My planes are developing rust.....

[Bob Noles]

So much summer humidity...... I pulled my planes out from under the workbench yesterday and noticed rust has began setting in so I hope to spend some time in the shop today giving them a good cleaning. These planes are all refurbished old Stanleys and I want to keep them in good shape.

Anyone have some tips on the best way to clean and preserve? I've got some rust remover chemicals I picked up a while back, but wanted to get some advice from the experts here before I proceed.

HELP!

[Doug Shepard]

I get the same problem in my humid environment. As long as I catch it before it gets bad, I can usually get things cleaned up quickly with WD40 and steel wool or very fine grit wet-dry sandpaper. It doesn't usually take more than a couple of minutes per plane. I try to hit them with a coat of Top-Kote after cleaning and after use, as well as keeping them stored in plane sacks when not in use, but sometimes I forget and thats when surface rust comes back to bite me.

[Pam Niedermayer]

Be sure and clean out all the wood leftovers at the end of each day, then lightly oil.

Pam

[Bob Noles]

Thanks Doug and Pam. The steel wool and W-D 40 sound like a better option than the harsh chemical I use on my cast iron power tool tables. And yes.... I always blow and brush chips and sawdust off my tools to keep them clean and ready for the next use. It is just this high humidity.


Doug..... can you tell me a little more about a plane sock? I have not heard of them. Do they help?

[Bob Noles]

Follow up........


WOW....Doug's advice worked like a charm. Grabbed some 0000 steelwool and my can of WD40 and 15 minutes of elbow grease and all is looking as good as the day I got them.

Thanks Doug for the fast response and excellent advice. I know I can always come to SMC for the best advice and the nicest folks to help when I am in a jam.

Still would like to know more about the plane sacks.

[John Weber]

Bob,

Gald they cleaned up well. I had a little rust after only using a light oil, so I pulled out the big guns. I coat everything with B-9 Boesheild and then follow up with paste wax, so far so go with the dew point out of sight, it's still keeping the rust away.

John

[Brad Olson]

Go to your local store and get yourself a package of socks and store them in there. If you want to spend a few more dollars you can buy "plane socks". Hartville tool and LV sell these AFAIK. I now keep all my planes in socks and rust is a problem of the past, even in the humidity of Michigan. I light oiling after usage with machine oil also helps and since I use socks, you can wipe it off with the sock before usage.

[Doug Shepard]

Doug..... can you tell me a little more about a plane sock? I have not heard of them. Do they help?

Well I think they help although I haven't done a scientific comparison to see if they help more than slipping them into standard footware. Lots of places are carrying them now. When they first came out a few years ago, I remember reading something about the material they're made of (or maybe some chemical treatment done to them afterwards?) containing some of that silica rust inhibitor stuff like what's in those small packs in the packaging of electronics equipment. Dont know for sure how much truth there is to that. I think the mere fact that the planes are covered at all is probably the best surface rust inhibitor.
Here's a link to Highland Hardware's sacks. You cant really see it in the pics, but they have a drawstring on the opening to close it up tight.
http://www.tools-for-woodworking.com/index.asp?PageAction=PRODSEARCH&txtSearch=plane+sack&btnSearch=GO&Page=1

[Bob Noles]

I think you folks have solved my rust problems and agian I thank you so much. The socks and sacks sound like a good solution although I'm not sure what size sock my #7 wears :p Going to wax them all down now and get them stored in something for sure so I can at least delay if not totally prevent the problem in the future.


Let's go make some chips and sawdust for the afternoon :D

[Pam Niedermayer]

BTW, storing planes in a wooden box and/or cabinet seems to work for me, ameliorates humidity changes.

Pam

[Richard Gillespie]

To follow up on everyones comments, I was using a WWII #5 to flatten a board after using my LV Scrub plane for the first time (sweet) and clipped a brass dog. So I had to stop, regrind and sharpen. Was very surprised to find rust developing between the blade and chip breaker in the vicinity of the screw. Now I'm going to have to check my other planes. There was no other visible rust on the plane.

Green pad and WD40 took care of the problem and paste wax is being used as a preventative. The location of the rust was right where moisture would get trapped. One down, many to check. :(

[Steve Wargo]

I've been using plane sacks for about 5 years now and have no problems with rust. while I do wax the pieces about once a year and use camelia oil every so often on the soles, I believe that it is the sack that does the trick. All of them are in great shape, except for the Clifton Shoulder plane, which seems to pick up rust a little easier than the rest.

[Bob Noles]

That ole rust seems to find it's way don't it? I've got them all cleaned up and waxed down now and waiting for socks to arrive thanks to a very kind and generous Creeker that had some laying around unused.

While messing with the rust I decided to take advantage of Steve Knight's 1/2 price offer and now have a couple of more coming my way to worry about. Oh well, at least wood don't rust :cool:

I thinking I'm sliding the slope again...... :eek:

[Ed Breen]

Golly,

I wonder what size sock to use on my Bailey #7 and my bedrock #8. Maybe I can get some big sizes at Academy or another athletic wear store.
Ed:rolleyes:

[John Shuk]

I think you can save yourself alot of trouble. Just put them in a cardboard box with plenty of good packing. Then you just tape it shut and put my address on it and ship them to me. I'd be happy to help.
John