Shopsmith Forums

I bought my Shopsmith new in about 1981. Its been in my garage or a storage shed out back for the entire time. About half of that time was withing a mile or two from the Gulf of Mexico or the Atlatic Ocean. Except for a few places where the paint got scrapped off and a few places where it would require disassembly to clean and wax things I don't have any rust. I found these doing upgrades. All I do is blow the dust off when I'm done and apply a little Johnson's Paste wax.

The other day I saw one for sale that looked like it had been outside in the rain for a couple of years.

rlkeeney wrote:I bought my Shopsmith new in about 1981. Its been in my garage or a storage shed out back for the entire time. About half of that time was withing a mile or two from the Gulf of Mexico or the Atlatic Ocean. Except for a few places where the paint got scrapped off and a few places where it would require disassembly to clean and wax things I don't have any rust. I found these doing upgrades. All I do is blow the dust off when I'm done and apply a little Johnson's Paste wax.

The other day I saw one for sale that looked like it had been outside in the rain for a couple of years.

Yours was kept in a climate controlled area.

Those rusty ones were not.

JPG wrote:Yours was kept in a climate controlled area.

Those rusty ones were not.

Nope, No heat no air conditioning humidity in the 50 to 90% range now. It spent years in one of those metal storage sheds in the back yard. My shop was a concrete patio and three saw horses with an extension cord run through a window. I got rained on more than once. This was 1/3 mile from the guld as the crow files.

I go out of my way to not open the garage door when I think Ill get lots of condensation. I suppose that is climate control of a sort. It's pretty dry here right now. The humidity is 70% outdoors and 50% in the garage. 90%-100% is common in the early mornings.

So I guess being used has beneficial properties. Quite likely lubing and waxing is the major difference.

I feel those really really rusted ones have been ignored for decades.

Fortunately even those can come back to being productive.(ref MickyD)

The difference is the care you give yours. It isn't only Shopsmiths. I hear about a lot of people who have a garage full of rusty wrenches and other tools.

garys wrote:The difference is the care you give yours. It isn't only Shopsmiths. I hear about a lot of people who have a garage full of rusty wrenches and other tools.

BINGO! I watch guys throw tools back into their tool box after the tool spent hours in greased watery slugg. I have a buddy that sets paper bags full of fertilizer atop his table Saw. Needless to say his tools look like rusted junk. The table Saw table is in my opinion ruined, flakes of rust chipping off leaving deep pits.

I also live near the gulf and keep my shopsmith in a non climate controlled garage and it is rust free. Care is the secret!

I guess I'm just picky. I clean and oil my garden tools when I'm finished wth them. I have garden tools that close to forty years old. Recently I bought a battery powered hedge trimmer and would not use it until I had the proper lubricant for the blade. When using mechanics tools I wipe the down before I put the away. If they have moving parts they might get a drop of oil. If they get wet they get dried with a towel and sprayed with wd40. I've had people tell me that they have never seen any one treat tools like I do.

My garage, on the other hand, looks like a war zone.