Desiccant in handplane till?

[Steve Mathews]

I'm almost finished making an enclosed handplane till. The reason for enclosing it is my shop is not air conditioned nor heated and I thought using desiccant in the enclosure might help with the removing some of the rust causing moisture. Our air is generally dry here in the NW Arizona high desert but we can get some high humidity spikes during our monsoon season. Any merits to this plan?

[mike stenson]

There is. Keeping dust out is better IME, wet dust has salts. But both will no doubt be beneficial.

[Ed Aumiller]

An old Amish method of keeping tools nice (no rust) is to keep pieces of camphor in your tool box, drawers, etc... been doing it for years and it works...

[Tom Blank]

I think they help. I'm in the Puget Sound region and my work area in a garage is not climate controlled. I use the smallest H2Out cannister in each of my higher value tool drawers. Planes are also stored in a plane sock - LN or LV, depending on their parentage. All metal gets a wipe down with Jojoba oil when put away. It takes some extra time to clean up, but so far I've had decent luck keeping the rust monster at bay. Today it was 55-60* and 70% humidity, so rust is lurking.

[Aaron Rosenthal]

Tom I’m north of you in Vancouver. I went into my garage today and like you, unheated and unconditioned.
We got lots of snow and freezing temperatures like you.
All my cast iron machines were rusted. Sawstop, bandsaw, jointer. Adding insult to injury, I had just sanded all the surfaces and oiled/waxed them less than a month ago.
I brought my planes and hand saws inside and rehabbed them, but it looks like this year instead of woodworking I’ll need to deal off my work space and add heating.

[Steve Mathews]

Our humidity in NW Arizona is low enough that a couple treatments of Johnson's Paste Wax is sufficient to keep rust at bay on my stationary machine cast iron surfaces. The only reason for building the enclosed plane till is I discovered a rust spot the size of a pencil eraser on one of my new LN planes after several months of non-use. Keeping dust and airborne debris off of the tools will be an added bonus.

[Tom M King]

I keep them in all my toolboxes that have tools which can rust. They're the metal cannister kind, with a little indicator to show when they're saturated. Supposedly, you can heat them in an oven to dry them back out when the indicator changes color. My toolboxes are air, and watertight though, and since I started with that system in 2012, I have never had to dry one out, and no tools have developed a spec of rust. I close the boxes after I take a tool out too, so they never stay open to amount to anything.

[Carl Beckett]

I recall a few years back some posts about 'golden rod' heaters. Small tubular heaters meant to sit in the tool drawer and keep temps above condensation point.

[Carl Beckett]

https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?237759-Dehumidifying-rod-in-tool-cabinet

[Mark e Kessler]

Use a VCI like Zerust….it works

[Edward Weber]

Those little perforated (deck of card sized) canisters work.
https://www.leevalley.com/en-us/shop/tools/workshop/tool-maintenance/53828-silica-gel-dehumidifiers

[Robert Engel]

It seems like the anti rust mats and camphor help.

No luck with dehumidifier rods.

You shouldn't have a big issue. What do you call high humidity? Here its 90%.

Keep some jotoba oil on them.

[Steve Mathews]

It seems like the anti rust mats and camphor help.

No luck with dehumidifier rods.

You shouldn't have a big issue. What do you call high humidity? Here its 90%.

Keep some jotoba oil on them.


I tried the Jojoba oil but found it left a gummy residue and attracted dust. After my first encounter with rust I tried Johnson's Paste Wax on just about every tool with a bare metal surface including the outside of all handplanes. On stationary tools it seemed to provide enough protection if applied at least a couple of times a year. It also helps on handplanes and hand saws. The slippery surface it produces on my table saw, jointer, etc. is a bonus. Hopefully the enclosed handplane till with desiccant will pick up the slack, especially with seldom used tools.

[Alan Rutherford]

In 2012 Fine Woodworking didn't like any of the traditional methods like wax and oils, although the jojoba oil test was better than some. They like CRC Industrial 3-36 and Moovit (Lee Valley). See https://www.finewoodworking.com/membership/pdf/10038/011227030.pdf

(https://www.finewoodworking.com/membership/pdf/10038/011227030.pdf)They also mention dessicants and VCI's (Volatile Corrosion Inhibitors) but did not test them.

[Steve Mathews]

In 2012 Fine Woodworking didn't like any of the traditional methods like wax and oils, although the jojoba oil test was better than some. They like CRC Industrial 3-36 and Moovit (Lee Valley). See https://www.finewoodworking.com/membership/pdf/10038/011227030.pdf

(https://www.finewoodworking.com/membership/pdf/10038/011227030.pdf)They also mention dessicants and VCI's (Volatile Corrosion Inhibitors) but did not test them.

Interesting article. Thanks for posting the link. I plan to pick up some of the CRC 3-36 and give that a try. I'm surprised WD-40 wasn't more prominently mentioned. Based on the result photos it seemed to perform as well as the CRC 3-36.

[Tony Wilkins]

Interesting article. Thanks for posting the link. I plan to pick up some of the CRC 3-36 and give that a try. I'm surprised WD-40 wasn't more prominently mentioned. Based on the result photos it seemed to perform as well as the CRC 3-36.

i vaguely remember that. And the cr 3-36 doesn’t effect wood finish?

[mike stenson]

i vaguely remember that. And the cr 3-36 doesn’t effect wood finish?

Not in my experience. It's currently one of the many light oils on my rags. Also on my cast iron surfaces (which are still prone to rust, if dust is left)

[Eric Rathhaus]

My guess is WD-40 left an oily residue they didn't like. I use CRC 3-36, and once dry, the metal just feels smoother.

[Rafael Herrera]

I wonder why they didn't use simple mineral oil in the study, since it's one of the ingredients of CRC 3-36. Mineral oil doesn't smell, doesn't dry; it's surprising how little attention it receives and yet when one looks closely at other products it's there as an ingredient.

Are there any disadvantages to using mineral oil as a rust preventer?

[John K Jordan]

I recall a few years back some posts about 'golden rod' heaters. Small tubular heaters meant to sit in the tool drawer and keep temps above condensation point.

You can buy gentle cylindrical heaters for gun cabinets and pianos. I put a long one (it was called a Damp Chaser) in an upright piano once when it rained most of the summer and the keys started sticking - it fixed the problem. I have a short one in my gun safe - never a spot of rust on any gun or barrel. (Of course, I oil everything too)

[steven c newman]

IF you are good friends at the local Drug Store.....ask them about that packs that come in the Bulk pills containers...that they throw away....saves them the expense of trashing them.

[Ray Newman]

How about: https://www.leevalley.com/en-us/shop/tools/workshop/storage/tool-storage/68931-anti-corrosion-liner

[Tom M King]

I've been using 3.36 ever since that article came out, and have been very pleased with it. It comes in various sizes and types of dispensers. I bought a couple of the pump spray bottles, and a gallon to fill them with after being very satisfied with the first spray can of it I bought to try. There is still a lot left in that gallon that must be 8 or 9 years old now.

I leave it standing on planer beds that don't get used very often, and it's not hard to get them ready even after that.