chisels in their box or roll, and these are stored in a drawer. Yes ,the tools aren't immediately at hand, but I don't spend time cleaning rust off.

image.jpg

The above picture is what happens to a piece of mild steel if is left out in the air at my house. The steel was wet with fresh water then wiped down with a paper towel and left out on a table inside the house. You're seeing about 2 months of exposure. The top layer flaked off and the steel is worthless. My tools in cabinets, have no rust. Get the tools in small enclosed space and wipe them down.