Best Finish for Tool Chest Interior


cellardoor

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And I am wondering if the rice actually does anything.  A lot of common wisdom is simply wrong, like searing meat seals in the juices.  It doesn't it is just very tasty but it does promote more moisture loss.

 

So if the rice doesn't get mushy and moldy it is not absorbing that much water from the atmosphere.  So it is likely not doing much of anything.  And the metal canisters of silica jell are not the kind of things kids will eat out of a tool box anyway.

 

Then again you can use non toxic silica gel as well.  Silica Gel is generally non toxic, it is just not food and a choking hazard so that is why they put do not eat on the packets.  Some of the color indicating beads are toxic though, from the color indicator.

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And I am wondering if the rice actually does anything. A lot of common wisdom is simply wrong, like searing meat seals in the juices. It doesn't it is just very tasty but it does promote more moisture loss.

So if the rice doesn't get mushy and moldy it is not absorbing that much water from the atmosphere. So it is likely not doing much of anything. And the metal canisters of silica jell are not the kind of things kids will eat out of a tool box anyway.

Then again you can use non toxic silica gel as well. Silica Gel is generally non toxic, it is just not food and a choking hazard so that is why they put do not eat on the packets. Some of the color indicating beads are toxic though, from the color indicator.

Don't wonder. Read. If you don't read, trust. We use rice to de-cake (in humid Indiana) food products. Works quite well. Rice, like many grains, is covered by a husk. The inner fiber absorbs, the husk stays crisp until baked. At the point of baking, rice absorbs somewhere in the neighborhood of thirty times the volume of water. Watch someone cook some or do it yourself. It is quite amazing. Maybe it needs contact, but it certainly is effective.

Silica is forbidden by the local health department. I really don't care if it is "toxic." It is harmful. And I don't work around tool boxes in my day job.

Back to task. Newspaper also draws ambient humidity well. Its downside is that it readily feeds many microbes.

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rice is indeed a dessicant but it's not a really effective one.  it's a decent one though. and no, it wont get all soggy and moldy, it's not a sponge as has been mentioned.   this explanation comes from another forum and is better than I can come up with:

"rice absorbs water in its vapor state, not slurping it up like a sponge.  It dries items by maintaining a disequilibrium in humidity, like any desiccant does.  By keeping the humidity level below equilibrium, it helps to draw water out of the wet item sharing the same closed environment.  If the humidity ever actually reaches equilibrium, then neither the wet item nor the rice will gain or loose any further water content."

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Don't wonder. Read. If you don't read, trust. We use rice to de-cake (in humid Indiana) food products. Works quite well. Rice, like many grains, is covered by a husk. The inner fiber absorbs, the husk stays crisp until baked. At the point of baking, rice absorbs somewhere in the neighborhood of thirty times the volume of water. Watch someone cook some or do it yourself. It is quite amazing. Maybe it needs contact, but it certainly is effective.

Silica is forbidden by the local health department. I really don't care if it is "toxic." It is harmful. And I don't work around tool boxes in my day job.

Back to task. Newspaper also draws ambient humidity well. Its downside is that it readily feeds many microbes.

 

It isn't harmful.  The moisture indicators can be an issue but silica gel is fundamental something you can eat and it will not be harmful.

 

At the most they are a choking hazard.

 

http://www.chow.com/food-news/53783/what-happens-if-you-eat-one-of-those-silica-gel-packets/

 

http://www.ncpoisoncenter.org/body.cfm?id=113

 

http://www.theguardian.com/notesandqueries/query/0,,-186193,00.html

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Quick, someone do an experiment -- Put a small chunk of fruit into a tupperware along with a handful of rice, try not to let them touch. Into another container just put a small chunk of fruit. Set both aside for a few days and see if the rice absorbs moisture from the fruit. I would do it but I don't care enough to bother but I will gladly read your results!

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Little update.

 

First I went to town with a chisel and sandpaper and did a total clean-up job. No dried glue left whatsoever. Then I rubbed in some paste wax where the planes make contact. I didn't do the whole interior so the smell is very mild. 

 

Total success. Three days with no rust stains forming. 

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Little update.

 

First I went to town with a chisel and sandpaper and did a total clean-up job. No dried glue left whatsoever. Then I rubbed in some paste wax where the planes make contact. I didn't do the whole interior so the smell is very mild. 

 

Total success. Three days with no rust stains forming. 

OR......is there something going on where the moisture in the air can't attack the metal as easily as it can as when the plane actually touches the wood because if it's in direct contact with the wood, there is a possibility of moisture in the wood wicking moisture directly to the metal surface since the wood sits and absorbs moisture out of the humid environment it is sitting in.  I think of when I've left something metal in my boat and it rusts and the rust leaches onto the fiberglass.  I'll bet if you hit the inside of the box with a moisture meter, you'd be really surprised.  I'm guessing the dried Titebond doesn't have a lot of moisture in it.  Still, the silica sounds like a solution

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Another update - still perfect. Despite varying temperature and moisture levels the contents of the chest have stayed 100% rust free. 

 

Tim, I can't say why the glue seemed to attract the rust, but where the planes made direct contact with the wood it was generally OK. Only where there was some dried glue squeeze-out did the rust stains form. They were only in certain places so you could see a direct relationship. 

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I dont know of a finish thats guaranteed humidity tight and you might even be holding more humidity in the chest. I would leave it unfinished and i protect my planes witha quick oily wipedown. I recently received some computer gear at work with huge reuseable dissicant bags inside, they are about the size of subway sandwich and can be baked to dry them out. I threw them in my tool cabinet. I also found that keeping the unfinished steel bottoms of my planes off any surface seems to help. I have mine propped up on one end a little. Im assuming that doing that allows any condensation to evaporate. Worst thing ever is to leave a plane on a metal surface like a machine table. Don't ask me how i learned that one.

For winter which is my off season, i spray tables and raw steel with Boeshield and i dont wipe it off until spring. My machine tables then get wiped down with mineral spirits and paste waxed for use. For some unexplainable reason a thick coat of Boeshield is sticky and a thin one is slick.

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Another thing im not a fan of is machine covers or tight containers. Here is Chicago, temps are often above and below dew point daily and it seems to me that my covers were keeping the equipment wetter for longer than letting the moisture flash off as the daytime temps climb. Just my experience storing tools in an unconditioned garage. I think having a chest breathe a little is better than trying to seal it. Our humidity can swing from the teens to the nineties and whatever it is, it needs to equalize or you get condensation which is even worse than plain high humidity.

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