Storage solutions?

[Swingman]

Unfortunately, I find it necessary to pack up/store the majority of my shop tools.

The "big iron" items are pretty well taken care of (Thanks again, Leon!!!!), but it is the successful, relatively long term (year or two) storage of the smaller, boxed items, like router bits, metal hand tools, squares, planes, blades, chisels, etc. that I'm interested in.

Besides the usual desiccants, etc ... has anyone had any _firsthand_ experience/success with the impregnated rust/corrosion inhibitors in a form that you can use in boxes to alleviate rusting, similar to these?:

well did they work? How much do you need? Is there something, or a combination of methods, that works better? Do they work better in airtight containers? What you would have done different, etc ...

I figure some of you guys who went through Katrina/Rita on the Gulf Coast may have "BTDT", so thanks in advance for any _firsthand_ experience in long term (one to two year) storing of items like these.

[Lee Michaels]

"Swingman" wrote

Getting ready to move to a simpler State/time?

[DJ Delorie]

Why not just dip them in motor oil and put them in plastic zip-top bags? As long as the bags are in a box or something so that friction won't let the bits cut through the bags...

Or buy some of that rubbery goo they coat new router bits with, if you can find it.

[Lew Hodgett]

Contct a bit manufacturer or a saw sharpening service and find out what they use for the soft plastic protective coating.

My sharpening service has a dip tank.

Maybe you could contract with a local source to dip your stuff.

Lew

[salty]

also make LPS4, but it's a lot more work to remove.

[dpb]

Nothing specifically on the direct question, sorry, but I had similar thoughts as have already been posited.

I'd only remind the obvious that the storage environment would make a huge difference if at all possible to get at least minimal climate control would be good...(maybe could rent bomb bay space in one of the stored relics of the Air Force in AZ? :) )

--

[Frank Boettcher]

A number of years ago, I was engaged in a study to determine what prevented corrosion on the tops of table saws most effectively for shipping and storage. So I partnered with a supplier of vapor paper and sent about 25 samples to the humidity chamber. Various combinations of solutions, greases, mikelman coated corrugated, wood (to test its propensity to work through the other stuff and corrode, i.e. pallets stacked several high) and vapor paper.

As it turned out, vapor paper by itself worked the best. We continued to put a light grease, but only to hold the paper on while packing off the unit.

It works by emmitting a vapor as opposed to collecting the water from the air or providing a barrier. I'm not sure where you can get it, it was a wholesale item for us.

So I packed off my "special Unisaw" with paper on the top and paper wadded up in the body of the saw. It was doing fine in a very humid climate, however, I can attest to the fact that it did not stand up to being submerged in seven feet of brackish water and then not tended to for several weeks after Katrina.

Frank

[walnutlvr]

Easiest of all..........send them to me and I'll take care of them

[dadiOH]

[salty]

I think that is off the market.

[Chris Friesen]

I don't have any firsthand experience with long-term storage, but coming from a physics background it seems apparent that anything that works by emitting rust-preventing vapour or absorbing humidity would work best in airtight containers.

One relatively cheap source of silica gel crystals is certain kinds of cat litter. We use it for our cat. I'm still looking for a cheap industrial source, but even at retail prices it's a whole lot cheaper than buying "flower drying crystals" or "Silica Gel Dehumidifiers".

Also, Boeshield T-9 got top marks in Wood magazine's rust-prevention test. (Available on their website at

you sprayed the tools down with a thickish coat and just let it set without wiping, it would probably help.

Chris

[Lew Hodgett]

Cosmolene is very definitely available.

Very effective, just messy clean up.

Lew

[J. Clarke]

Cosmoline

and VCI wrap is the "traditional" way to do it.

The paper's got enough body that a few wraps should keep cutting edges on router bits and the like separated.

[spaco]

My favorite is LPS-3, hands down for storage in a damp non-heated shed over many years.

Pete Stanaitis

Sw> Unfortunately, I find it necessary to pack up/store the majority of my shop > tools. >

[jo4hn]

The humidity at my house is usually around 20-25%. Just send them to me and I will take care of your problem. :-) hopefully yours, jo4hn

[Upscale]

May I inquire as to why you need to store all your tools?

Reminds me of when I put most of my big tools (table saw, router, work bench ect.) into public storage in 1994. At the rental rate of $100 a month, it wasn't until four years later that I emptied the rental storage just to get out from under the cost. I spent nearly $5000 on that storage rental, frequently thinking about what my father once told me. "You don't sell your tools" he said. With what I spent on rental costs holding onto those tools, I could have bought similar new tools twice over. What a waste!

[Swingman]

"Frank Boettcher" wrote

Lesson learned ... the hard way. Thanks for the first hand experience, hard to come by, apparently even when specifically requested.

Feel your pain, but I hope it doesn't come to that!

[Swingman]

"Upscale" wrote

In a word, "subsidence", with the attendant flood waters during heavy rains, due to the proximity of new construction, and with regard to drainage of same, something not unheard of in urban areas on the Gulf Coast.

The shop building itself is 60 years old, in a neighborhood of that age, but with upscale houses of newer vintage, and I have contributed to the problem myself, to some financial advantage, so pity is most definitely unwarranted.

Storage costs thus far are twice that ... you may have a point, except that, like your Dad, I will NOT sell my tools (only death will us part)

And mainly because I'm convinced that "Made in China" is, indeed, a WARNING LABEL!

[Swingman]

LOL ... yabbut, what about heat from the CA fires? Frying pan into the fire, eh? ;)

[jo4hn]

But the fires drive down the humidity even more. Win win. Right? :-)