FOR THOSE WHO LIVE NEAR WATER AND IN MOIST ENVIORNMENTS

[chief38]

Two years ago the Mrs. and I moved from the NE down South. While we do not live in what insurance company's classify as a flood zone or evacuation zone, we are within 5 miles of the Gulf. I no longer have the luxury of having a basement and my quintessential Workshop is part of my 3 car garage. While the garage is air conditioned with a 2 ton mini split, the doors do open every day while pulling our vehicles in and out. I like to keep my cars in tip top condition so yes, garaging them in a must for me.

Every time the doors are opened and closed there is humid air that comes in while the dry air that exits. I had to start wiping down tools and equipment on a weekly basis to prevent freckling. Cast Iron (drill press, vises, anvils, etc.) does not fare very well in humid conditions EVEN if those humid conditions are brief. Some of the tools I have with bare metal exposed are also vulnerable.

After having an oil rag in a jar on my workbench for a year or so and wiping down things weekly, I had vastly improved the situation but did not eliminate it. After getting pissed off, I grabbed my can of Rig Universal Grease and applied a very thin layer to all the equipment and tools effected, including the Rams on my Dillon & RCBS. Viola - problem solved long term!!

If anyone here in the South has similar issues, I'd urge you to get a can of Rig Universal Grease and apply a very thin layer as it works like a charm!

The comical part is watching my friends touch something with the RIG on it and seeing them trying to figure out where the grease came from - LOL! Truthfully, after a week or so, even though the Rig is very much still there, the outer layer does become slightly less soft to the touch and I truly have no great issues with ultra thin layer being there. When ever I use a drill press, tool or piece of equipment I wash my hands after anyway. If using a tool for a while, just a quick wipe off with a rag removes the RIG. Reapply after with the treated rag.

Issues solved. Works incredibly well - no more rust of freckling! !

BTW, the reason this is on the Gun Smithing section is because some people also have this issue on guns too. I do not keep any guns in a garage so no issues there for me, but some have no choice.

 

[glenwolde]

You might look at some stuff called "Fluid Film".

 

[Protocall_Design]

Wax works pretty well, also. It's fairly dry to the touch. Think car wax or Ren wax.

 

[Bald1]

Or maybe don’t AC your garage ?

 

[Jon651]

The more advanced AC units with variable-speed air handlers and variable-stage compressors also allow you to set the desired level of humidity, and will run at very low levels to help maintain it. Ours is from Daikin, and we have it set to keep 45-55%.

Or you could get a portable dehumidifier to augment your mini-split system. We break ours out for use in the house on the very infrequent cold-wet days we get during our "winter" here in Central Florida when it's too cool to run the AC to dry out the house but too humid to be comfortable. This winter when the rest of the country was getting snowed under, the tail-end of those storms was dropping rain on us along with the cool air, so it was the perfect time to use our dehumidifier. A good one should be able to handle the humidity you let in when you open the garage doors when your mini-split can't keep up.

 

[arjay]

I live in a dry climate and I couldn’t figure out why I was seeing rust on bare steel for the first time after years of no rust. Then it hit me. I had an open bag of salt for ice patches sitting in there

 

[ameridaddy]

Way back in ~72-73 BC (Before Carter), I'd been shooting a Model 29 outdoors in cold weather, and made the mistake of bringing it into my house in a gun rug and setting it aside. The warm house air condensed on the colder gun steel, and when I next took the gun out of the rug, it was freckled. I was saved by the late, great Fred Schmidt, who expertly polished out the freckling and reblued it for me.
Lesson learned: Cool iron or steel + warm air is a deadly combination for the metal, because warm air, even warm air of low relative humidity, always holds more moisture than the same air cooled down, and that moisture will condense out on the cooler surface, almost instantly.

A dehumidifier probably won't solve the issue, because as soon as warm air hits cooler ferrous metals, the moisture now excess at the cooler temperature will condense out nearly instantly on the metal surface. In my personal experience in my own shop, even a dehumidifying mini split can't keep the fine film of rust from forming on cast iron and other non-coated, non-polished surfaces if you repeatedly open the garage door in AC season. Sometimes the rust film build up is so subtle, you won't even notice it until you wipe off the table saw surface with a rag and it comes up - surprise! - orange.
I've found the best thing to do for me is:
1. Let the shop get up to about 78-80 when not in use; IOW, try to allow a minimal difference between inside and outside temps, and actively plan to minimize opening the garage door. Use the entry door instead.
I wait until I'm going to be working for a few hours or more to drop the temp to 70-72 in the shop, and then try very hard not to open the garage door.
2. I religiously keep a coat of paste wax on all my cast iron tool surfaces, including hand planes and also on my alloy steel uncoated tools like my hand saw collection.
3. It's a never-ending battle.

Some of my woodworking friends like a product called Boeshield, developed by Boeing Aircraft as a corrosion resistant temporary coating.
I have no personal experience with that.

 

[Bald1]

Ameridaddy, you are correct. When we walk into cabin after deer hunting all day we hang rifles on wall. After about 30 min we wipe’em down. At lunch time we just leave them on the covered porch so we don’t have to wipe them down twice.

 

[chief38]

My Mini Split unit has not been off since its installation 2 years ago. It gets routinely cleaned and serviced and works quite well! That said, when we pull into and out of the garage, warm moist air takes the place of the nice cool low humidity air escaping. If my wife comes home for a half hour and intends to go back out, of course we leave the car outside. I do the same. If someone were to step into my garage at pretty much anytime, it is totally dry and cool however when hot moist air hits a piece of unprotected metal, things happen. Now that a RIG coating has been applied to the cast iron surfaces such as my drill press, the steel Rams on the Dillon and RCBS, and equipment that is raw cast iron, not one freckle has happened.

Yes, wax could also help but then I'd loose the fun watching my friends who hang out in my shop wonder why their hands are slippery - LOL ! Plus the RIG takes seconds to apply and lasts a very long time. Wax would take longer and require grease and oil to be removed first. I just want an easy & painless way to prevent the freckling as I use my ship daily. The RIG works great and just figured I'd pass that along.

 

[cracker57]

You might look at some stuff called "Fluid Film".

I give this a million likes.

 

[Eric300]

Consider using the word 'Damp' in lieu of 'Moist'....

 

[K-22]

Silicone Free

Wax works pretty well, also. It's fairly dry to the touch. Think car wax or Ren wax.

If you use wax, be sure it is silicone free.

 

[gnappi]

I lived on a salt water surrounded island half mile away from the intracoastal waterway for 29 years. Plenty of rust issues.

My Garage had a window shaker A/C unit but it was NOT used for cars.

Boeshield T-9 or Eezox kept the red beard from growing on everything.

 

[K-22]

Eezox

Eezox has been my go to for 30 years.