Plane Socks

[Carl Maeda-San Diego]

I was out of commission for about 3 weeks (I was very ill) and when I returned to my shop, many of my tools had some light rust because its' been raining a lot here (not normal for San Diego).
I really never worried about rust before. Anyway, I'm thinking about making some plane socks out of a gun sock. (which cost about $8 for a rifle gun sock, enough for about 4 plane socks) I already started waxing my tools.
What do you do to help prevent rust on your hand tools?
I'm really looking for something easy since it doesn't rain often here.
Thank you.

-Carl

[David Gendron]

I use to put my planes in plane socks, but found it realy a paine! So now I use paste wax(Clapham's, Beeswax salad bowl finish) I use it on all my tools, on the metal and wood parts, and even use it to lubricate plane soles and saw plates wile in use!

[Rick Erickson]

I keep all my planes/chisels/saws, etc. in drawers with Bull Frog emitter strips. They seem to work well. I put a few of them in socks and found it only trapped the moisture (if I didn't clean the plane well before putting it in). I also wipe down and oil after every use. I have a few veritas socks if someone wants them.

[Mike Brady]

My experience with plane socks is that they are serve best as scratch and dent protection and only so-so as rust protection. There is nothing about a plane sock that keeps moisture away from the metal. If anything, the sock wick moisture from the ambient air into contact with the metal. Think of a performance sports fabric and how it wicks the moisture away from your body, except in reverse.
The only way to keep planes from rusting in high humidity is to keep the air immediately around the area of storage very dry. That requires a dessicant or heater, and a closed storage cabinet. One of the best methods is a Golden Rod air dryer, developed for gun storage and marine use. Some other methods are mentioned by the posters above.

There is nothing more sickening than peeling a plane sock off of a $400. plane and finding the weave pattern of the sock rusted into the sides of the plane. Don't ask me how I know this.

[Carl Maeda-San Diego]

I noticed that most plane socks are made of cotton and treated with silicone to resist moisture. But cotton attracts moisture.
That's why I thought gun socks would be better. They are made of polypropolene (which is essentially plastic) and treated with silicone. So they don't attract moisture.

[Russell Sansom]

Carl,
For many years I built musical instruments in my basement in San Francisco where we woke up to fog or rain many a morning. I reasoned out this one measure which has kept me rust free to this day. ( I don't oil any tools that will work wood for the simple reason that they transfer the oil to the wood. I haven't found the secret to avoiding this )

I store chisels, planes, and saws in their own "air tight" cabinets. I figured that if I could keep air from circulating over good steel, it wouldn't have the opportunity to rust. Scrapers, marking knives, and layout tools, etc., live in drawers.
It might help that I usually work a project at an ambient humidity close to the living room or music room where it is destined to live. I mean, when I close the chisel cabinet up for the night, the air inside is fairly dry. But it isn't hermetically sealed. It's just a hinged wall-hanging tool cabinet with a fairly tight wood-on-wood seal. I figure the air inside will slowly exchange with the air outside, but it doesn't blow across the tools.

I've gone months...years... without raising the humidity above the unheated garage level with no problems. Some of my chisels have lived in the same cabinets for 30 plus years and still don't show a whisp of rust.

In contrast, I left a chisel on the floor just inside the front door of a friends apartment and after 30 days it had a significant dusting of small orange rust dots all over.

One more thing. I also moved my sharpening station out of the workshop and into the laundry room. That 4 cups of water in the wet grinder and the cup or so I use on the water stones during a touch up will all evaporate by the next day. That can't be good!

I recently bought a lie-nielsen plane that came with a sock. I put it in the plane cabinet in the sock, but I can tell already that I don't like it. I open the plane cabinet to search the inventory for exactly the proper weapon and there where there should be a candidate is...a plane sock with a lump inside!
It might not matter to some people, but I work from the right side of my brain most of the time. If I have to stop and think and remember it pulls me out of my most productive frame of mind.

[Richard Niemiec]

Plane socks are more marketing than protection, IMHO. Get thyself some camilla oil from Japanwoodworker.com (or wherever you can find the best price) and give things a swipe with a lightly oiled plane rag; that'll do it.

[Carl Maeda-San Diego]

Thank you for all the helpful advice! I really appreciate it.