Storage solutions?

Sep 24, 2008 43 Replies

MANY years ago when working along the coast, we had a simple solution for rust problems with small items. Before we knew it as being a piss poor joke on homeowners, we used Water Displacement Formula 40 for its intended purpose.

For those not familiar with the Gulf coast area, there are weeks where it will rain EVERY day... at least a little... and then still curse you with high humidity. Your high carbon tools will actually get a fine coat of rust in a few hours there.

An open truck tool box (helpers), or the tools strung out on the job when you get a quick shower made our tools rust like hell.

We started to wrap up our tools in towels we swiped from the hotels we stayed in that were well sprayed with WD 40. In those towels, they could be rained on and not rust. So we started putting any tools we weren't using in the towels, giving them a quick spritz, and putting them in the tool box.

Then we started to spray the open boxes of nails, and that killed the rust problem on those as well.

FWIW, I had a bunch of hand tools (chisels, squares, dull drill bits that I have intended to sharpen for several years, etc.) that were older, less sturdy, and not "favorites" of mine that I put in a large truck tool box that I pulled off an old work truck. I did the same wrap, and just opened the box and sprayed the towels every six months or so and never had a spot of rust. They stayed in there for about 4 years until I sold the box and most of the stuff in it. Others have done this as well with great success. It seems the key to though, it to make sure you put the items and towels/rags in a container that is pretty well sealed to keep the WD40 from flashing off.

Our average humidity is not so far off Houston as you might think. Our average morning humidity is 83%.

Just a low tech answer. I have no experience with those emitter gizmos. As always, YMMV.

Hope you don't have the tools put up long.

Robert

jo4hn wrote in news:T82dnZvzys2fmkbVnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@supernews.com:

Just don't send any of those fine wooden handled tools over there...

Puckdropper

Can you point to a source where I can buy some?

snipped-for-privacy@dog.com wrote: ...

google is your friend...if you're not just looking for an argument :(

formatting link
now it is a class that matches a Mil-Spec (whose number I don't recall), there are a variety of products that can qualify as well as the original...

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Thanks. I wasn't looking for an argument. I was under the impression that it was taken off the market. I'm not sure any of these is the traditional cosmolene of years ago, but the "weathershed" sounds like at least a modern replacement for it.

google Cosmolene

I found several

Lew

Really? I just tried Google. Found many discussions about how to remove it, and some dead links to places that USED to have it.

I think my original belief was correct. The cosmolene name still exists,and they have new products with that familiar name on them, but the stuff they used many years ago, that was called cosmolene, was taken off the market because it contained carcinogens.

I also think, after seeing many of those google results, that many people call any rustproof coating "cosmolene", regardless of what it really is.

It would undoubtedly help if you spelled it correctly. Anything that meets the Mil-Spec that described the WW-II stuff is close enough.

As I suspected, you're just itchin' as typical... :(

I have a 20 lbs jar of cosmoline that I want to sell.

i

It was sugested to google "cosmolene", by Lew Hodgett. That's what I did. Perhaps your argument should be with him.

The cosmolene I am familiar with, came in blocks that you melted before use. I can't seem to find anyting remotely like that despite your rude protestations.

One of the links I posted references it if you'd look some... :(

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If you were sincere, rather than trolling and trying to start an argument, you would simply provide a link.

I have found a few links for products named cosmoline, but they were no longer in production.

snipped-for-privacy@dog.com wrote: ...

You didn't say what you wanted, specifically (and can't imagine why one would want the old form anyway).

I previously posted two, at least one of which has onsite links to alternate formulations including the solid.

It didn't take long, but I'm not doing it again for you, sorry.

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If you spell it properly you'll find numerous sources.

formatting link

Depending on how many toys you want to protect...

Look, ahole, there's a direct link on the front page to the solid wax form from one of the two links I previously posted. If you can't do that much effort on your own instead of bitching, I'm damned if I'm going to do it for you...

plonk...

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spelling. Both spellings get a huge number of hits. As I thought initially, it appears to be a thing of the past.

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