Rust prevention

[David Warkentin]

Hi all. As I begin to collect more tools to do work by hand I am wondering how to prevent rust from forming. I live in humid Alabama and don't want any on my planes!

[Robert Engel]

From swampy NE FL:

Yes it will be a constant battle.

I made cabinets with plane till (not shown) used door seal tape keep a small container of DampRid inside. I even put a humidity gauge just to see. Even in th summer the humidity was constant 60%.

Every time I'm done with a tool, I wipe down with Jotaba oil. Every time a sharpen with water stones, I coat liberally with WD40.

wall cab.jpg

But -- the best thing I ever did was build a climate controlled workroom studio in a corner of my shop.

I can leave my tools out and never have to worry about rust now.

[Nicholas Lawrence]

Johnson's floor wax, and 3 in 1 oil usually works for me.

[David Warkentin]

I do have an ac in part of my shop but I use that end for roasting coffee. I built a wall with a doorway between the 2 sections. I wonder if I'd put a fan and a return in that wall that came on with ac if that would circulate the dry air through there. Likely I will add another ac to woodworking end though.

[Phil Mueller]

Wax or oil after every use; particularely in the summer. Plus I keep many of my tools in a closet off the work room with a dehumidifier in the closet that I run spring through fall.

[Nicholas Lingg]

http://www.slideproducts.com/tips/ar...your-mold.html

[Al Launier]

A dehumidifier should work well. Size according to the room. You'll be surprized at how much water your remove each day.
Although I'm in the NE I use a dehumidifier along with Johnson's Paste Wax - works well.

[Owen Stefaniak]

My shop is in an unfinished basement so this is a constant battle for me as well. I've sectioned off the area around my shop as much as possible so that I can more easily control the climate there as opposed to the whole basement. I have a hygrometer down there so that I can always monitor what the humidity is doing (this one: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01HDW58GS...I3F7N82VQJGCLH) and I run a dehumidifier when needed. I have it set up so that it drains directly into a floor drain in the next room and I never have to empty it. I also have a gallon of mineral oil and I keep an oiled rag on hand all the time for a quick wipe down on a tool after use. A lot of people like jojoba oil or camellia oil. I opted for the cheap route this time. We'll see how well that plays out as time goes on here. As Nicholas and Al mentioned, paste wax works well especially on tools you aren't using for a little while. But really for me the most important thing is just vigilance: inspecting my tools regularly and immediately dealing with any sign of a problem. Fortunately I don't have a huge tool collection or this could get time consuming.

[Curt Putnam]

Nothing I've coated with http://www.corrosionx.com/corrosionx-heavy-duty.html has ever rusted. I keep some on a rag on wipe down each tool after being handled.

[Michael Petruso]

has anyone tried Boeshield? I saw it on the rockler website.

[Patrick Chase]

has anyone tried Boeshield? I saw it on the rockler website.

Yes, I've used it. Boeshield is basically a paraffin wax in a volatile, highly wettable carrier. The idea is that the carrier spreads out and fills inaccessible crevices (because of its wettability) and then evaporates (because of its volatility) leaving a coating of wax behind. CRC SP-400 is another product that takes basically the same approach.

I personally prefer "non-drying" rust preventatives like CorrosionX (see post #9 above) or CRC 3-36, that don't leave a solid residue. I put non-drying in quotes because they do become gummy over the course of many months, but even so they're easier to get rid of than wax.

Another possibility that people don't seem to have mentioned above is volatile corrosion inhibitors, which are chemicals that bind to and passivate metal surfaces. They come in pre-impregnated papers that you can wrap around your tools, pre-impregnated zip-lock bags, and "air freshener style" dispensers that you can stick into tool storage cabinets etc. There are various formulations for different metals. I have a couple rolls of Daubert Cromwell multi-metal (MPI) VCI paper that I use for long-term tool storage. I chose that specific paper because LV ships most of their tools in it, so I figured I couldn't go too wrong that way. It works extremely well.

EDIT: One thing I would avoid is "Camellia oil". The reason I put that in quotes is because a lot of what is sold as such by woodworking-oriented suppliers is actually scented mineral oil. That stuff works just fine, but you can save a lot of money by buying white mineral oil without the scent. Unfortunately I didn't know that when I was starting out, and I bought a bottle of real Camellia oil and dutifully slathered it all over various tools. The problem is of course that like most vegetable oils Camelia oil polymerizes into a nasty gummy mess.

[Richard Wolgemuth]

Wax and Oil. Cheap stuff. Mineral oil thinned with WD-40 or whatever is about and Johnson's wax. I keep a cut up t-shirt in a can soaked in oil convenient for wiping planes down. I leave the desiccant packs that ship with lots of stuff in the drawers I store tools in.

[Patrick Chase]

I leave the desiccant packs that ship with lots of stuff in the drawers I store tools in.

Dessicant is cheap and reusable. You can get it in bulk, make holders by punching holes in appropriately-sized containers, and bake it (in an oven) every so often to reset it.

With that said that might not be a winning strategy down in Alabama for anything that isn't mostly sealed to begin with. Dessicant can only hold so much water.

[john zulu]

A camera dry box can control humidity very well. But that is almost over kill for this application

[Paul K. Johnson]

I live on the Gulf Coast of Florida. I've determined that my planes might not rust if I store them in a five-gallon pail of oil. I'm thinking of having a swimming pool built, filling it with oil and doing all of my wood working "under water".