Beach life...and rust

[mindpilot]

Since we last left Will and the Robot...
I have retired, sold my place in San Diego, moved to Mexico and bought a house on the beach. Construction on my shop is well underway while all the tools remain packed in a little bodega. Building a shop from scratch is fulfilling a lifelong dream. (It even has electrical outlets in the floor.)

I live in a place where the air is wet, corrosive and abrasive. So I'm looking to trade tip and tricks on rust prevention / removal. My Shopsmith is still wrapped up from the move, and it will be a few more months until the shop is ready to move into. But I can guarantee there is going to be some rust someplace...

The first thing I've learned is that WD40 is as--if not more--important than beer. You just have to get used to everything being a bit oily.

Use dielectric grease on every electrical connection. chargers, batteries, wall outlets, light bulbs, plugs, everything.

Cover everything or put it in a zip-lock bag.

Curious about other's experiences of living and Shopsmithing in an ocean air environment.

[Hobbyman2]

Paul sellers has a video on YOUTUBE that showed him rolling up some old rags and stuffing them into a metal can , wetting the rags with oil , I made one 4 years ago , still have it and it still works , I havent had to add any oil to it in the time I have used it . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npKo1y2e8RI

[RFGuy]

Congrats on the retirement and the move! Curious if you were able to buy the property in Mexico or is it a lease? I ask because I had a co-worker that I knew who moved down to Mexico on a place near the beach but he told me he couldn't buy it outright. I think it was a 20 year lease on the land but he had to pay for the house build. This would worry me, i.e. not owning the property but paying for the house. Anyway, I know living near salt water can be challenging on tools and I have no direct experience on solutions. For cast iron surfaces, e.g. tablesaw, etc. I know more than one person on this forum has recommended Penetrol in the past as a surface protectant. I still keep meaning to try it myself but haven't gotten around to it. I have also seen/heard of some woodworkers applying oil based polyurethane to these surfaces, e.g. tablesaw, jointer, etc. I believe the aluminum table surfaces, levers and hand wheels will have the same problem with corrosion as well, but I would expect a similar seal coat type application should work for them too. Personally I would try one of these more permanent solutions rather than oiling the table surfaces because the oil will stain the wood you are working with. Just my thoughts on it, but hopefully there will be other responses here to help. Good luck with it!!!

[BuckeyeDennis]

Penetrol is great for restoring metal that has already been rusted. It gets into the rust pits and pores, and blocks any further oxygen from getting in. But for steel and cast iron that doesn't have rust pits already, BoeShield T9 is supposed to be the best stuff out there. One of the woodworking magazines did a comparison test of various rust preventatives several years ago, and T9 won hands down.

[jsburger]

T-9 was invented by the Boeing Aircraft Co., hence the name BoeShield. It was developed in the late 70s/early 80s because they wanted something better than what was available at the time. They must have gotten it right because it has stood up to the test of time.

[RFGuy]

Dennis, John,

I have no direct experience with BoeShield, but several online YT woodworkers have done shootout competitions with it versus other solutions for preventing rust and stains, e.g. on tablesaw cast iron surfaces. From my memory it was kind of a middle of the pack solution and did leave behind rust stains when they purposely left wet rags, etc. on the tablesaw surface for testing on T-9. I'll try to find one or two of them to link here. From what I understand it is also expensive for what you get. Not trying to be contrarian, but the OP might have better luck with WD-40 or paste wax than T-9 based on the reviews I have seen. Let me see if I can find them for you...have either of you used the product before?

P.S. I hadn't heard of Sta-bil Rust Stopper but it sounds like an interesting new product to check out.

[BuckeyeDennis]

I’ll check out those videos. Meanwhile, I found a copy of the article that I recalled, from the March 2004 Wood Magazine, posted on the Boeshield website.

https://boeshield.com/wp-content/upload ... oprust.pdf

So the Wood Magazine article is almost 20 years old, and there could be some better stuff available now. But in their tests, T9 beat JPW hands-down as a rust preventative.

I do have a can of T9, and use it to protect cast iron surfaces on new machines. It has worked well, but then my shop is climate-controlled, so that’s not a very challenging test. But I also have a few vintage machines stored in my garage and attic, neither of which have AC, and so are exposed to full-on Ohio humidity and temperature/condensation cycling. I spray them with T9 before long-term storage, and have not seen any new rust formation.

[RFGuy]

I’ll check out those videos. Meanwhile, I found a copy of the article that I recalled, from the March 2004 Wood Magazine, posted on the Boeshield website.

https://boeshield.com/wp-content/upload ... oprust.pdf

So the Wood Magazine article is almost 20 years old, and there could be some better stuff available now. But in their tests, T9 beat JPW hands-down as a rust preventative.

I do have a can of T9, and use it to protect cast iron surfaces on new machines. It has worked well, but then my shop is climate-controlled, so that’s not a very challenging test. But I also have a few vintage machines stored in my garage and attic, neither of which have AC, and so are exposed to full-on Ohio humidity and temperature/condensation cycling. I spray them with T9 before long-term storage, and have not seen any new rust formation.

Dennis,

Thanks. I appreciate it. I like the test methodology that Wood magazine used and it represents more of an application where you have a humid air environment (natural kind of test), though I do wonder if their apparatus is flawed in that there could be a higher distribution of water vapor/humidity on one side of the box since the humidity source is on one end. I would have preferred to have seen a symmetric box construction with some kind of distributed manifold to give a more even distribution across all of the samples. I don't assume an even distribution of humidity in that volume for that box and I wonder what size water droplets are coming out of the steamer. That or test each sample serially in the box by themselves and report the results back. In comparison the few online videos I have seen on this are trying to create a worst case test, e.g. you have a drink condensation ring on your tablesaw wing or you accidentally leave glue or a wet rag on it overnight. These are avoidable mistakes, but very pragmatic tests in that many woodworkers might do this accidentally. In those kinds of tests I have not seen BoeShield T-9 do all that well, but it is definitely NOT the worst either. So, for "accidents", it seems like T-9 isn't the best, but of course there could be flaws in the test methodology these YT guys used as well and I am just not seeing them right now. Also, it isn't that T-9 doesn't work in these tests, but rather that its formulation tends to leave behind worse staining, blotchiness when these "accidents" happen compared to the competition. I would love to see the Wood magazine test repeated but perhaps with a better test box construction. Again, wasn't trying to contradict you guys. Several years ago I had the same thoughts on BoeShield T-9 as you initially reported here because I had heard it repeated so many times in woodworking, but I had never used the product myself. I was surprised when I saw these tests for it and given how expensive it is I just wanted to caution the OP on it. Bottomline is aggressive marketing can sell ANY mediocre product. In my mind at this point, BoeShield is sold on perceived reputation alone. I would love to see some new tests that prove me wrong on it.

P.S. I'll have to go back and find the threads, but I thought Penetrol dried to a hard film and was recommended as a surface protectant on this forum, i.e. it isn't just for restoring already rusted metal. Did I misunderstand this about Penetrol? Using Penetrol for this application is off-label use for it anyway, right?

P.P.S. Looking at it again and zooming in, I wonder if the cast iron tablesaw wings are level in the box (see pic below - appears to be low in the top/back left corner). Why is the front corner of the BoeShield T-9 dry? I think this points out my concern for their apparatus construction. The steam inlet is at an elevated position above the cast iron samples and I think it is blowing water vapor above the BoeShield T-9 sample and bypassing it...effectively more if it is pooling on the other samples farther down. Yes, near the center of the box where the inlet is, there is some significant water on the other corner of the BoeShield T-9 sample but why isn't it on the entirety of it? I believe the magazine article author failed to take this into account and mentioned the BoeShield T-9 sample had some issues but didn't account for the fact that half the sample is out of the blast zone of water vapor. They had a good test methodology, but unfortunately their implementation of it was highly flawed IMHO. Sorry if I "geeked" out on this too much, but I just find it interesting. Would love to know which products work the best.

viewtopic.php?p=287456#p287456

BoeShieldT9.jpg (228.81 KiB) Viewed 918 times

[Hobbyman2]

Congrats on the retirement and the move! Curious if you were able to buy the property in Mexico or is it a lease? I ask because I had a co-worker that I knew who moved down to Mexico on a place near the beach but he told me he couldn't buy it outright. I think it was a 20 year lease on the land but he had to pay for the house build. This would worry me, i.e. not owning the property but paying for the house. Anyway, I know living near salt water can be challenging on tools and I have no direct experience on solutions. For cast iron surfaces, e.g. tablesaw, etc. I know more than one person on this forum has recommended Penetrol in the past as a surface protectant. I still keep meaning to try it myself but haven't gotten around to it. I have also seen/heard of some woodworkers applying oil based polyurethane to these surfaces, e.g. tablesaw, jointer, etc. I believe the aluminum table surfaces, levers and hand wheels will have the same problem with corrosion as well, but I would expect a similar seal coat type application should work for them too. Personally I would try one of these more permanent solutions rather than oiling the table surfaces because the oil will stain the wood you are working with. Just my thoughts on it, but hopefully there will be other responses here to help. Good luck with it!!!

-------------------

Actually the oil coat is so light it doesnt have any effect on the wood or the table . I have several planes and hand saws that use to rust hanging on the wall even after waxing them , they would also get a build up with pitch , its has been a year or so since I have used them and they still are rust free and cutting pine left no pitch . not sure how those products work above but use them with caution some will leave a coating and can build up over time .

[RFGuy]

Actually the oil coat is so light it doesnt have any effect on the wood or the table . I have several planes and hand saws that use to rust hanging on the wall even after waxing them , they would also get a build up with pitch , its has been a year or so since I have used them and they still are rust free and cutting pine left no pitch . not sure how those products work above but use them with caution some will leave a coating and can build up over time .

Good to know...and Paul's method for applying looks really good to get a nice thin coat of WD-40. I would have assumed to spray it on and wipe off, but that would leave probably A LOT more behind compared to his method. Is he using WD-40 or a machine oil in the video? Thanks.

P.S. Back to the OP's question...I still wonder if the same solution that solves rust in a "normal" environment will also equally solve corrosion issues in a high salt air environment, i.e. near the beach. It's not just water protection/avoidance, e.g. the aluminum will have galvanic corrosion issues right? Does cast iron near the beach corrode faster than non-salt but humid environments?