How do you store your hand planes?

[shed9]

Can I ask how people store their hand planes?

I have a basic wall mounted till above my bench for the planes I use the most and store the rest under the bench on a shelf. My workshop is fairly well insulated and has some climate control in the form of a medium sized dehumidifier however recently I'm noticing I sometimes get flash rust on cast tools. This is minute but enough to make me think I need to do something about it. I wax / oil / protect where I can but the reality is this doesn't happen enough. I'll always wipe down a tool after finishing using it but some tools won't be touched for a number of months or longer. My current preference is machine wax as I can use the same stuff on table saw and bandsaw tables.

Can I ask how do people store their ferrous tools in a workshop environment, i.e. in use and on-hand, in particular hand planes. What do you rest them, do you use any specific product or surface?

 

[Sideways]

I store my planes, chisels and the like away in airtight dewalt toughboxes with big bags of silica gel. I got tired of fighting the rust and don't have space to store the vulnerable stuff indoors so they have to be able to live in an unheated, uninsulated garage year round. I'm an amateur and do less woodwork in the cold damp months because it's uncomfortable and cold hands make for more mistakes and minor injuries. In the good weather, tools come out onto wall racks or the relevant toolbox sits open on a small side bench.
I've recently been introduced to the idea of metalguard for protecting vunerable surfaces followed by machine wax.
Although some folk scoff at it (maybe because of the price and the marketing), I've used Camelia oil for many years. I keep a rag wetted with it in a screw jar the toolbox and wipe things down before putting away. It does help day to day, especially against flash condensation when you open the garage door on a wet day, but it rubs off easily and doesn't provide long term protection.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npKo1y2e8RI

And yes I was very sceptical about using mineral oil, but it has no ill effects whatsoever. One wipe before use, one wipe when putting the tool away. The humidity here is good and low at the moment, it's only 75%, but it's due to go up to 95% 97% in the week (back to normal ).

 

[MikeG.]

Can I ask how people store their hand planes?........

All three of them sit on a shelf behind my bench. Nothing sits still long enough in my workshop to gather any rust, and the workshop is dry anyway.

 

[ED65]

I'm completely sold on wax being better than oil as a general rust preventative so I think if you apply the wax right it should do what you want it to. Doesn't mean you have to wax frequently or even more often, maybe you just need to change how you apply it. Wax doesn't need to be wiped away to nothing, one of its chief advantages over oils and greases, so in addition to being more innately waterproof there's also more of it left on the surface. And on top of that it rubs off less easily because it's a solid at room temp. Wax > oil.

What do you rest them, do you use any specific product or surface?

As long as the surface isn't hygroscopic, e.g. bare wood, I doubt it matters much.

 

[Benchwayze]

Can I ask how people store their hand planes?........

All three of them sit on a shelf behind my bench. Nothing sits still long enough in my workshop to gather any rust, and the workshop is dry anyway.

Mike, you saved me the trouble of saying 'Use Them!' Ooops I said it anyway!

My tools don't go rusty, for reasons explained elsewhere on the forum. Sadly, of late my skills have rusted!

Usually my planes sit on wooden shelves above the bench. But at present they are sitting on the bench, as I have stripped the wall down to erect a new and better tool-wall.

John

 

[knockknock]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npKo1y2e8RI
And yes I was very sceptical about using mineral oil, but it has no ill effects whatsoever. One wipe before use, one wipe when putting the tool away. The humidity here is good and low at the moment, it's only 75%, but it's due to go up to 95% 97% in the week (back to normal ).

Another for the oil (3in1) swab in a can. I brush the plane off and then wipe with the oil pot, before placing on a bare wood (pine) shelf.

 

[shed9]

Thanks for the responses everyone, they are appreciated.

My on-hand planes are used a fair bit and do get a wipe with wax before using and at the end of that session. It's the tools that get less use that are affected more I suppose, things like rabbet planes, rabbet block planes, scraper planes, etc. I generally have about 3-4 bench planes in constant use along with a block / apron plane.

Not quite sure what changed as this is the first winter I have had this issue. My workshop has always maintained a moderate temp even in the coldest snaps in the past.

I'll take all of the advice into account over the next few weeks, in the meantime I'm sticking to the machine wax and keeping an eye on it.

Thanks again.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I found Briwax useful for stuff I rarely used. One of the few things I did find the beastly stuff useful for.

 

[woodbloke66]

Can I ask how people store their hand planes?........

All three of them sit on a shelf behind my bench. Nothing sits still long enough in my workshop to gather any rust, and the workshop is dry anyway.

I have a lot more than three and none have any sign of rust, but then my 'shop, like Mike's is insulated, warm and dry - Rob

 

[thetyreman]

I store them in my tool chest, in my case I am not in an insulated space or anything fancy and there's not been even a hint of rust since making it on any of planes so it's been a godsend. Before I was getting problems with rust all the time, especially in winter, so for me it has done its job and it forces you to stay really organised.

 

[richarddownunder]

I found Briwax useful for stuff I rarely used. One of the few things I did find the beastly stuff useful for.

Whats wrong with Briwax, I have always thought it quite good (and their Danish oil)?

I use this stuff and have never had rust problems on anything I have use it on. https://www.inoxmx.com/products/mx3-lubricant/, just spray on a bit then give it a wipe, put it away on a shelf till next time. Don't know what is in it, but if it works in a salty marine environment, it's not surprising its good for my shed.

Cheers
Richard

 

[Just4Fun]

I typically have 1 or 2 planes in the rucksack I use to carry tools to my weekly woodwork class. I try not to leave that outside in my car boot for too many days after class. Apart from that my planes, like all my other tools, are abandoned - sorry, carefully positioned - wherever I used them last. My workshop is unheated and non-insulated so temperatures in there probably get to -20C or -30C each winter. For some reason though I don't have major problems with rust. I don't know why.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

My workshop is unheated ...
I think you've hit the nail on the head. Despite living somewhere with perpetual high humidity the only time I had any problem with rust was when I had intermittent heating.

 

[Benchwayze]

In the days when I did work in other peoples' homes. I wrapped my planes in old 'T' shirts, soaked in old engine oil. (I filtered the oil through my wife's old stockings to remove the gunk.) That way if I did forget and left them in a damp boot, I didn't have the problem of rust.

What I do now is wipe them over with Briwax or Liberon.

Also, I melt a handful of ordinary candles and pour the melted paraffin wax into a 'dish' formed from aluminium foil. When set just knock the wax out and use it at the bench for lubricating plane soles as I work.

HTH

John (hammer)

 

[shed9]

My workshop is unheated ...
I think you've hit the nail on the head. Despite living somewhere with perpetual high humidity the only time I had any problem with rust was when I had intermittent heating.

After looking at the temp reading from my workshop I think you are probably right. I have a temperature gauge which has a basic data logging function - just checked and temperatures are all over the place over the last 4 months(ish). It has the readings going back over several years and it seems to only be this Winter though so I need to understand what has caused this.

Interestingly the main cast surfaces - table saw, bandsaws, router table, joiners etc all seem to be fine.

 

[Orraloon]

I have always just wiped my planes with a 3 in 1 oily rag and store them on a wooden shelf. I use the Paul Sellers rolled up rag in a can and give the sole and sides a wipe before putting away. I also use 3 in 1 on the oil stone so the blades and caps get attended to when I sharpen. Any time I have had some rust is when I get a bit slack on the oiling. My shed can get from below freezing on winter nights to +40c on summer days and humidity anywhere from very low to 99%. Actually it's a bu&&er of a climate for woodworking when I think about it.
Regards
John

 

[Phil Pascoe]

The humidity here is 95% atm. We pay penalties for living in nice places (I have visited yours ).

 

[Just4Fun]

The humidity here is 95% atm. We pay penalties for living in nice places.

You do live in a nice place. So do I, but it is a different meaning of "nice" and very different to your locale. Humidity is not something I ever follow but I just looked it up online and apparently it is 91% here right now. I have no mental scale for humidity but 91% of anything sounds high to me and 91% humidity suggests that I really ought to be at least amphibious and 95% suggests you ought to be a fish. I clearly don't understand these figures.

 

[pollys13]

I store my hand planes in airtight plastic boxes I bought from Ebay together with 500gm moisture absorbing bags, just to make sure. Also in their sock or in original box.