Remember to clean your tools

Great Mike. I found the same on my Lee-Nielsen plane. Must be cheap steel.

-- Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com

Can’t imagine cheap steel based on their prices! Haven’t made the investment in a top notch plane quite yet. Mine are decent if outfitted with a quality iron. Keep the WD-40 close!

-- Jeff, South Carolina

Well they aren’t made out of stainless steel, cheap steel or not they will rust. I know they use Ductile Iron for their planes, but this is for strength not rust resistance.

-- http://theinquisitivewoodworker.com/

Does Karson need to use smiley faces?

-- Dorje (pronounced "door-jay"), Seattle, WA

Good advice for all tools.

-- Maplewood, MN

WD40 is poor protection against rust. Use wax polish instead (not furniture polish that contains silicon).

All WD40 does is displace water, which is where its name comes from.

Regards from Perth

Derek

-- Building and Reviewing Tools at http://www.inthewoodshop.com

Mike grabbed the Right Stuff. I’ve found nothing that works better at preventing rust than camellia oil.

Phildo92027 showed me how to make a camellia oil applicator out of a little piece of 1 1/2” PVC pipe, two end caps ( one glued on and one loose to act as the cover), and a tight pad of fabric inside to act as a dauber. I keep it saturated with camellia oil and use it to wipe a thin film on bare iron and steel to prevent rust, such as a freshly sharpened edge or newly cleaned plane. Very economical this way.

-- Furniture Medic- the prescription for damaged furniture

Myron/Phildo92027, nice idea on the applicator. I’ll have to put one together.

-- http://theinquisitivewoodworker.com/

Good advices. Thanks.

-- Jiri

I live in a part of the country where 100% humidity is a frequent fact of life. I’ve used just about everything from synthetics, exotic natural oils, motor oil, WD40, 3 in 1, paste wax and even rubbing it with wax paper [works just as well]. The key ingredient in all of these potions is diligence. Rusts never sleeps.

There was a study done a few years back by a gun magazine that involved using oils as superficial protective agents on firearms. They found that for an oil to be an effective rust retarder that it was dependent on the thinness of the film of oil. That’s one of the reasons Camellia works well—thin is in! But any old lube will do as long as you apply it thin. That’s what the applicator described by Myron accomplishes. I get a thin protective coat of oil via an old shaving brush. I dribble a few drops into the brush and I can apply a thin [and protective] coating on any tool.

Also, I’m not a fan of the shiny new tool. I prefer the natural olive chocolate patina iron gets after years of use coupled with proper care. These tools have become protected via surface oxidation. In other words, the steel/iron has ceased to oxidize via a barrier formed of already oxidized iron molecules. We call it; patina. You can approximate the look [and protection] by using Birchwood-Casey Plum Brown metal finish followed by burnishing with 0000 steel wool and any light oil. I have a type 11 #4 that I gave this treatment to as a last step in a restoration and tuneup over five years ago and it is still a rust free patinated beauty. Hope this helps.

always,
J.C.

-- "Imagination is more important than knowledge" -- Albert Einstein

Thanks J.C. that’s some good information. I’ve always applied a very thin coat of oil, I didn’t know I was doing it right :). I did it that way because I didn’t want to have to wipe off a lot of oil before I used a tool. I’ve been meaning to make the applicator Myron talked about. It might be something I put together this weekend.

-- http://theinquisitivewoodworker.com/

http://www.boeshield.com/ This product has been great for all over the boat as well as in the shop. It was made by Boeing to keep the rust down on thier jets. I have good results.

-- Life is to short to own an ugly boat.

Thanks for the reminder!

-- Chris

WD40 is the worst for protecting and cleaning tools -
WD stands for Water Displacement; 40 was the company’s 4oth attempt to finally get the formula correct.

There is a product called T9, Boeing uses it to keep the aircraft parts rust free and lubed. Peachtree Woodworking sells it on line—-GREAT product for rust prevention and lubrication.

Hope this helps – GOOD Luck

-- Bill - - Ad-Marketing Guy, Ramsey NJ

I used WD40 as a lubricant and solvent when I used the Scotch Bright pad to remove the rust. I use camellia oil to help protect my tools from rust.

I use T9 on my larger power tools, and I really like it. I do find it leaves a tacky surface that I have to buff-out with a coat of wax.

-- http://theinquisitivewoodworker.com/

If you have old masking tape on something and it has dried and won’t all come off, use WD-40 to soften the dried adhesive. Also, you can make a really cool tennis ball cannon with PVC pipe and a gas grill push button igniter using WD-40 as the propellant. As to plane rusting, all I have are old Stanleys, and I’ve never so much as wiped them down and I’ve never had any rust appear on them. I don’t want to take anything away from the Lie-Nielson planes because they’re really beautiful, but, hooray for the old stuff! (Like me) -SST

-- Accuracy is not in your power tool, it's in you

When that Stanley was new they dealt with this issue too. The older Stanley’s have developed a patina that can protect them. Over the years the “newer” planes will do the same, but it will take years for that to happen. In the mean time you need to protect them, which isn’t that much work.

-- http://theinquisitivewoodworker.com/

I just want to mention a product that I have been using for several years and have had great results with. It is called Slipit, just sprays on and then a quick wipe off with a clean paper towel. Never have a spot of rust of any kind on anything in my shop that has had this stuff applied. I highly recommend it.