Does everyone...

Just curious. Does everyone here oil there hand tools after use?

Because I forgot to oil my Handplane the other day...tiniest bit of surface appeared over night, thankfully wasnt my LN's...but I am still annoyed with myself, fixed it up with some 2000 wet and dry.

I still have the boxes for my new tools, and some of my older tools, should I oil them after every use? I should I maybe do it more regularly? Every 2-3 days, even without use?

I use an Oil I got with my LN Chisels, works fine...any other techniques you can recommend?

Thanks
Rhys

I use paraffin wax dissolved in shellite and brushed on.

cheers
Michael

How often do you apply it?

After every use?
What about if you arent using your tools regularly, do you still apply it if they arent being used? Or just one coat and leave them packed away?

Thanks for your help
Rhys

I paint it on all areas that may rust... eg after restoring a plane by electrolysis I paint the whole casting. Occasionally I might redo them, once a year or so, but the sole of the plane and any part of any other tools where it might wear away, I redo after every use. On irons, chisels etc after sharpening with waterstones... I even use it on totes and knobs, squares, cast iron tops etc. anything that might rust... Definitely on tools that aren't used much.

cheers
m

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Rhys Cooper

How often do you apply it?

After every use?
What about if you arent using your tools regularly, do you still apply it if they arent being used? Or just one coat and leave them packed away?

Thanks for your help
Rhys

---

Cast iron is fairly porous, so if untreated it will take moisture from the air pretty quickly and start to rust.

I have a tin of paste wax that never worked well for turnings and cover the bare metal with a wipe of that when putting tools away.

Don't think it matters much what you use (except not silicone-based stuff) as long as you do it regularly and check often.

For cast iron tables I'm finding Top Saver lasts longer than other stuff (paste wax, Lanoguard).

[QUOTE=Rhys Cooper;1126257]Just curious. Does everyone here oil there hand tools after use?

yes always brush the dust etc off if necessary and wipe over with cloth sprayed with smidge of wd-40.
where i am, the hills air attacks everything i have especially in winter.
regards
michael.

When I started my apprenticeship in the early 1950s, an old carpenter showed me how to make a mutton roll.
This consisted of a piece of hession about 6" wide and about 18" long with pieces of mutton fat laid out all over the surface then rolled up tight and string tied around it.

One end was cut clean and you rubbed that end over your saw or plane once a day or if it rained and your tools got wet.
I kept one of these for many years, not the same one though:rolleyes:

Later I was shown how to make something similar with a small baked bean or jam tin. You rolled a piece of felt up nice and tight and forced it into the tin, leaving about 1/4" sticking out. You then poured in oil until the roll was soaked, topping up occasionally if the roll started to dry out..

I keep one of these in the workshop even now to wipe my planes, saws and chisels each day when I finish.:2tsup:

Colin.

Chippy 71
Your Mutton Roll just reminded me of my dear old Woodwork teacher at high school. He had the baked bean can version. Worked well then so it should work now. I think I'll make one in his honour tomorrow!
His name was Mitch Garrett and he taught me in the late 60s at Jannali high. I am sure,looking back now, he was a tradesman carpenter or cabinet maker. His approach to the activities is not the way the "modern teachers" do things. We had some apprentices who, when I gave them some jobs to do, looked at me as if I had 2 heads. When I suggested that they should have learned it at school they said that they didn't. Mitch taught me how to stick down and finish off laminex and I still use his method now, all those years later

I use oil when I finish with the tool. The majoy problem that I find it when I become lazy and leave the tool out. The dust picks up moisture and this seems to cause the rust. Not so bad for a day but a week :C.

As this is mainly a hobby the following is what I try to do.

"Always put your tools away."

When a tool is new YES.
after a while (years if your lucky, the tool will develop "patina" stains for your sweat, the oil and the wax and the timbers etc etc and become in the case of cast iron planes a dull gray colour. At this point if they are keeped in doors (cupboard shed etc. the wax you apply in use will be enough.

Like what we did at the shop Rhys. But new tools, oil! after and wax during I use "3 in1" from any hardware store and a candle.

Steve

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by chambezio

Chippy 71
Your Mutton Roll just reminded me of my dear old Woodwork teacher at high school. He had the baked bean can version. Worked well then so it should work now. I think I'll make one in his honour tomorrow!
His name was Mitch Garrett and he taught me in the late 60s at Jannali high. I am sure,looking back now, he was a tradesman carpenter or cabinet maker. His approach to the activities is not the way the "modern teachers" do things. We had some apprentices who, when I gave them some jobs to do, looked at me as if I had 2 heads. When I suggested that they should have learned it at school they said that they didn't. Mitch taught me how to stick down and finish off laminex and I still use his method now, all those years later

---

How did you go Chambezio, did you get the bake beans tin version made OK?
I find the felt I like to use hard to come by these days, I used to use the felt that was put on the floor instead of carpet but of course that is now long gone.
What do you use now?

Colin.

Get a bottle of camelia oil and wipe all the metal down with that it dries and lasts a long time

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Lumber Bunker

When a tool is new YES.
after a while (years if your lucky, the tool will develop "patina" stains for your sweat, the oil and the wax and the timbers etc etc and become in the case of cast iron planes a dull gray colour. At this point if they are keeped in doors (cupboard shed etc. the wax you apply in use will be enough.

Like what we did at the shop Rhys. But new tools, oil! after and wax during I use "3 in1" from any hardware store and a candle.

Steve

---

Thanks steve.
I was wondering what caused that 'greyness' to the tools, cheers for that. I'll pick up some candles tomorrow.

regards
Rhys

P.S I'll give you a call soon, I forgot on monday sorry

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by kiwioutdoors

Get a bottle of camelia oil and wipe all the metal down with that it dries and lasts a long time

---

Yeah thats what I have at the moment, quite annoyed I forgot...but I'll learn from these mistakes

Cheers for your help everyone
Rhys

Happy to help.

FWIW, I'b be a bit wary of using candles. They contain stearate as a hardener.

Now they may be OK, as stearate is also used on quality abrasive sheets to reduce clogging, but it may also interfere with finishes. Dunno. Plain parrafin wax, as used by mic-d, might be a safer bet. You can get small containers in supermarkets sometimes as it's used to seal home-made jam in jars, and a little bit will go a long way.

Autumn and jam-making time - I saw the paraffin wax sitting beside the jamsetta etc in colesworths this week

Neil

Yep.

I buy the stuff in bulk by mail-order to put in an electric frypan for sealing the endgrain on turning blanks.

This probably isn't the best idea, but I have most of my tools stuck to the wall with magnets and stuff (and putting all my planes up soon) , and every few days I spray them lightly with silicone spray in a can. It is SO easy, cheap as chips, and quick, otherwise I know I'd not do it often enough.
I have a rag under my bench that I use to wipe off the tool before I use it. I am VERY vigilant when it comes to this as I imagine that having leftover silicone on a piece ready for finishing could end badly.

It's cheap and I've never had a problem with it.

Eldanos of KDM!!!!!!!!!!
"every few days I spray them lightly with silicone spray in a can."
I would pelt your silicone spray as far away from your workshop as humanly possible!!!!
Why? Because any residue left on timber you want to paint, WILL NOT STICK. You are going to have hell's own trouble to put any finish on the contaminated surface
I would find another alternative

Yeah I know Rod, but I've never had any trouble! I've heard it here so many times that what you said might happen but I've been doing for at least six months and I produce a lot of work- Nothing. I forgot to mention The rag is sitting on top of a metho bottle I use with it. (and I don't do my scraper)

I tell you what though, I have been getting sick of having to wipe it off the tools first and worrying about it, so I'm going to start looking for a better protectant soon.
Can you get the camelia oil in a spray can? I love the spray can idea. Maybe thin it out a little and put it in one an old windex bottle??

I appreciate the advice btw.

I have a push spray bottle but I find it is not so great. Too much on and then you have to wipe off the excess anyway. So I just use a cloth. The first one was just the oil that had built up and it was enough to use. The second one I just poured a bit of oil on and that is it. ( I had to change the rag due to the wood I had been using which contaminated it too much)

My "oil rag" is in a tin with an easy to remove lid and it sits by my bench. I give my plane soles a wipe during use to give them lightening peformance and at the end of the day or session I just give my planes a brush off with a paint brush then a wipe over and put them on the shelf (or if a little longer time between uses - in a plane sack).

So while I thought the spray bottle was a good idea when I started, it turned out to be a more convenient and useful just on a rag.

I live in Japan where it is very hot and humid in summer and pretty cold in winter. No rust! Well there was that one time, but that was because of my greasy finger and not just atmosphere. Wiping off after use has solved this sticky problem.:roll:

I should say that when I first got my planes, I degreased them, then sprayed them with T-9, let it soak in a bit and then after just the camelia oil. If I ever do a big cleanup on the planes I might redo the T-9 but mainly just the camelia oil. One product for both protection and lubrication when planing. I have had my little bottle for a few years now and still have plenty left, so it goes a long way.

Rob

I used live in Canberra, and in such a dry place one could get away with doing very little to protect against rust. I've since moved to WA, and it's awful! Things rust in the time it takes to get a cup of tea! I'm very glad to have found this thread and all it's good ideas about how to treat tools. I think I'll go and buy me some camelia oil...

(On a related topic, if anyone's interested in adding their thoughts to the collaborative textbook project 'Wikibooks', there is a page about tool maintenance in the Woodworking Wikibook. Anyone can go to it, click 'edit' at the top of the page, and add whatever.)

Here is the cleaning regiment that we are taught at the ANU furniture wood workshop to keep our tools, spotless and at peak performance.

Nice one Helmut.

You don't think that the 000 steel wool is removing metal?

The plane steel is much harder then then steel wool which is supper fine, and you would have to rub for days to have any affect.

It is also far less abrasive then using sand paper.

Sure.

I don't know much about metals but just to bang on a bit, the plane is cast iron and the steel wool is steel. Granted it's fine but isn't steel harder than CI?

And I don't know where the grey stuff is coming from that you mention, if not from metal.

OK, I obsess. In material terms there'll be little metal coming off but if there's an alternative ...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by thumbsucker

Here is the cleaning regiment ...

---

For a brief moment I thought the Government had commissioned a new military unit to deal with the beautification of stores – it turns out to be nothing more than a cleaning regimen.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by rsser

where the grey stuff is coming from

---

The steel wool. From a clump of wool breaks down relatively fast. A handful never last's more then three cleans.

Just as an aside, that's a v. interesting report on your blog about sole distortion on a Veritas #6.