Stopping rust on anything iron in the shop

[Paul K. Johnson]

I've already searched this and have seen a gazillion threads on it. I've tried everything and nothing really works unless I go around my shop every single day and wax or oil anything that's cast iron. I live in Florida on the coast and on a good day it's unbearably humid (I'm originally a Hoosier and even after being here for decades I've never acclimatized).

So frankly, I'm kind of sick of cast iron and would take almost anything else as an alternative for power tool tables. I don't care how "stable" it is.

I'm wondering if anyone has ever just painted the tables with Rustoleum or something and been done with it.

So far I've used T-Shield, 3M boat wax (intended for boats in salt water), beeswax, furniture wax (about a half-dozen different types), WD40, that rattle can sealer stuff (top kote and dry kote). At best some of them last a couple weeks IF the tool sees no use during that time. T-Shield did the best but I have to clean off the table with solvents before I put wood on it which makes it even more expensive (solvent plus having to reapply it all the time).

So yes, I'm very seriously considering painting all my cast iron tables. Has anyone done it and if so how did it work out?

[Frederick Skelly]

The extension tables on my saw were painted by the original owner. They scratch, then rust. Personally, I wouldnt like it if the main table was painted because the scratches on the extention tables increase friction - unevenly.

I am experimenting with using shellac on one of my hand planes. In 6 months, there is no rust. But again, on a tablesaw - scratches and resistance. Still, it could be worth a try - rub it on/in and let it dry. At worst, you use dna and wipe it off. At best, you wax less often.
Fred

[Paul K. Johnson]

Hi Fred,

Thanks for sharing your experience. I figured the worst thing would be scratches. I don't know how well it would work but I'd be researching paints before painting. I think epoxy might hold up pretty well.

I just bought my first ever shellac flakes and haven't used them yet. I may give it a shot on my planes.

[Charles Lent]

Humid and salty air is tough to deal with. The salt doesn't do much rusting if the humidity is low Where is your shop? Is it kept closed up or open to the outdoors?
Your best chance at reducing the rusting problem is keeping the humidity in your shop below 60% by using a dehumidifier or air conditioner to keep the humidity low. In Florida it will likely need to operate 24/7 for 10 months or more per year. If the shop is in the garage, keep the door shut as much as possible. Actually, keep the doors shut wherever your shop is located. Opening a garage door can let in enough moisture for a dehumidifier to take a whole day to remove. Make certain that the dehumidifier has a drain hooked to it so it isn't frequently shutting off with a full reservoir. You need it to run constantly. With a low maintained humidity level in your shop, the Boeshield and waxes have a chance at keeping the salt in the air from rusting your iron tools. They aren't very effective if the humidity is above 60%.

My shop is about 100' from and about 4' above a lake. The humidity of the air surrounding my shop is frequently 80-90% during the Summer months, but with no salt content. My shop is air conditioned and maintained at 75 deg during warm weather and kept at about 60 during the cold weather. Because the air conditioner is constantly removing humidity from the air in my shop, it usually runs between 45-55%. I use Johnsons Paste Wax on my cast iron and have no rusting problems, unless someone (my son or me) comes in with sweaty hands and touches my iron tools. This usually results in a rusty finger or hand print, even though the surfaces are waxed. Otherwise I have no rust problems in my shop.

Charley

[Paul K. Johnson]

My shop is my garage and it's anything but sealed. And it has no outside wall. What I normally do in the summer is open the door to the house and set a fan to blow A/C from the house into the shop. If the shop is the same climate as outdoors it takes about 3 days for it to get as cool as it's going to get.

The garage door leaks like mad and there's not much I can do about it. It's mostly at the top where if I put any kind of something to seal it the door would be inoperable. Or maybe not... I know jack about how houses are built.

I rent so I can't do anything extreme.

I keep the garage door shut as close to 100% as I can. I only open it for very short times if I can't take something in or out of the garage through the house or just don't want to like when I'm emptying a dust collector bag or something. But it's never more than 2-3 minutes and when that happens the A/C takes forever to cool everything down again.

I have one of those water removal machines used when a home floods. But it puts off a lot of heat and would make the shop unbearable to work in.

I can sympathize with the rusty hand prints. Earlier this year I bought a brand new oscillating spindle sander. The top was absolutely pristine. But it was on the floor of my shop. Remember when I mentioned I leave the house door open?

Well, a cat decided it was a great place to perch herself and then lick every part of her body.

There were two 6" circles of rust a two or three rusty paw prints.

I would have thought it was funny if the machine weren't brand new. So I took my random orbital sander with 800 paper and some oil and sanded it for about 10 minutes. Took off the rust but it's duller than it was before.

Oh yeah, I also got the bright idea to put acid on it thinking that would clean it up pretty quickly. I didn't dilute the acid and the paper towel I was holding almost burst into flames. It was smoking like crazy! I had no idea that would happen so it got doused in a bucket of water quickly and then I used a baking soda solution to kill the acid on the table. It turned almost black. That's why I sanded it.

Live and learn. Acid is nasty stuff. Yes, I wore protection but it melted the gloves too. I had them off before it got to my hands.

[Wayne Lomman]

As one who has spent a fair bit of time protecting steel structures in marine environments, you need inorganic zinc primer. A good quality rattle can zinc will do the job but it has to be a good one which means a $20 or 30 per can. You must clean the surface perfectly before applying it otherwise it won't work for long. Zinc is good because it goes slick with use and you can clean it spotless and recoat in a few years when you wear through it. Cheers

[Bob Bouis]

You need a dehumidifier or air conditioner with a "dry" or dehumidify function.

That sounds expensive, but in reality it's probably only a few hours a day where the humidity is high enough for condensation to form.

[Bill Dufour]

The INCA jointers with Aluminum tables come to mind. Someone made a granite tablesaw. But what about the moving mechanisms below are they aluminum or iron? It would be easy enough to make a bandsaw table of aluminum or stainless. You could glue Formica or stainless steel to the surface but lose some depth of cut.
I have and old RAS outside for cutting firewood. It came without a tabletop so I used a slab of marble. Worked well for several years until I dropped. a heavy piece of wood on it and it cracked. Today I would use solid surface countertop or marine plywood
Bill D.

http://steelcitytoolworks.com/index....san-fence.html

[Robert Engel]

Paul,

I don't live on the coast, but I've lived in FL all my life and I feel your pain. Some parts of the year its just humidity, other parts of the year its the steel cooling down at night and condensation forming as it warms up. Yes, lots of guys talk about waxing and other treatments, but as I already know and you have found around here it is not very effective. Great for slippery tables and that's about all.

IMO the two biggest factors are 1) disuse and 2) an unsealed or "open" (non-climate controlled) shop. The machine portion of my shop is in an old horse barn. I would require a 4 ton unit to cool. I've sealed it up and keep it closed up at night with an overhead fan running constantly. Since doing this, I've have WAY less problems with rust. Every once in a while I have to address a rusty spot or two. But - (here's the kicker) I also use my ww'ing machines on a daily basis. That's why I say disuse is the #1 factor.

If you tell me what your shop environment is, I can help you more specifically. I will say in FL for guys with the typical 2 car garage or 6-800SF shop IMO AC is a must. Either a large window AC unit or better yet, a mini split. Aside from rust, its almost impossible to do ww'ing in FL during the summer without it anyway.

You mentioned cast iron, but rust can absolutely ruin a nice hand tool. I used to keep them in a sealed cabinet with a can of DampRid. This kept the humidity below 60%. I am fortunate to have enough space to build a climate controlled room where I now keep all my hand tools. I can leave them out and not worry at all about rust. Plus, its such a pleasure in the summer to be able to do some ww'ing!!

If your machines will not be in use for a while, I think the best procedure is to liberally apply WD40 & cover with a cloth also soaked in WD40. When you get ready to use, clean off with brake cleaner and apply a little BoeShield or wax.

Hope this helps.

[Ted Reischl]

Mr. Engel, it looks to me like you and I do the same thing and you addressed some very key points.

The biggest in my opinion is keeping the air moving with a fan. I do the same and have no trouble with rust at all here in NC. Leland is fairly close to the coast so we do have salt in the air.

Big ol' hunks of cast iron are just like drinks with ice cubes in them. The iron cools off at night, or when someone turns on the A/C. Then the shop is closed up. The air warms up faster than the iron, and presto, moisture starts to form on the iron.

I wax my tops maybe once, twice a year, but that fan never stops moving the air in my shop. When it is below 80 I work with the doors wide open.

My idea is to do as much to prevent the environment that causes the rust as possible, rather than trying to protect surfaces from that environment.

What I am trying to say is that if you keep the temperature of the cast iron close to what the surrounding air temp is doing you will have a lot less problem. Moving the air over that iron with a fan causes it to keep pace with the air temp much better.

[Cary Falk]

I live in the Pacific North West. T-9 and Paste wax works for me. I wax maybe 2 or 3 times a year. My tools are in an unheated/un-ac gage. I would never paint the tables. The paint would wear off on the wood.

[Ben Rivel]

I have heard that chrome plating cast iron is possible... Nickel-Boron might be an option too. Those both would be costly though Im sure. Though I'd consider it if I had to deal with rust like that on all my tools. Cleaning it up would be all I'd ever have time for in the shop.

[Harold Balzonia]

As Wayne mentioned, your best option is zinc coating. 30 years ago, my grandfather had a machine shop quite literally 20 feet from the beach in Hawaii and he coated nearly everything in zinc. It works.

[Alan Lightstone]

Paul,

I don't live on the coast, but I've lived in FL all my life and I feel your pain. Some parts of the year its just humidity, other parts of the year its the steel cooling down at night and condensation forming as it warms up. Yes, lots of guys talk about waxing and other treatments, but as I already know and you have found around here it is not very effective. Great for slippery tables and that's about all.

IMO the two biggest factors are 1) disuse and 2) an unsealed or "open" (non-climate controlled) shop. The machine portion of my shop is in an old horse barn. I would require a 4 ton unit to cool. I've sealed it up and keep it closed up at night with an overhead fan running constantly. Since doing this, I've have WAY less problems with rust. Every once in a while I have to address a rusty spot or two. But - (here's the kicker) I also use my ww'ing machines on a daily basis. That's why I say disuse is the #1 factor.

If you tell me what your shop environment is, I can help you more specifically. I will say in FL for guys with the typical 2 car garage or 6-800SF shop IMO AC is a must. Either a large window AC unit or better yet, a mini split. Aside from rust, its almost impossible to do ww'ing in FL during the summer without it anyway.

You mentioned cast iron, but rust can absolutely ruin a nice hand tool. I used to keep them in a sealed cabinet with a can of DampRid. This kept the humidity below 60%. I am fortunate to have enough space to build a climate controlled room where I now keep all my hand tools. I can leave them out and not worry at all about rust. Plus, its such a pleasure in the summer to be able to do some ww'ing!!

If your machines will not be in use for a while, I think the best procedure is to liberally apply WD40 & cover with a cloth also soaked in WD40. When you get ready to use, clean off with brake cleaner and apply a little BoeShield or wax.

Hope this helps.

I live on the Gulf Coast of Florida also, and have and still do fight many of these rust battles.

What has worked pretty well for me:

1.) Get a split AC unit for your garage workshop. I keep it on 24/7 in the summer, and on rainy days. This has helped reduce the dust tremendously.
2.) Never, ever open the garage door when it's raining. You might as well throw rust on your machines if you do that. That's my single golden rule.
3.) I spray my hand planes with CRC 3-36 lubricant. One of the woodworking journals rated it highest for rust protection a few years ago. Seems to work pretty well.
4.) Whenever I remember (or whenever there's a huge rainstorm, and I remember, I spray the table saw, router table, and jointer/planer with CRC 3-36.
5.) I use Damp-Rid in the cabinets where I keep chisels, and other handtools.
6.) I also have a few plug in (and other oven-recharging dehumidifier canisters). Those keep the humidity in those closets in the 30-35% range.

It's not perfect, but it does prevent most rust.

Hope this helps.

BTW, where are you on the Gulf Coast?

[Paul K. Johnson]

OK, I'll look for zinc. That seems to be a good answer. As I said, I have a fan blowing into the shop so air is always moving in there. Hasn't done much to prevent rust but I'm sure I get less rust because of it.

The other great benefit is that I have sawdust all over my house. Blowing air from the house into the shop means air moves from the shop into the wind. So no matter where I go in the house it has that shop feel. It's like heaven on earth. I mean what woodworker doesn't want sawdust on their pillow, right?

I don't even know what a split A/C is. Any type of unit that requires being on an outside wall is out of the question. No outside walls in the shop except the garage door. I've heard of A/C units like space heaters that only need to have a place to drain. I'm going to look into something like that. The person who told me about it said it works pretty well.

I'm in Spring Hill - gulf coast. I'm probably 3-5 miles from the ocean.

Oh, and yeah, my band saw is right next to the garage door. It gets the worst rust the fastest and no, I never open the door when it's raining. Even in the morning when there's dew on the ground, water drips off the roof and if the wind is blowing it will land on the band saw. So again, I never open the door until winter unless I absolutely have to.