Winter Maintenance

moggymatt · Post by **moggymatt** » Thu Oct 04, 2012 11:08 pm

Here in NE Washington we've taken a quick turn into fall. That means winter is not too far off.

We haven’t had any real rain in over two months and fires have been going for weeks in parts of the state. As dry as it is, in my unheated but insulated garage, Tonight I starting to see signs of surface rust already. Mostly on the surfaces with that not so light coat of saw dust thats been there all summer. I know what I’ll be doing all weekend, wax on-wax off:p

beeg · Post by **beeg** » Thu Oct 04, 2012 11:19 pm

If you're going to put it to bed for the winter. DON'T buff out the wax, leave that for when you start using it in the spring.

moggymatt · Post by **moggymatt** » Fri Oct 05, 2012 10:58 am

It wont be too cold till around December to stop for the winter. Although this morning we woke to temps in the '20's. I have a big propane catalytic heater in the garage but cringe everytime I think about starting it up the last few years. Propane has more than doubled in the last 5 years. I just want to protect all the goodies I've found the last couple of years in the yardsales.

db5 · Post by **db5** » Fri Oct 05, 2012 9:36 pm

Winter in WA is DAMP. Remove the wax from the tubes (all of them). Spray with a lubricant (WD40 is NOT) and wipe down. This will protect from rust. Wax may or may not. Clean everything. Blow out any dust, and do normal maintenance, including lubing everything (again, rust and corrosion).

Clean it as if you were going to sell it on Craigslist or eBay and wanted it to be pretty with no problems. Do that yearly and it will easily sell on either of those sites 20 years from now (unless you-know-whom gets reelected which means. . .due to a national emergency we are unable to continue this. . .bzzxdkvt. . .bvvvtt.

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Sat Oct 06, 2012 1:15 am

db5 wrote:Winter in WA is DAMP. Remove the wax from the tubes (all of them). Spray with a lubricant (WD40 is NOT) and wipe down. This will protect from rust. Wax may or may not. Clean everything. Blow out any dust, and do normal maintenance, including lubing everything (again, rust and corrosion).

Clean it as if you were going to sell it on Craigslist or eBay and wanted it to be pretty with no problems. Do that yearly and it will easily sell on either of those sites 20 years from now (unless you-know-whom gets reelected which means. . .due to a national emergency we are unable to continue this. . .bzzxdkvt. . .bvvvtt.

If ya remove the wax, replace it with a coat of penetrol.

pennview · Post by **pennview** » Sat Oct 06, 2012 8:09 am

There is a fellow on the Yahoo 10er site from the Phillipines, where the humidity is very high, who uses mineral oil to protect his machine. Says that a light coat does much better than wax for preveting rust.

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Sat Oct 06, 2012 8:19 am

pennview wrote:There is a fellow on the Yahoo 10er site from the Phillipines, where the humidity is very high, who uses mineral oil to protect his machine. Says that a light coat does much better than wax for preveting rust.

That is an interesting opinion and in the Philippines rust is a serious problem. My concern would be: How badly does a well oiled machine collect the saw dust and is "collecting saw dust" really a problem"?

maggeorge · Post by **maggeorge** » Tue Oct 09, 2012 12:54 pm

That is an interesting fact. I might have to try that one out.

curiousgeorge · Post by **curiousgeorge** » Tue Oct 09, 2012 2:01 pm

dusty wrote:That is an interesting opinion and in the Philippines rust is a serious problem. My concern would be: How badly does a well oiled machine collect the saw dust and is "collecting saw dust" really a problem"?

I have been told (read somewhere?) that you should clean the sawdust off your tools because it attracts and holds moisture that can/will rust them faster. Sounds logical to me, but then I'm no expert by any stretch of the imagination. That being said; My tools are constantly covered with a coat of sawdust/dust and I see no excess other than normal, light rusting and Texas is by no means an arid climate.

robinson46176 · Post by **robinson46176** » Tue Oct 09, 2012 2:32 pm

I have been making a happy observation in my basement shop recently. It seems that while stuff will rust from just the moisture in the air in my other two shops (the tools will sweat) I can lay bare steel tools on the floor of the basement shop and leave them there for months and when I pick them up they have no rust on them. the house is kept dry by the AC all summer and the furnace in winter. In the between seasons I run a dehumidifier.

Makes me very happy...

I sure would like to cure that problem in the farm shop...
The other shop (former wood shop) is no more. I have sold that house and 24' x 48' shop building to one of our daughters. No longer my problem...

.