Speaking of Rust

[jlgerk]

I am a few weeks away from shipping my prescious tools to HPP. I would appreciate any advice you have on the shipping and care when there, to inhibit the rust problem.
Mahalo in advance, John

my music
http://www.icompositions.com/artists/jlgerk

[Royall]

When I moved my WW tools over, I broke them down to fit into boxes. Any bare iron I sprayed with cosmoline and wrapped it in cardboard. I found it was easier to pack tools when all the accessories were removed and boxed separately. I put the nuts and bolts in double freezer bags and labeled them as to which tool they went to. My 3hp Delta was a lot of work. I built a special pallet and strapped it to the pallet with ratchet tie downs. I took the table extension off, sprayed them with the cosmoline, wrapped them in cardboard and then with shrink wrap film. I also wrapped the table saw base with the shrink wrap before strapping it to the pallet. Did all this for the bandsaw, joiner, etc..... Just don't lose the packages of nuts and bolts to put them back together! Those are some special items and expensive to get. Don't leave any tool behind, you WILL kick your self in the butt after you get here when you go to TRY and replace it! Have fun and give me a call when you get here!

Royall

Hale O Na Mea Pa`ani

PS. If you have a bandsaw, don't ship it with the table attached. The trunnions are very easy to brake!!

[Carey]

We shipped all of our tools in double bagged boxes (most of our smaller hand tools were shipped Priority Flat rate... cheap for the weight!) more fragile tools were wrapped in tissue, some were bagged individually, then packaged into larger double bagged boxes. (We did not ship a container, but still would recommend care in packing tools...)
In every box we had desinccant bags (we made our with pierced ziplock & crystal kitty litter (unused) but you can purchase them. We also keep the pouches in the tool drawers.
For the last few years we keep a puck of wax (we have used surf wax & the beeswax puck sold at Ace) at the toolbox & usually run tool blades over the wax, we do know some who paint all steel tools

ETA: We did insure all of our tools (and all of our shipments...) no problems with all but 1 of the 81 boxes we shipped USPS, it was one that we had not packed & did not intend to ship...was supposed to go to donation...so no loss really

[terracore]

Your answers are here:

http://www.punaweb.org/Forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=13514&SearchTerms=rust,tools

[jlgerk]

very helpful, thank you all.
I'll be in touch Royall

my music
http://www.icompositions.com/artists/jlgerk

[BradW]

Ship over is not the problem, they'll survive. It's living with and trying to use your tools in the Puna enviroment that kills your investment. Try as hard as I could to prevent it, all my tool stuff tried to turn to junk within a few years. The only way to prevent it is to do what I did for my guns, and that was to enclose them into a locked box with a heat/dry source and to clean and oil them often, fired or not. I'm replacing almost everything after moving back to the mainland - an expense that really should be sincerely considered when contemplating the move.

[birdmove]

I've got quite a few hand tools. I worked ob large freight hauling trucks for 24 years..as in Kenworths, Peterbilts, Internationals. One night the weekend before Christmas, some misguided dregs broke into our truck shop and stole a truck that they had loaded ten different mechanic's tool boxes into and stole my own and nine others accumulation of top of the line (Snap-On, Mack, etc) tools of the trade, and tool boxes. By that time I wasn't working the floor full time, but was doing a lot of management stuff. I did buy quite a lot of tools after that, but didn't get A-1 stuff the second time around.
My tools are in my cheaper quality Craftsman rollaway, and have been ere since about Oct. 1st in my carport storage building. I'm not going to stress to much over these. So far most are doing all right. If I still had my original tools (about $16,000 worth easily) I would be worrying a lot more about them.

Jon in Keaau/HPP

[Hotzcatz]

Keep them oily, a layer of grease keeps down the rust. If you spot rust, hit it with Ospho to stop it and then consider a coat of protective paint or the layer of oil. Keep them dry and a little bit of ventilation helps, too. If they are locked in an airtight box, they seem to rust faster than if they are in something that can breathe a little bit.

I have a bottle of old used engine oil which gets uses to wipe down garden tools. Those get sharpened, Ospho and then a layer of oil and they manage to survive. This isn't the "pretty" method, though, but at least they are less likely to walk off that way, too.

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"I like yard sales," he said. "All true survivalists like yard sales."
Kurt Wilson

[seekir]

Tri flow has got to be the stinkiest stuff imaginable. I don't like using it on things I touch, or have in the house. LPS-3 seems to have a clogging problem with their spray dispensers, but it's a good product for steel things that need to be coated for outdoors that won't be handled. I use beeswax routinely for bolts, tools and other steel items I want to last. I melt it in a can partially submerged in water in a pot on the stove, put bolts and stuff in it long enough for the metal items to get hot enough that most of the wax flows off when the items are lifted out of the can. Be cautious though, I think it could ignite if exposed directly to burners or open flame. I also heat things with a heat gun and rub wax on them. It flows onto the surface when metal is warm. Beeswax is a bit tacky when cool, but not noxious and lasts a long time. Unlike paint, it "heals" to a degree like LPS-3 when it contacts hard objects after drying. I often precede the wax process with Ospho on some things. I use vaseline on edge tools and other steel things I don't want to use beeswax on, it's odorless and presumably not too toxic since people have been using it on skin for ages.

[Kapohocat]

quote:

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Originally posted by Carey...most of our smaller hand tools were shipped Priority Flat rate... cheap for the weight!...

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Only do this with things you are willing to possibly lose. My brother shipped good sheet rock tools to use with for his sheet rock adventures with us and even though well packed but individually, the box was sliced open and tools missing.

I do not know if you can insure priority mail - but probably can.