RUST - repairing and maintaning our equipment

[Edward Warren]

I recently bought a used drill press for a good price. It is in great mechanical shape, but the main post, table, and some other bits and pieces have a good amount of surface rust since it was in a garage shop in its prior life (and still is for that matter). Can anyone recommend a good quick way to restore these pieces, and then a good way to maintain them? Spraying everything down with WD40 doesn’t seem like a good solution to me.

My TS is the TI coated Steel City so hopefully I'll never have a rust problem there, but surely others have to deal with this issue on their machined steel topped TSs, jointers and other big pieces of iron/steel.

I am new here and searched a bit on this subject and didn't find anything. If this has been discussed already then I am sorry - please point me to the thread.

[Ben Cadotte]

I use plain paste wax on my tools for rust prevention. If a tool starts to get a spot I clean it with steel wool or scotch brite. I went away for a 3 month trip for work once. I came back and had lots of areas on my tools (didn't wax before I left). Anyway I used a scotch brite wheel on my air die grinder to remove the heavy deposits. I have heard Boeshield works good but have never tried it. I just did a quick clean up and re-waxing on my TS yesterday.

[alex grams]

You will find most people on the forum recommend a good regular regiment of paste wax. There are some on here that use the T-9 Boeshield Ben commented on, but leaves a tacky residue. One of the advantages of the finish paste wax is it helps items move smoothly over the table

The scotchbrite/steel wool is the most common small clean up method there is.

I paste wax my tools at least once every two weeks or so (or at least after a heavy use on them). Living in Houston with high humidity lends itself to my regularity of doing so, but if you are in a dryer climate, then you may need to do it less.

The Johnson's finishing paste wax can be found in the flooring section of most hardware stores.

[Roger Warford]

My TS manual recommended baby powder, much to the amusement (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=80342) of many here! I use Johnson's paste wax instead and have just received Boeshield and SlipIt which I will try next.

[jason lambert]

to get rid of rust i use some sort of abbrasive like scotch bright then sand with 600 or something if you want to. The important thing is then use corrtion x or some sort of rust remover which will stop the rust there will still be microscopic pieces of rust in there even after sanding.

After that I use t9 bioshield let it sit a couple of hours wipe it down than some paste wax.

[Joe Chritz]

wet/dry paper and a sanding block for bad rust, steel wool or scothbrite for little stuff or maybe a wire brush.

Paste wax for all the surfaces.

The first of every month I rub down everything with steel wool and re-wax.

I have to leave a fan running or I get condensation bad in the summer time. For a drill press column a wire brush should be fine then wax or oil. Spray on like T-9 would be easy on a column.

Joe

[Wayne Cannon]

I've found Empire's "Top Saver" to be surprisingly effective in removing rust with very little effort. I think I've tried everything except electrolysis.

[Paul Fitzgerald]

Very impressive timing Edward! I don't want to hijack your thread, but I was just about to post a similar one. So maybe someone's response could help us both.

I used to swear by Boeshield followed by a few coats of wax. But recently, probably due to the extremely high humidity in Memphis, I've found that it's just not cutting it anymore.

If I follow my usual procedure and don't use the tool, everything is fine. Using the tool and getting finger and hand prints on the surface causes a rusty film to form literally overnight. At that point, the stock doesn't move smoothly over the surface, which results in having to apply more force to move the stock through the blade or over the knives. And that's not good.

I'd really prefer not to have to clean and wax the cast iron surfaces after each use, so I'm looking at changing my protection method. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Paul

P.S. I have an unheated/uncooled garage workshop

[Edward Warren]

Paul - You're absolutely NOT hijacking. Yours is exactly my concern in addition to restoration.

Thanks for the input so far from everyone.

[Peter Quadarella]

I've been just spraying everything down with WD40 (and wiping). It seems to work well so far, but I think it is starting to put little stains on my wood here and there. I'm looking for something I can do periodically that will also keep it relatively smooth/slippery.

I was thinking about Boeshield + Wax, like Paul said, but maybe I need something better based on what he said. (I have the same type of garage workshop).

[Paul Fitzgerald]

I should probably state that I've been using Renaissance Wax over Boeshield. I've not used Johnson's (or Minwax) Paste Wax on my tools before.

I'm wondering if maybe the Paste Wax would exhibit different properties, more applicable to a Garage Workshop, than the Renaissance Wax I've been using.

Paul