Thread: Keeping your tools rust free?

Originally Posted by Rcam

Hi, I am a carpenter and always seem to have problems with my chisels, plans or any other metal tools in the back of my ute rusting, I keep them in a plastic box but its useless, I know some people apply oils to their chisel pouches to avoid the rust, does anyone have any suggestions what to apply to the pouch once "ive freshly sharpened all my chisels.

Old socks with a bit of oil or lanotec work ok and protect them too.

There has been a few posts on this subject. The best way to go about it from my experience is a little bit of oil often, rather than a smothering when it's almost too late. And often basically means a quick clean and wipe with the oil of your choice(I use camellia oil) every time you finish using the tool. Yes every time.
Oiling each tool(or each individual part of each tool like planes) can seem arduous at the end of a days work but a little bit of daily upkeep saves you time in the long run.
And having all your tools rubbing up against each other doesn't help either. Keep all of them as separate as possible as a preventative measure to corrosion.
Hope this helps

Regards,

Lewis Allen.

Originally Posted by Rcam

I know some people apply oils to their chisel pouches to avoid the rust, does anyone have any suggestions what to apply to the pouch once "ive freshly sharpened all my chisels.

What sort of pouch are you using. Some leather pouches seem to encourage rust.

Cheers, Vann.

Originally Posted by Vann

What sort of pouch are you using. Some leather pouches seem to encourage rust.

Cheers, Vann.

its a pretty standard leather pouch that rolls up, just a cheap one you can buy at most hardwares, can't think of the brand. I'll clean them all up sharpen them and spray with wd40 and put them away and then might come back 2 weeks later and all the sharp points i had are rusted away.

Think i need to give the pouch abit of a soaking in some sort of oil,

inox lanox from one of those car parts stores - eg super cheap auto etc

Silicon spray is an excellent rust preventative. I used to spray my dive knife with it and it would survive half a dozen weekly dives before I would have to rub off a little bit of corrosion and start again. The knife only got rinsed with fresh water the day after after each dive (I used to night dive so the gear tended to not get seen to until the following day).

BUT

Silicon spray is a sod to remove from wood before it gets glued or coated, if you get any onto the wood basically it won't glue properly and varnishes etc won't stick properly.

Tools like saws, screwdrivers and chisels will stay rust free for ages with silicon treatment but I wouldn't use it on something like a plane unless you are a nail gun type of carpenter who doesn't use glue. Ever.

My prefered overal rust preventative is Lanotec.

I second the use of Lanox. I'm in darwin and it's hard to keep the rust off. Problem is that the tools need to be wiped after every time I use them. I also use it on all the machined surfaces on my wood lathe and it has no rust.

One thing that can encourage corrosion is metals of different types touching each other.

Another thing to consider is that the plastic box may be trapping daytime humidity which condenses overnight, esp. in a Sydney summer.

I'm a G-15 convert. Sprays on and leaves light film. Especially good for long term storage. I might use WD40 overnight and of course the wipe over with an oily rag. I agree with the comment about the plastic tool box. Maybe a few holes drilled in it or a goodly sized sachet of silica gel might help.

Cheerio,
Virg.

Some years ago I did a test with G-15, Lanox and Camellia Oil.
Ground a piece of mild steel and applied the protection, left it outside and misted water several times per day.
Camellia Oil was the first to rust, followed by Lanox and lat was the G-15.
Used by car companies for spare parts, mining companies, electricity power plants etc.
Does not contain silicone so won't effect finish, doesn't stain wood.
Disclosure: Yes, I do sell it. No, I can't post it.

I applaud testing and appreciate Jim sharing his results.

But as they say, 'oils ain't oils'.

Camellia comes in various forms: boiled or not, with paraffin added or not.

That said, I've learned to appreciate the TopSaver product and now have some stuff coated in G15.

Time will tell.

I use jojoba oil from lie-nielson and seems to work well. Keep a rag damped with oil in a small jar and wipe my blades down after use.

I have begun using the G15 that I bought from Jim at the show. It is good for hand tools as you can spray it into nooks and crannies and it seems to finish 'dry'. Previously I have used lanolin, Jojoba and Camellia plus some other oils and they catch the dust. For my machines I use uBeaut's Traditional Wax or Silver Glide.

can someone link me to g15