Safeguarding hand tools (rust)

[Aaron Rosenthal]

I work in an unconditioned space, an unheated uninsulated garage.
My habit is to bring planes, saws and chisels into the house’s basement ‘round about November 15, but this year I was trying hard to finish a pair of small cabinets and let it slide. My bad.
A few days ago I took everything inside and began the field stripping of every plane, Veritas and Stanley, saws, etc. What i found was a fair amount of rust inside but less outside of, the planes.
With diligent use of sandpaper, 000 steel wool and slips, I’ve eradicated rust; with the steel wool I began by waxing all the machined surfaces and polishing with cloths.
In other words a general restoration and refurbishment.
My asking of opinions is, going forward.
I have in my arsenal Minwax furniture polish, mineral oil, WD-40; and Bosheild T9.
For the hidden machined surfaces, do I spray, wax or oil?
I understand the external surfaces can be swabbed with mineral oil regularly during use, but I prefer to actually make things during the warmer months of the year. I’m ready to overhaul in the winter if necessary, but I’d like to keep the rust at bay otherwise.

[Jim Koepke]

This is a problem with which many of us suffer.

One thing is on some of my older planes the patina (aka a very light layer of rust) seems to offer some protection from most of the humidity swings a few hundred miles south of you and a little northwest of the other Vancouver.

There are many ways to protect your tools. A cabinet with an incandescent lamp is possibly the cheapest if you can still get incandescent lamps. One of the biggest problems in my shop is a cold night followed by a warm humid day. That is an ideal situation for condensation.

This could even be a repurposed kitchen cabinet as long as it can be closed. The lamp inside will keep the tools slightly warm which should be enough to help prevent condensation. There are Goldenrod heaters that are a more expensive option. They and others like them can often be found in sporting goods stores to be used in gun cabinets. The same stores will also have bluing or browning kits for guns that can also be used on hand tools to make a patina barrier against further oxidation.

My other regimen is to wipe my tools often with either a rag close to saturation with Howard's feed and wax or one with Johnson's floor wax.

The care of tools is something that needs to be a regular habit when the tools are used and sometimes even when they aren't. Rust never sleeps, so neither can we.

jtk

[Mel Fulks]

Try the Bullfrog rust blockers ,they work.

[Luke Dupont]

I also find that the patinas on my old tools and planes offer very good rust protection.

I use oil stones, which also means that inadvertently, I wind up keeping the irons and blades of my various tools lightly oiled and free of water.

I also use oil on the soles of my planes, and on my saws from time to time to reduce friction.

These various factors appear to ward of rust pretty well in my case, and I don't have any problems.

One difficulty with oil and spraying everything down with WD-40 though is that it can attract dust and wood particles in a plane's body, which can hold water and cause rust over time. Keeping your planes free of wood dust is likely quite important when putting them away for extended periods.

For reference, I've always lived in extremely humid climates. First the deep South (Mississippi/Alabama), and now Japan. That said, perhaps just by accident, I haven't had much of an issue with rust on my indoor, finer woodworking tools. Tools that see use outdoors when camping or bushcrafting, and coming in contact with wet wood and the like, are a completely different matter!

Do you work a lot of wet-ish wood per chance?

[James Pallas]

I’m guilty, or use to be, of tool abuse. I did not want oily tools around my woodwork. Once I got over that rust became a lesser problem. I have tools in an unheated garage and in the heated basement. I don’t want oil dripping off of tools but well coated and oily enough that the tool needs wiping down before use. Even inside if not in regular use. I’m rewarded by not having to de-rust tools. Squirt on wipe gently. Tool box drawers and trays get a little oily easy to wipe up from time to time.
Jim

[Jim Matthews]

My shop is a damp basement, and particularly hard on cast iron. Boeshield T9 was built to solve our malady but it works best when handplanes are disassembled.

(Dissimilar metals in close contact seem to generate rust between them.)

I store my planes and chisels oiled with WD40 and Zerust inhibitors.

https://www.zerustproducts.com/

[Tom M King]

I just don't have time to fight rust. I gave up on having mine out where I can see them, years ago. Now, all my small tools are in airtight, waterproof toolboxes, with silica gel cannisters in them. Any can sit for years, and be ready to go when I open a box. Each box is in a cubby, so it can be quickly accessed without having to do any unstacking.

I have something over 140 of these now. Hand planes have their own rows.

This picture was the year I first started with this system, in a flipping house. I think 2012. I sold that house that year, and it's all somewhere else now.

[Jim Koepke]

One difficulty with oil and spraying everything down with WD-40 though is that it can attract dust and wood particles in a plane's body, which can hold water and cause rust over time. Keeping your planes free of wood dust is likely quite important when putting them away for extended periods.

There are a few items almost always on my bench:

Always on my Bench - Brushes.jpg

The inexpensive 1" brush at the lower left and another 1/2" size are a couple of them. These are used on all planes after they are used or before being done for the day.

jtk

[Scott Clausen]

There are a few items almost always on my bench:

Always on my Bench - Brushes.jpg

The inexpensive 1" brush at the lower left and another 1/2" size are a couple of them. These are used on all planes after they are used or before being done for the day.

jtk

That's a great idea, I intend to blow them off but too lazy to wait for my leaky air compressor to charge up. I am gonna get me one to hand on the side of the plane till.

[Robert Engel]

Before I had my bench room completed I kept my hand tools in plastic bins with the rust inhibitor mats and some camphor cubes. I think I did use the Bullfrog blockers, too.

Everything else I tried never worked as well.

P.S. Once a spot of rust has eroded a machined surface, it always comes back, so be vigilant if you're not using your tools often, every couple weeks check them.

[mike stenson]

This was the primary driver for me building a traditional chest. That, and reorganizing my shop left me with mostly windows near my bench. So I can just roll the chest where I need it to work. Leaving saw tills and clamps hanging.

[steven c newman]

Best way for me to keep rust away....is to use the tool.

There is a 2" wide CHEAP paint brush....I add a bit of 3in1 oil to the brush, wipe it all over the tool...wipe off the excess, if any...and return the tool to where it came from...simple enough.

[Eric Rathhaus]

Hi Aaron - for tools I know I won't use often or want to store, I have one of these Vapor non-aerosol sprayers that I fill with CRC 6-66. The sprayer produces a very fine mist that easily coats tools and CRC 6-66 is supposed to be one of the best rust inhibitors around.

[Richard Coers]

The good thing to do is keep everything covered, or inside cabinets. Condensation will settle on cold cast iron if humidity and temperature goes higher than the tools and machinery. Even a piece of cardboard on top of a table saw keeps it better. Keeping tools in a cabinet with a light bulb in it works very well, but you really have to look to find an incandescent bulb now. If you wrap hand tools in VCI paper or VCI bags will really help.

[Curt Putnam]

When the temperature gets close to or under the dew pointm water vapor will condense on steel. Ti my mind there are 3 basic approaches to rust prevention.

1) - Keep the steel temperature well above the dew point

2) - Physical Barriers - cabinets, sox, etc.

3) - Chemical barriers - my favorite is CorrosionX HD

YMWV