Rust protection for planes and saws etc

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Dynamite

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Hi all, just wondering what I should pop on my planes and vintage saw blades. My choice was Rust-oleum furniture wax or 3 in 1 oil.

I have those in so one or the other.

Kind Regards …. Rob
 

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For what it's worth I've just done the cast iron tables on my machines and I don't see why the treatment of your bits would be any different.
I removed the light rust with 400 grit abrasive and spot of honing oil. Surfaces then wiped down with a rag and white spirit. Finally an application of beeswax and a buff up.

Colin
 
wax, and if you want to make it easier to apply, you can dob the wax on with the oil at the same time and just wipe it off before it dries. You're not building a furniture coat.

Avoid any advice to spend more for some magic product - it's all nonsense.

if you use any tools so little that they rust with the use of oil and wax once in a great while, you can put the thinnest coat of thin shellac on the metal surfaces that rust (this could be things like plane cap iron top, fresh cast cheeks, etc. )
 
Metalguard Ultra or px24 fluid. Both pricey, both work. Use very sparingly to seal the pores of the metal. Let it dry.
Then a wax with anti rust additives like Liberon machine wax. Let dry then buff.
 
Anyone mentioned BLO, cheap, easy to apply. Doesn't look great as in my experience it dries with a patchy appearance, but effective.

if you use BLO on wood, it can feed mold or at least it may not stop it. However, if you use BLO mixed with a petroleum solvent wax like briwax or johnsons, there won't be any mold.

BLO will work, but as you imply, the film that it can leave behind over time may not be uniform. non-drying oil and wax mixed may work a little easier.
 
Hi all, just wondering what I should pop on my planes and vintage saw blades. My choice was Rust-oleum furniture wax or 3 in 1 oil.

I have those in so one or the other.

Kind Regards …. Rob
Best is linseed oil, over metal and wood the same. Just splash it on, over rust and all.
It sets (slowly) and leaves a permanent film which rubs off when the tool gets used, but also seems to get rubbed in if the thing was at all rusty and/or pitted.
 
Best is linseed oil, over metal and wood the same. Just splash it on, over rust and all.
It sets (slowly) and leaves a permanent film which rubs off when the tool gets used, but also seems to get rubbed in if the thing was at all rusty and/or pitted.
Boiled or raw?
Or does it not matter?
 
I use a manky old oily rag in a glass jar that I give the adjustable spanners, hammer heads and awkward shapes a rub over with now and again. For planes, irons and saws I use my version of the rag in a can which is leather in a can. It doesn't fray and catch on saw teeth. This one is four years old and I put a few drops of oil on about once a year. Home made paste wax for the machinery surfaces. Much easier to apply in the cold and a fraction of the cost of bought stuff. Almost free if you know a bee keeper.
P1090114.jpg
 
I use ACF-50 to good success, my shop is a shed so humidity and moisture is a constant problem, I can tell anything that hasn’t been treated with ACF-50 as it starts to turn after 3 weeks or so of sitting in there.

Amazing stuff, was recommended to me by motorcyclist friend apparently they all use it to protect their bikes through the winter
 
I use ACF-50 to good success, my shop is a shed so humidity and moisture is a constant problem, I can tell anything that hasn’t been treated with ACF-50 as it starts to turn after 3 weeks or so of sitting in there.

Amazing stuff, was recommended to me by motorcyclist friend apparently they all use it to protect their bikes through the winter

This came up before. It looks from the SDS like it's just hydrotreated oil with mineral spirits mixed in, probably to improve flow.

you can just get the hydrotreated oil - it's nothing but white mineral oil that has been refined to the point that nothing that will oxidize.

Depending on whether you want it relatively thin, you can get it in the US as white mineral oil for food processing machines (about $15 a gallon, my first gallon is almost 15 years old with a tiny bit left in the jug and I've gotten a second). The same thing is also sold by Norton as honing oil, but it's sold about the same per quart or pint, or sometimes per 8 oz in some places as the stuff that's sold by the gallon for food service.

there are also hydrotreated gear oils.

Mixing standard things and sometimes coloring them is a popular thing to nail consumers and businesses looking for convenience. Having enough hydrotreated oil to use it freely for all kinds of things turns out to be more handy. It can be mixed with mineral spirits or naptha (mineral spirits and naptha appears to be trends "honing oil", if you're willing to add blue dye) and most of the rust preventives are some type of hydrotreated oil plus thinner or not, highly upcharged for the convenience of the seller.

if the oil doesn't oxidize, it'll never dry. I haven't had any moderately used tool rust since moving to oilstones and using a hydrotreated oil in the stone's oil bath. If I put an iron away even wiped off, i can see a thin film of oil on it under the microscope. if I get the iron out a year later, the thin layer is still there. To remove it enough to allow rust takes about 5 separate wipings each with a clean section of cloth.

this is a picture of a plane iron that was sharpened and wiped several times. Even the rag that does the first wipe becomes an oiler of sorts. Everything other than the diagonal lines sloped upward is oil. to the eye and to the touch, this feels and looks oil free.
 
Very interesting - I don’t know where I would even look for that in the UK! But I would be interested to have a go in principle!
 
+1 for ACF50 rubbed onto machine tabletops with fine wire wool then a layer of Axminster Machine Wax buffed on. For tools I use an oil in a can (pipe hessian wrap rolled tight and squeezed into a Sainsbury's water chestnut can, with a single twist-on lid from a Nescafé jar) thoroughly impregnated with camelia oil over 3 days then topped up if I can't feel a very thing smear of oil on the tool.

The wax could be anything that provides a barrier without staining the wood, but wax has the added advantage of proving a low resistance coating, so wood glides over the table a lot easier.
 
ACF50 which binds to steel why used on helicopter blades etc.
Anything fishing or marine friends end gets doused in it! my reels got wiped in it when got them still like new sea water/mist along with cack just runs off them.
Other is Camellia oil which is body and food safe
 
Very interesting - I don’t know where I would even look for that in the UK! But I would be interested to have a go in principle!

you can either look at SDS, or you can just look on amazon for "food grade mineral oil". it'll be odorless, colorless, generally food safe (not to drink, but contact with food, no big deal) and won't oxidize.

it's already repackaged in heavier grades as "butcher block oil".

Same thing.

I checked amazon here - it's now up to $24 a gallon delivered, but that goes far. You can mix beeswax with it at low heat in a double boiler and have a nice spreadable beeswax that also works as a salve on hands and lips, etc.

And it's the same thing that goes in a stone bath/tri hone.

I looked up hydrotreated gear oil here, which would be much thicker if that's desirable, but it's about $20 a quart. I guess the virtue of it is that unlike engine oil, maybe it's assumed most gear oil won't be changed regularly, so a very clean stable oil needs to be used.
 
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