I just finished sharpening all my Chisels and plane irons
And want to get some kind of oil to protect them from rust.
I know Lee valley seels this Camela (sp) oil..
Have also heard some like Baby oil?
what works for you?
I just finished sharpening all my Chisels and plane irons
And want to get some kind of oil to protect them from rust.
I know Lee valley seels this Camela (sp) oil..
Have also heard some like Baby oil?
what works for you?
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Replies
When I lived in Missouri and stored my tools in a very humid basement, I wrapped them in a rust-preventive paper. It was like kraft paper impregnated with some non-oily substance that releases a vapor to prevent rust. It worked great -- the only problem is I can't find it anymore. I live in a fairly large city and have looked at woodworking stores, hardware stores, industrial tool suppliers, and elsewhere. Those who don't think I'm crazy have seen it but don't know where it comes from.
Here's a source:
http://www.associatedbag.com/
Larry -- thanks for the link
I keep my hand tools in a Craftsman roll-away with their soft drawer liners. I throw every little bag of dessicant the family saves in there with 'em. I keep a piece of T-shirt rag in a zip-loc with good ol' 3 in 1 oil on it and wipe them down when I put them away. For planes I blow all the shavings and dust out of them before they get wiped down. Learned the hardway about wood's hygroscopic nature and pitted a plane iron pretty badly once.John O'Connell - JKO Handcrafted Woodworking
Life is tough. It's tougher if you're stupid - John Wayne
Thanks for the link but when I went there, everything was in huge/large quantities. See:http://www.associatedbag.com/PDFs/126.pdfStill thanks. I had not found the paper anywhere except around my Lie-Nielsen hand planes when I bought them.byjimeny
L-N sells the paper on their web site
I to have some old tools orginally sold with this paper which I cannot find any more except for anything pruchased from Lee Nelson Tools, Inc. Their planes come shipped this way.
I have used standard inexpensive brown wrapping paper sprayed with WD-40 and allowed to dry. It seems to work reasonably well.
Hope this helps.
Highland Hardware stocks it in retail quantities.
This is probably not all that exceptable but I just shoot them with some WD-40 and store them in the wooden box they came in with a couple of packs of desecant. I do the same thing with my router bits.
The router bits were dipped in plastic but the lack of that doesn't seem to have changed anything as far as rust is concerned. It does help significantly if you remove the plastic before you use them though....... Humor intended....
Steve - in Northern California
Edited 5/7/2002 2:47:39 PM ET by Steve Schefer
I'll throw in my vote for Renaissance Wax. I keep my tools out in the shed, and it does and great job keeping my planes, chisels, saws, and other tools free of rust. About every 4 months or so I take an hour and rub everything with a waxy cloth(more often on heavily used items like plane soles). Just don't rub it near the cutting edge of you planes or the chip breaker may slide around a little too easily.Matt
Wire up a light fitting and use a 7.5- 40 watt bulb--- depending on cabinet size-- and site it in the corner of your tool cabinet. That will stop them from rusting so long as you have doors that shut.
Oops. It was meant to be addressed to all. Slainte.
Link to RJFurniture site.
Edited 1/12/2007 3:30 am by SgianDubh
Sgian,
Using them goes a long way to keeping the rust off too....;-)
Dano"Form and Function are One" - Frank L. Wright
Richard, I took your advice... I don't see how its supposed to work though. Do I need to plug it in..? How will I know its on when the door is closed. Steve - in Northern California
This reply maybe should be read by amateurs and hobbyists and not so much by professionals whose tools are used every day, all the time.
Do you ever buy stuff at a grocery store or supermarket?
Down here in Florida, perhaps in one or two other states for all I know, grocery items are put into plastic bags as one checks out with the cashier. They don't even charge (up front) for 7 or 8 of those bags as you check out.
I wrap a hand drill, a jig saw, even an old router, or anything else which will fit comfortably inside such a thin plastic bag. I put a rubber band around the whole thing and set it back on its shelf.
Obviously, if the tool came in its own plastic or metal case, you don't need this trick.
We live 0.2 miles west of the Atlantic Ocean at a land elevation of 4.3 feet above Mean Sea Level. There's a little humidity about. But only until about 10:30 A.M. in themorning and again after 6:00 P.M. during summer months. At mid afternoon, sometimes the humidity drops down to 70%. Rest of the time it vacillates between 90 and 100 %.
Nothing wrong with a little wax or oil on the metal parts----if you're that energetic. But the plastic bag treatment alone is quite a good rust retardant.
It's a cheap approach, too, because, here in Florida, the grocery store chains actually give those bags to the customer when he checks out. Probably not that way in most other states.
Sgian, what's a tool cabinet? If I had one, I'd stick a light bulb in it, too.
Best,
William
I make something, sometimes twice, each year.
No... Wait.. I know.. Paint them.... Few coats of red led and a coat of marine enamel and they should never rust.Steve - in Northern California
Sgian: do you think that a closed door will keep moisture outside? The water vapour pressure comes through the tiniest holes Boiles law is n't it? Beside: save energy, wax your tools.
Ruud Joling The Netherlands
I don't know the science Ruud, but the light bulb seems to act just like a heater, warms the air and the tools inside the cabinet, which means that the warmer air will hold more moisture, and because the tools are at the same temperature as the air, there's nothing cooler for the moisture to condense on, so minimal rust. It seems to have worked nicely for me for the last ten years or so in this hot, humid part of the world- Houston, so I'll stick with it. It worked pretty well in the UK too, another humid part of the world, but cooler.
By the same logic, wouldn't it be a waste of time heating a house in a cold, damp climate, such as the UK or the Netherlands because cold damp air would rush in through the smallest gap? The analogy would surely be to save energy and not heat the house, but to wrap up warmly with lots of layers. I swear that given the choice in early January somewhere in the Highlands of Scotland, I'll stoke up the fire, and remove a layer or four. <g> Plus I might knock back a slug or two of whisky to stoke up the internal fires, ha, ha. Slainte, RJ.Link to RJFurniture site.
Richard,
I was going to suggest the light bulb as well, but you beat me to it. I bought a small brass wand-type thing that plugs in the wall for my gun safe. Puts off a tad more heat than a light bulb but never (supposed to) burn out, and uses less electricity than a light bulb (so they say). It's called the golden wand, or something like that. About $15 at sporting good stores or gun shops.
Lee
If it uses electricity, sits in one place, and it's entire output ultimately winds up as heat then the amount of electricity used for the amount of heat produced is the same irregardless of how it works.
A straight heater will put out more heat than a light bulb if only the heat directly generated by the light bulb is counted. But if the light bulb is in a closed box then ultimately all the light will wind up as heat, and the total amount of heat will be the same as the energy in the electricity.
Lee, how on earth did this thread get resurrected? I made the light bulb suggestion earlier in this thread almost five years ago!
I still use light bulbs to stop my tools rusting. I've moved back to live in the UK too, but I have switched to using the low energy bulbs-- 7 watts in my case. They seem to last forever unlike the 25 watt incandescent bulbs that had to be replaced every 2- 8 weeks. Slainte.Richard Jones Furniture
Richard,
Never tried the light bulb trick, does it really work?
Seems like the light bulbs would last forever, if you don't switch them on. Do you throw them away when they fill with water? Or can you dry them out and reuse again?
Ha ha ha,
Ray
Yes Ray. It really works. I think I've been using the light bulb anti rusting thing in tool cabinets for 25 years or more.
You'd think a light bulb left running all the time would last a long time. In theory, it's the heating and cooling as the bulb is switched on and off that causes them to blow fairly quickly in most situations. But my experience is that an incandescent bulb left running all the time usually only lasts about 4 or 5 weeks before burning out. maybe someone with real sparky knowledge can explain that?
I've always found when they fill with water that my maintenance routine has been lacking. Bulbs need the halogen fluid changed on a regular basis to prevent water ingress. You also need to make sure you use winter halogen fluid in the winter and, perhaps unsurprisingly, summer halogen fluid works best in the summer. Slainte. Richard Jones Furniture
The fluid filled bulb is an urban myth. Light bulbs are actually nothing more than dark filters, when they get full to capacity with dark they are thrown away.------------------------------------
The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools. -- Herbert Spencer (1891)
dgreen,
A myth is an effeminate moth. They are attracted to light bulbs, fluid filled or not. Hope this helps.
Ray
Richard,
Wow! Sorry about that. Bad habit of mine, not looking to see how long ago something was posted. I must say that's the longest-resurrected I've seen to date!
Cheers,
Lee
I use just regular 3 in 1 oil.
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