Est. 1998 — 27 years of woodworking knowledge
Rust on cabinet scrapers
John lucas
I store my cabinet scrapers in the bottom drawer of a wooden cabinet. They are store upright in a wooden block with slots for each scraper. I dont use them a lot since I al mostly unturned now but pulled them out today to work on a piece and noticed rust starting to happen. This is how they look after a brief cleaning with PB Blaster and steel wool. Should instore them with a coat of wax or WD 40.
Re: Rust on cabinet scrapers
Bill Tindall, E.Tn.
I store mine with either an edge protector and stacked on a shelf or in the paper envelop they came it.
If your shop humidity gets to high, like much about 60% RH, any steel that is not resistant to rust ( and the 1095 alloy that scrapers are made from is especially prone) will rust.
But if you are not seeing other stuff rust I would suspect something about the wood contact is the problem. A light coating of oil or wax is effective rust protection in any case.
Re: Rust on cabinet scrapers
David Weaver
light oil, wax, or wd40 would all be fine.
The only scrapers I've had rust since I started using oilstones are scrapers that came into contact with PVA glue and then I forgot to clean them off.
You might appreciate (for rust protection) having a 50/50 mix of beeswax and mineral oil around.
Re: Rust on cabinet scrapers
TomD
Less disgusting, depending on your view, than WD 40, is camelia oil. It is used in hair by some, but on tools is excellent for rust inhibition. I have been nursing a bottle I bought 40 years ago. It is sold at Japanese tools stores. The thinnest coat possible is all it takes. I don't feel I have to wash my hands after spreading it, an it takes nothing like the amount one would get by spraying wd-40.
I did try LV and Woodcraft, and while the latter still has articles up, I guess the product is now so widespread given the kitchen knife craze that they don't carry it
Here below it is sold as knife maintenance oil for knives and tools, and is said to be food safe. I would buy the small bottle because I like a dispenser that feeds droplets. You can also get a tool that is hard felt in a closable container that allows you to wipe very thin coats (which is the objective). But I found it was less to my taste, than just inverting the container with my finger over the end, so I don't even get a drop, then spreading that on. A smaller tool with a lipstick container holding a dental dam is a good dispenser, but nothing beats a finger for me.
https://www.amazon.com/KUROBARA-Tsubaki-Japanese-Maintenance-Camellia/dp/B00362HBPQ/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=camellia%2Boil&qid=1610124502&sr=8-4&th=1
Storing tools in wooden blocks can be a problem in a moist environment like a humid basement.
probably something..
David Weaver
...more profitable to sell. I went through two bottles of camelia early on, but was using them on a bunch of metal planes, blades and saws. Rust *almost* ceased just based on handling metal tools after sharpening with oilstones (forgetting to deal with tools that had actual water droplets on them or that were stored somewhere that water got in them still rusted).
70s and 80s was a very lucrative time to peddle japanese stuff - the yen was 250-300 for the dollar and the market had no clue what things cost in japan.
Guitar was similar - Aria made the PE-R80 with a list of about 80,000 yen in an aria catalog that I saw. I mentioned it to a guy who is older than me and said "that was a lot of guitar for about $350 in a time when a les paul was creeping up on a grand and not really that well made".
He said "are you kidding? they tried to sell them for $800-$1000".
Heard the same from a nashville dealer about tokai LS-120s. he said "we could get a couple a month used for $750 and sell them for $1500 and they were sold to a list of buyers before they ever hit the floor - couldn't get enough of them".
The street price of an LS-120 new in japan was about $500 equivalent.
The conversion rate went to similar today all within a year or two and the market for complicated japanese guitars in the US went away and the makers disappeared into bolt on guitars, acoustic or korean production.
I suspect 1990 or so is about the time the first wave of japanese tools dried up, too, but I wasn't around for that (too busy building model airplanes at that age).
Re: Rust on cabinet scrapers
Johanna Johanson
Although rust is never a problem here in the desert, I store my scrapers in a leather "wallet" that I purchased years ago. I just checked Amazon - it is $17.95.
Re: Rust on cabinet scrapers
John K Jordan
No rust here, either. I store haphazardly in a drawer. Never used anything to protect from rust. The shop has heat/air so the humidity never gets too high.
Re: do you have a link for us?
Joe Fleming
Do you have an amazon link to the wallet?
Re: do you have a link for us?
Joe Fleming
I found Johanna's wallet:
I have about 15 scrapers. I sharpen them all then when the edge needs burnishing, I set one aside and grab another.
I have been using cardboard mailer envelopes for my scrapers. I have square envelopes but you can get photo mailer sizes. They stack thinly and you can easily write on them to identify the scraper enclosed. Here is a link. Just cut off the adhesive tab.
Re: Rust on cabinet scrapers
William Duffield
Do not trust WD40 for long term rust inhibition. It is volatile and will all evaporate within a few days. It's great for displacinging water that has gotten onto your metal tools and is a lubricant for sharpening and for abrasive rust removal.
For more permanent protection, use a wax or non-hardening oil, or a mixture of them. I have used beeswax, beeswax thinned with mineral oil, canning wax, 20 and 30 weight non-detergent motor oil, camellia oil, Johnson's car wax, Renaissance Wax, etc.
Your rust inhibition will be much more effective if you get in the habit of wiping down each rust prone tool with an oily rag, making sure you wipe off the sawdust, etc., before you put it away. Also, don't leave them out where they can collect sawdust and other gunk from the shop environment, because this stuff can subsequently absorb moisture that can penetrate your thin coating of oil or wax.
I'd be glad to show you some of the results I have had from times I have not followed my own advise, but it ain't pretty. 
Have you considered replacing your 1095 scrapers with 301 stainless? That would also solve your problem, as would keeping them in a tightly closed toolbox so that they wouldn't get condensation on cold, wet nights.
Re: Rust on cabinet scrapers
Jack Dover
Used to have a lot of flash rusting, so I made a dozen of these rag-in-a-can oilers, small and big and put them on almost every shelf. Some of them has paste wax only (for scrapers), others are motor oil + paste wax. Whenever I’m about to throw an oil can all leftovers go into one of these oilers.
Since I started wiping every tool that goes on its place rust is gone, just don’t forget doing it. There are a bunch of tools in a storage boxes and they haven’t rusted at all.