Steel in Planes

[James Jayko]

I've got three planes in a toolbox at the lake: Stanley Bailey #4, Bedrock 605, and a Veritas bevel up jointer. Its kind of humid where they were stored, so when I went to use them there was enough surface rust on the Stanleys that I had to use WD40 and some 0000 steel wool to clean them up. Oddly, the Veritas was basically perfect. None of these had been oiled or stored in a special way, they were just sitting in my Dutch tool chest.

Out of curiosity, is the steel in modern planes (maybe in Veritas planes specifically?) different in some way which makes it less prone to rust? Obviously they'll all rust with moisture, but I was really surprised to see such a difference between the vintage Stanleys and a modern Veritas.

[Jimmy Harris]

Yeah, Veritas can come with a different steel. So I could see it having different rusting properties. Plus the Veritas was most likely a newer plane, so it's possible it still had some of the oil or varnish or whatever they put on it at the factory to keep it from rusting during shipment or while it sits on the store shelves.

Veritas planes can come with either 01, A2, or PMV-11 steel blades. The older Stanley planes were almost certainly 01. But even among the basic steel types, like 01 and A2, there are different formulations with different rust properties depending on what all is in the steel besides just iron and carbon. And the outside metal on steel can build up a thin layer of corrosion that will protect it from rusting. Sometimes that corrosion shows up as regular rust, sometimes it's a black rust, and under the right circumstances, it can be just a dulling of the shine, and not really have a color. Often times newly exposed steel will rust easier than old steel that's been exposed for a long time. And sometimes there might be acids on the surface from handling that promote rust. Some people's sweat is more acidic than others. There are lots of possible causes for what you experienced. It would be impossible to nail anything down for sure without running some scientific experiments that wouldn't be worth the time and money. I've got quite a few vintage Stanley planes, and they have different types of steel on their irons, even though all of the irons are original and supposedly the same. Some rust easier than others, and some hold edges better than others. It's all the result of minor variations in the steel production over time.

I would invest in some good protecting oil or wax for these tools since they won't be used much, it sounds like. I personally really like the WD-40 Rust Inhibitor for long term storage. It's easy to apply and last longer and does a better job than most other oils you'll find on the market. It will stain your wood though, so you have to remove it before use. So it's not the best daily use oil, but it's a great long term storage oil.

[Rafael Herrera]

If you're talking about the bodies of the planes, both types of planes are cast iron, not steel. The Veritas plane is ductile cast iron, which, from the description of its properties, is less likely to corrode than plain cast iron.