How To PREVENT and Remove Rust From Woodworking Machines

Protecting Your Tools From Rust:

The idea for the article, How To Keep Rust Off Woodworking Tools, came to me after I found one of my kid's had placed a wet snow sledding tube on-top of my table saw table. I had told her to leave the snow tube in my shop so I could blow it up with the air compressor. I figured she'd leave it on the floor, she followed directions and left the WET tube on my metal table saw top. Days later I saw rust spots on the saws metal top.

Keeping Rust Off Woodworking Tools

It is much easier to protect your tools from rust than to deal with the consequences of rusty tools later. Three main components for protecting your tools from rust are:

Control humidity
Avoid getting tools wet
Apply a protective coating

Control Humidity:

Having a basement work shop in the Northeast means having to deal with humidity.

Most basements are not heated or cooled and humidity can wreak havoc on shop tool surfaces. Finding light rust on hand tools, table saw, band saw and drill press tables is not uncommon.

To deal with my shop issues I purchased a dehumidifier and keep it at the middle setting all year round.

Hand Tools:

If your hand tools are susceptible to rust try adding at can a moisture absorbing gel pack to your tool box or tool drawer. These silica gel desiccants absorb excess moisture and reduce the humidity level in enclosed areas.

You can also try a vapor corrosion inhibitor. (VCI) Vapor corrosion inhibitors are water-based non-polluting molecular coatings that protect metals in enclosed spaces for a year or more at a time.

The VCI vapor files the enclosed space and electrochemically bonds to metal surfaces, sealing off moisture and protecting against corrosion and rust. The beauty of using VCIs is that they protect any metal surface that air can reach, such as nooks and cranny areas that you may not be able to apply a protectant

Avoid Getting Tools Wet:

It goes without saying that you should try not to get your tools wet. Contractors who set up their tools outside struggle with this.
Apply a Protective Coating:

I also treat all metal surface tops with butchers wax, which helps to keep the metal tops rust free for a longer time. You can buy wax at your local hardware or automotive store . Look for and select automotive paste type wax. Wax regularly to keep the rust off. I do not recommend oily sprays since they tend to stain the wood and I also do not like the oily residue on my hands when working the tools.

Here’s My Formula for Rust Removal

Sand or scrub the table top with a Scotch Brite pad, fine steel wool or use an orbital sander with fine grit sand paper [ 220-400 grit] to remove any surface rust.
Use a small amount of mineral spirits to help cut thru wax.
Sand until the rust is gone.
Wipe clean with rag and keep adding clean mineral spirits until all of the dirt, wax and rust have been removed.
Then apply paste wax over entire metal surface. Apply liberally, wait until it is nearly dry and then wipe the table down to remove any excess.
Polish with rag

Note - there are other commercially available protective coatings that work well, such as Bull Frog products, or Boeshield T9 spray. Spray coatings apply faster, but more expensive that paste wax.

[Ron-FabandBuild]

Best advice ever spoken. Plain and simple and to the point. I myself am old school. When I saw your video, I knew I was not alone in doing things this way.
Thanks

[emilychambers]

This video was plain and straight forward. I've been terrible to my tools and this video has helped me learn how to treat their surfaces better, thank you so much!!!

[rockusbacchus]

Thanks for taking the time to make this video. I think the reason you’re getting a bunch of dislikes is that you spend a ton of time talking about how to prevent rust then very little on how to remove it. That would be fine if the title of your video was “how to prevent rust on your tools” but the way it’s titled now is misleading. People aren’t going to watch this video with its current title unless they already have a rust issue at which point they are presented with a long discussion on how to prevent a problem they already have. Just trying to be helpful. I have a huge appreciation for all the folks who devote so much time and resources to help educate others.

[joshthomas]

Thanks for the video, Rob. Until I get my garage sealed better, I'm going to have the humidity, but I do have the power to seal my table saw surface.

[chilton]

A concise well made video. Thanks for the information.

[lamnghipham]

Thank you for sharing the three rules of getting rust free. Below is my personal experience in case of local climate has aver. relative humidity at about 75%. My priority is low-cost, low-labor and mind-less.1•WD-40, before and after each time of use help prevent rust forming. At the moment a very thin layer of rust built up I apply WD-40, then rust which absorbs WD-40 becomes a very effective anti -rust layer for iron surface.2•Stainless steel cases are ideal to store my hand tools without getting rusted nor cracked. Heat gun treatment at the end of the day help release the rest of moisture from tools surfaces takes less than 15s. Note: Must store the case higher than ground or low temperature will increase humidity inside.

[Linda_Eskin]

Not for fine/precise tools, but the same concept: For garden tools like shovels, machetes, hand trowels, etc., you can keep a 5 gallon bucket handy, about 2/3 filled with sand, and with about a gallon of mineral oil mixed in. When you are done using your shovel for the day, give it a few dunks in the bucket of sand. It will help clean it up, and give it a light coating with oil.

[jamesthompson]

Keeping dust off your tools will help as well. Dust is hygroscopic so will absorb moisture from the air and promote rust.

[emutiny]

i find using your tools from time to time keeps them from rusting.

[garydelder]

Thank Rob, your right about the three rules, they do help. Great subject, good job. 

[zboy.]

I have a workshop gazebo, any suggestions to prevent rust?

[sMetalManiac]

Thanks Rob, I have run into this very issue with my Delta table saw. I constantly get humidity in my garage and the saw has fallen victim, I did sand it down but i was unaware of the paste wax. Another thing I did was to take a 3x5 heavy duty cloth painters tarp and cover the surface. Just in case passers by leave things on top of it. I'm going to  try the paste this weekend....

J

[greatgrandpaswoodworking]

The Vapor Corrosion Inhibitor you speak about placing in your tool box drawers. Sounds good. If I laid them on my table saw top would it do any good.?

[ox]

I used that same paste wax the same way and applied 10 friggin' coats in total, 1 coat per day. This was on a spotless, freshly cleaned table. It didn't do a damn thing to prevent rust. Within a year it looked just like it did before I started. This is south central upstate NY. Humid? Yep.

[bushelfoot]

I use tuff R insulation on my table saw, brush off saw dust, set some weight on the tuff R to push out the air it will never rust..

[johnchase]

Be careful using coarse abrasives on machinery tops if accuracy is important.220 is very quick cutting and will reshape your top nicely.
I had a machine out in a shop that was not heated, and the big problem in the spring was the building would warm up faster than the cast iron.
This would cause massive condensation issues on the machinery, so this had to be solved.
What we did was, oiled the topsof the tooling, tarped with 2mil plastic and smoothed out all wrinkles, topped this with a sheet of Goodyear Butyl rubber roofing and set a sheet of 3/4 ply on top of this to weight the sandwich down tight.
This oil/plastic covering created an airtight seal and no condensation could form on the bare horizontal surfaces.
The powdercoated surfaces were waxed just for peace of mind and all the underworkings were lubricated with a silicone free dry rust protectant.
This worked very well for such a troublesome situation, even though it was a good bit of extra work.
Thank you for the great video Concord Carpenter!

[ConcordCarpenter]

How to remove rust and keep it off your tools

[TheoriginalAndysgarage]

I lightly spray buying with WD-40 and wipe it off with a rag and then I cover my saw tops with a piece of plastic and never got Rusty ever since

[mattmacd]

I'm Bob Loblaw, we'll see you next time.

[hanksme]

I know how to keep my tools from rusting I am buying some with Rust on them You title said how to remove rust