Tool rust prevention

[Don Peters]

Julie,
WD 40 Specialist is greasy kid stuff. It goes on about like TriFlow. I wipe it all off, but there's still an oily film left, and that seems to work okay here in the desert. In Florida, you'll probably want to leave it pretty wet, and I expect that's an issue with glueing and finishing. I have no experience with Frog Lube. It still seems like the best option would be some sort of wax that dries completely like Johnson's Paste Wax, but waxes don't seem to offer much protection unless they're religiously applied at short intervals. Sigh.
dp

[lowell holmes]

I have 2 cans of wax and a rag somewhere around my bench and my tools are wiped frequently.

[Alan Lightstone]

FWW magazine tested rust preventers a few years ago. CRC 3-36 was their best overall. I've been using it ever since, with good results. I get mine on Amazon.

Their impression was that Johnson's paste wax doesn't provide much protection against rust in their tests.

[Dennis McCullen]

I have a small can from sliced olives that I stuffed a coiled old towel into. I put several drops of light oil on the towel to begin with and refresh occasionally with just a few drops. I wipe down hand tools after knocking any wood dust/chips from them. This was a Pail Sellers tip. For larger machines, I use paste wax, but the most effective thing, IMHO, is that I run a small (6K btu) window unit in an 800 sq ft shop. The south Louisiana humidity is really bad and this marginally cools the shop, dehumidifies the air pretty well, and keeps me from sweating on my work and tools. I do get a bit clammy, but do not have sweat dripping off. The shop is built tight and the a/c does not need to run more than 5-6 hours every other day to work. Other than buying the a/c unit $125, the cost to run it is minimal and I'm not constantly cleaning and refreshing the cast iron and steel surfaces on lots of surfaces.

[lowell holmes]

I absolutely disagree with their assessment of Johnson's floor wax. I have a garage wood shop in Galveston County Texas.
It is humid and tools rust in this climate. My tools do not rust after I put Johnson's wax on them. It doesn't cost much to try it out.

[Jerry Olexa]

I've also had good results w Johnsons Paste wax...A can lasts forever....I also keep a dehumidifier running in shop during the hot, humid months.
Very few new rust appearances.

[Jacob Mac]

Chime back in on this thread a year later.

I follow this protocol and have had zero issues through a very humid summer. First, I got a dehumidifier, and that has helped tremendously. Otherwise, I use Boeshield, let it soak in for a good hour, then follow up with paste wax.

Now if it would just cool off enough so I could get back in the shop.

[Stan Smith]

It's been 100 or + everyday here. I bought a portable Sharp ac unit (on wheels). It vents to the outside with a 6" stretch hose to the window. I mounted the vent to a board to fit in the sliding window slot. I put the board in place and shut the window against it. I block the window with a 2 x 4 to prevent opening the window from the outside. I remove it all when summer is over. The Sharp unit has held up well and made it through a fire unscathed. I just use the single car area of a 3 car garage. The unit does remove the moisture and the hose is quite warm to the touch. It doesn't cool the whole garage but at least my work area is tolerable at 82 degrees. YMMV

[Jacob Mac]

It's been 100 or + everyday here. I bought a portable Sharp ac unit (on wheels). It vents to the outside with a 6" stretch hose to the window. I mounted the vent to a board to fit in the sliding window slot. I put the board in place and shut the window against it. I block the window with a 2 x 4 to prevent opening the window from the outside. I remove it all when summer is over. The Sharp unit has held up well and made it through a fire unscathed. I just use the single car area of a 3 car garage. The unit does remove the moisture and the hose is quite warm to the touch. It doesn't cool the whole garage but at least my work area is tolerable at 82 degrees. YMMV

My issue is I don't have a window in my garage. And since I'm moving in a year or so, I don't really want to bother with either installing a minisplit or a window. But it is getting more tempting by the day.

[Stan Smith]

My issue is I don't have a window in my garage. And since I'm moving in a year or so, I don't really want to bother with either installing a minisplit or a window. But it is getting more tempting by the day.

Certainly don't blame you for not spending $ if you are planning on moving. For those who have windows, I forgot to mention that my Sharp ac is portable on wheels. Also I didn't do any structural changes to the window. I do apply tape where things come together.