Rust prevention and removal - any advice?

[Sgian Dubh]

Richard,
Are you talking about "compact fluorescent" bulbs? I've been using them here at home and noticed that some of them run quite hot, at very low wattage. They last about 6-7 years. I wonder whether they would be appropriate for the application you mentioned.
-Andy

They might, but I use the type shown in the link below. They're sometimes double spiral shaped, but often globe shaped. You should be able to pick them out in the link provided.

I think Lowes or Home Depot in the US sell the equivalent bulb type. Slainte.

http://www.greenshop.co.uk/acatalog/ind ... atalogBody

 

[TonyW]

Alternatively, why not add in a heater element
Adam

Adam thanks for the link - haven't come across these - may be better choice than lightbulb. Have you used them yourself?

My garage is badly insulated and (for that reason) unheated. I use a number of things against rust: wooden toolcabinet, camelia oil and a moisture eater (translated from the dutch "vochtvreter"). Extra bonus is that the cabinet smells of lavender.
I don't need any of these measures in summer , but all of them in winter .

Good luck,
Jasper.

Jasper my garage sounds the same as yours and I am going to follow the advice including the camelia oil - not sure about the smell of lavender in a workshop though :lol:

My parcel arrived from APTC today including the Camelia oil (or so I thought). Took the cap off to see what it smelled like - no smell - opened the bottle and found I have just purchased the applicator only no oil Looks like another order for APTC (wonder what else I can buy to make up to £45)

Regards
Tony

 

[whybob71]

Last night i tired the Coca-cola bath for one of my blade iron which had some rust (1/2 in the coca-cola). This morning I rinsed the iron and cleaned it with a clean towel ad some WD40. I have to admit that I didn't see big differences.....May be the caffein-free coca-cola that I used for :lol: .......

 

[Chris Knight]

Adam's heater looks very neat. I lived for many years in the tropics and heater elements (not as neat as Adam's picture) were common in wardrobes and the like, so I kept the few tools I had in those days in the wardrobe and they never got rusty.

 

[Adam]

Adam thanks for the link - haven't come across these - may be better choice than lightbulb. Have you used them yourself?

Nope, but I see no reason not to. The Farnell sheet links to a datasheet.

Adam

 

[sparky]

im not sure if this is a good idea or a bad one but it works
when i get a bit of rust on some of my tools (right now i have a bit on my LA Jack) i take a paper towel or a piece of paper and when i am done sharpening my irons i will rub the paper on the 8000 grit norton waterstone to pick up some of its slurry and with that 'slurry soaked' paper towel i will rub down the rusty spots on the steel. this seems to work very well. and something that is normally messy can be put to some good use. the rust comes off and the steel is polished. i then oil as normal to get the water and slurry off and no more rust.

 

[Cabaxi]

I use citric acid to clean the rust off, ive been given some real rusty tools over the years, just leave in the citric acid for a few hours it just eats the rust away. can be bought quite cheaply on e-bay they use it for bath bombs.

 

[Losos]

Hi TonyW - Welome to UKW
I would endorse the comments by Rob Lee - It's the temperature difference (Between tools & air) that is so important. IIRC when the tool is cooler than the surrounding air, moisture in the air condenses onto the tool and rust follows. I use most of the remedies mentioned and in addition I use WD40 - This is not universally popular (I believe it contains silicon or some such thing) but it's cheap if you buy the 5Litre can & use a hand spray (The small aerosol cans are not cheap 'tho )

For those that use a heated cabinet I have used a suitable resistor, (it was originally a heating element in a CCTV camera housing) I'll need to check the ohms & watts butt probably cheaper than either light bulbs or dedicated heating elements.

Hi Wdartsch
A warm welcome to the best woodworking forum in the English speaking world (I can't say about non English sites 'tho)
What a great idea about using an old fridge, and I put one on the skip about six months ago :roll:

 

[MilkyBarKid]

May I give an emphatic thumbs down to BOESHEILD - I went to quite some trouble to find it in the UK, it's expensive, and it's been pretty rubbish. I've got more corrosion on my cast iron bits than when I used WD40. Mind you it has been an extremely humid winter. My RH meter has been up in the 80's & 90's almost all the time. (even with the dehumidifier going) Normally there's some respite in the humidity during the winter.
MBK

 

[ivan]

Yes, it's the temp. swings wot does it, at least if there's moisture in the air. In an unheated, attached, brick garage steel will rust if the Relative Humidity is 70% or more. (A dial RH gauge is about a fiver) You can either:

1/ reduce the temperature swings by heating and/or insulation

2/ or better and usually cheaper, reduce the RH to below 60% with a dehumidifier. Since running one, no more rust problems at all.

3/ isolate the steel with oil/grease - time consuming and doesn't work if you miss a bit!

 

[engineer one]

although i have not tried it, the product scottoiler FS365 is well recommended by some motorcyclists in the vintage and veteran
circles.
since it is aimed at bikes, it should work well in the "humid " atmosphere of
a garage.

www.scottoiler.com

paul :wink:

 

[Benchwayze]

You might also consider a heated tool cabinet. There have been a few threads on this subject. Usually just a low wattage bulb connected to a thermostat in the cupboard.

Maybe the heat from a few cordless tool chargers is enough to keep the condensation off your tools

HTH
J

Hi J,

That interested me, as I used to heat my old workshop with a 50 watt bulb. Honest! The bulb was fittted in a batten-lampholder, placed in a round sweet-tin. (Quality Street works best!!!) A few holes bodged in the lid of the tin. This setup replaced the oil tank and wick of an old parrafin heater, leaving the chimney in place. It worked a treat, and I suppose it still would. In fact, if you used a resistor switch, you could use a bigger bulb, and have an adjustable heater!

Lovely, lovely warmth all for the price of a light bulb's miserly consumption.

Happy days!

John

 

[Gaz_XB9R]

Just a thought guys, if you're not using the light from the miserly light bulb" it's energy wasted.

Buy an adjustable heater that way whatever energy you do consume is put to good use.

Gaz

 

[Chris Knight]

Just a thought guys, if you're not using the light from the miserly light bulb" it's energy wasted.

Gaz,

Not so - if the light doesn't leave the workshop, it will be eventually absorbed by the atoms that make up the walls etc and just heat those up. For all practical purposes, the entire electrical input into the bulb can be counted as heat energy in terms of computing the effect on workshop temperature.

 

[aldel]

It was always considered to make the most efficient use of light bulbs as heaters then the best way is to connect two or even three in series. Plenty of heat with not much light. The life of the bulbs will increase but of course if one fails then the other(s) will stop working. Use bulbs of equal type and wattage.
Less energy wasted producing light.

Try it and see!

aldel

 

[Benchwayze]

My solution---Old refrigirator,drill a small hole ,fix a15W elektric bulb and you are done.Insulation works both ways+nice and clean.

Good idea, over here our refrigerators come with light bulbs :idea: in them that come on when the door opens.
That makes it a bit easier to bypass the switch so that the light is on all the time. :lol: :lol:

So you know for sure that the bulb goes out when you shut the 'fridge door! 8)

John

 

[Benchwayze]

Just a thought guys, if you're not using the light from the miserly light bulb" it's energy wasted.

Buy an adjustable heater that way whatever energy you do consume is put to good use.

Gaz

That's true Gaz, but the converse also applies: If you are using a light bulb, just for light, you are wasting the heat. Which is how I came up with the 'bulb-heater' in the first place.

Whilst I don't claim it's original, I didn't read it anywhere. To be honest, I tried to be clever, and remove a light bulb that had just blown. I wasn't quick enough and scorched me fingers! :idea:

That set the thoughts in motion. As for buying an adjusable heater, I wasn't quite so rich back then! In those days, I spent any spare money on tools!

So I can plead the ignorance of youth and the non-existence' of global warming!

John

 

[Benchwayze]

It was always considered to make the most efficient use of light bulbs as heaters then the best way is to connect two or even three in series. Plenty of heat with not much light. The life of the bulbs will increase but of course if one fails then the other(s) will stop working. Use bulbs of equal type and wattage.
Less energy wasted producing light.

Try it and see!

aldel

Cheers Aldel. I didn't go into things quite that far, but as I said, I use a normal heater these days.

Right chaps, any more 'bright ideas'!
Happy Chipping
John