HELP dripping wet tools!

[Bill Esposito]

I deal with this problem spring, summer and fall every year and I've got plenty of rust spotted machines and hand tools. For the machines the only thing that works in my shop is T9, a towel and a fan circulating air. I can sometimes get away without the cover but if I forget the fan, unless I left a very thick coating of T9 on the surface (not wiped off) I'll get rust.

I tried Top Cote and Paste Wax and the only combination that works reliably is what I've stated above.

Some folks can get away with just paste wax...doesn't work here.

[Peter West]

I had similar problems here in the UK, where we experience very diverse changes in the weather all year round. My workshop is a 30ft x 20ft timber and concrete block structure with a roller door and no insulation to speak of. I use a propane heater to heat it in the cold weather.

What I do is cover my machines with metal parts (planer, thicknesser, sander, Mitre Saw and the router table with the fixed router) with machine covers (like the HTC ones I guess), and all my hand tools and power tools I put in a large cupboard at night. The cupboard is made from MFC which is sealed with Johnsons water seal, and the cupboard doors are sealed with 'draught excluder'.

The doors are on springs so I can't leave them open by mistake, and inside the cupbord I have a couple of small condensation boxes (6" x 3") like those used in green houses etc. These have a tray on which you put the same crystals you see in small bags in power tool boxes, TV's and the like and I bought them from a local General Household Goods Store. The crystals absorb any moisture from the air in the cupboard and the water drips from the crystals into the tray below. I empty them about once a week.

This all sounds a bit 'Mickey Mouse', but it works and after 2 winters I don't have any rust on any of my tooling although rust has formed on other metal in the workshop that is exposed and un-protected - such as brackets and wall plates.

[Steven Wilson]

Keep the temperature in your shop above the dew point at all times.

Keep the temperature of your metals above the dew point at all times.

Michael, that works just fine if you live in an area with mild winters or you don't mind spending large sums of money to heat your shop all winter. My shop is in a three car garage and is well insulated. The problem I have is that the slab floor didn't have a plastic underlayment before it was pored and garage doors aren't very well insulated (or sealed). To keep it well heated would cost $500-$600 during the heating season. So, every year in the spring as the ground thaws (the 3' that freezes) and my machines warm up, condensation returns for about 2 weeks. When I work in my shop during the winter I keep my shop below 50F to avoid condensation problems, and just warm up the materials when needed. I find that a heavy coat of Boeshield that is left to dry (you can't use the machine surface if you do this) and machine covers prevent rust. For my hand tools I keep them in wooden cabinets (instead of metal ones) and my planes stay in plane socks. All metal is covered with light machine oil - no rust problems here either.