Help needed. brand new planes rusted in 2 days

[Karsten Gopianth]

I thought I was being smart and put my brand new planes in a Milwaukee Packout that I lined with some left over cork that I had. I thought the cork would be soft and not damage the blades or planes, but after 2 days the soles of the planes are pitted all over with rust. I even sprayed some t-9 boeshield on a rag and wiped the planes all over before storing them. I don't know how this happened or what to do now. If anyone has any advice I would greatly appreciate it.

[Kent A Bathurst]

You created an enclosed environment with no air circulation and moisture trapped inside. Like a terrarium for tools, not ferns. Moisture and steel means rust

Put the planes on a table with a small dowel under the heel, so they don’t sit flat on the table. This lets air circulate around all sides. Lose the cooler and the cork

Get a Sandflex fine block and scrub the rust off; reapply T-9

Where are you located? What make and model are the planes?

[Keegan Shields]

Sounds like the cork had some moisture in it. Dry out the cork and packout in your AC then grab some rechargeable desiccant packs from Amazon.

[Bill Dufour]

Climate?
Bill D

[Jim Koepke]

Karsten, welcome to the Creek. Knowing your location may help in finding understanding your situation.

Some woods will react with various metals. If the wood (cork is a wood) has any excess moisture, it may stain the metal.

jtk

[Richard Coers]

VCI paper is what you want to sit the planes on. There are also desiccant driers that sit in the box and keep the air dry. The soles actually have pits in them? If so that cork was wet or there was something corrosive on the cork. 2 days is incredibly fast to pit metal.

[glenn bradley]

Welcome Karsten. Kent is right on about the sealed environment. I wipe my tools with a rag that has some light machine oil sprinkled on it and hang them in the open. That may or may not be OK for your location. I am in SoCal where we have virtually no weather. Many others here are avid hand tool users who live in a variety of environments. Tell us where you are and I am sure they can help.

[Kent A Bathurst]

Well, well, well........timing is everything. I literally just now received one of the occasional emails from Highland Woodworking.

Karsten - if you don't know about them, get your credit card out [because you will almost always order something each time you visit] and google them. Fabulous operation, with which I'm sure everyone here will agree. Sadly, they are only 15 minutes from my house. "Sadly" because of the damage to my cash flow from the proximity

Anyway, back to my actual point -

Today's email is about rust in the shop. One video about rust removal, and another about rust prevention. Of course, they have a plethora of products with which to pursue the problems' solutions. And a discussion of storage strategies.

But that's OK - they are retail so they sell stuff, and in the 25 years I've bought from them [pre-dating my move to Atlanta] they have never sold junk. They have devoted an entire section of their store to Green Kool-Aid in recent years, which helps control my spend because I don't need to go over there.

Please let us know how this all turns out. I always learn something from every adventure.

Realized I did not know how/where to send you to these videos on their site. So here are the relevant direct links:

ighlandwoodworking.com/blasts2013/rustcontrol.html?utm_source=ActiveCampaign&utm_med ium=email&utm_content=How+to+Control+Summertime+Ru st+in+Your+Workshop&utm_campaign=rust+videos+2023& vgo_ee=ZMZM9QISYhdChf99zdXadAgVEye93%2Fw5uG2LvdEj1 ZlpmV%2FbtjA%3D%3AZ79Log3TMM0fGcOSJweno9BnJtuyvTa9


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HB9ki9w7BQc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y86PIH0FplI

[Tom Bussey]

I regrind planes for myself now, but I used to do it for other people and I really like Vanitas tool wax. If I use anything to help clean it up then I use heat gun and warm it up enough so that I can barely hold on to it. Heat will evaporate anything in the pours.
About 150 degrees. I don't recommend the oven, makes the wife very unhappy, but an outside grill works.

[Bob Jones 5443]

I have an Altoids can with a microfiber cloth cut and folded to fit in the can and bulge up a little. I spritz a few sprays of camellia oil on the cloth. I keep the can closed and handy on a shelf above the bench. After I use or touch or sharpen or clean any tool — chisel, plane, plane iron, saw, or Starrett straightedge — I run it over the cloth in the can, give it one soft wipe with a clean cloth, and put it in its holder. My planes sit in a plane till with a plywood resting surface and thin cherry side rails, all wiped with tung oil. I’ve never had rust on them.

Good luck getting the rust off. Then think about using camellia oil. I picked up the idea from David Charlesworth.

No cork!

[Cameron Wood]

I have cork lining in a number of tool drawers- no problems.

[steven c newman]

"Rag in a Can"? I have an old well worn paint brush....that I can load up with 3in1 Oil...not only do I get rid of any and all dust on a tool...it leaves behind a thin coat of oil....A touch too much? wipe the tool down BEFORE it gets put away.

IF you are old like me, you are bound to have quite a few pill bottles sitting around (the only things that begin after 40? Aches, Pain & PILLS)...before you toss the bottles away, toss the Desiccant Packs into the tool drawers/tils/ cases ...be sure to change out the old packs while you add the new ones...

All my tils are made from Pine, for a very good reason....NO TANNIC ACID in Pine....