I think the environment has a lot to do with it.  I have a mini lathe in the garage where I park my Jeep.  The floor is concrete with no sealer or paint.  In the shop out back I have tools with cast iron tables that never rust.  The floor is concrete but has been sealed with concrete sealer.  The floor never gets wet from dripping vehicles either.  Both buildings are unheated and wood wall construction.  I once had a cement block building and the walls and floor weren't sealed.  Every tool rusted from the cast iron tables to the chromed wrenches.  On a good day you could see a fog in there.  This building was never subjected to dripping vehicles either.  Just my experiences.

Even out here in 'Aridzona', un-sealed concrete products weep. On the 10 y.o. un-sealed concrete floor in our implement building, we still see damp spots during the rainy season. Whereas, the sealed shop floor stays dry. At the suggestion of the concrete guys, we put a plastic moisture barrier over the gravel bed, too. That probably helped.

I also have a Delta 36-xx, but in Phoenix the low humidity makes rust infrequent.  Is it the cast iron?  That's undoubtedly part of it (I get involved with corrosion), but the humidity is the #1 motivation.  It sounds like B-shield might help, but I've never needed to try it.  I have found that covering the TS with an old scrap of craft cover helps (top plastic, felt lining on bottom) keep stray finger (or arm) prints.  Saying it's "cast iron" doesn't really tell much because (absent sending a sample to a lab) probably the factory couldn't tell the exact chemical composition between batches from their supplier.  Might be leftover gypsum from the baby food crisis.  Or melamine from the pet poisoning crisis?  "Stray electrical currents" are often suspected in advanced corrosion processes, but it's hard to prove one way or the other.  As your eyesight fades, rust won't be such a problem.

In Olden Days hereabout, it was common to evap cool automobile parts storage rooms; that produces 90--95 temp, 80--90% RH, just like SC.  Pretty much everything rusted, no matter what they did.  So now you find parts air conditioned. 

Edited July 19, 20187 yr by PeteM

18 hours ago, smitty10101 said:

Environment: garage in South Carolina low country, non a/c'd, hot (90 degree plus), humid 80-90 percent.

At least you have the ocean close, fresh shrimp, blue crap & fresh grilled oysters on the half-shell. Oh and the fried green tomatoes and the original sweet tea...Bobby Deen said to us once, "I just don't understand you "Yankees" Y'all come down here in July & August and eat hot fried and the like in this sweltering heat & humidity. Why don't y'all come down here in April or May when it's cooler and the humidity isn't so bad?" 

 

Well Smitty, you're not alone, for the heat & humidity in West Central Indiana rivals the SC & GA low country. I have the same issues as you mostly with my TS. A late 70's era Craftsman which I bought new. Jointer is a mid to late 80's Craftsman...some rust, but nothing like the TS. Drill press table, OSS table some also...

 

I started (this year) once the surfaces are thoroughly cleaned, wiped clean with Mineral Spirits and two coats of Johnson's wax reapplied covering surfaces with plain 'ole wax paper taped down on the edges. Verdict is still out. Fingers crossed.    

A granite top never rusts,

Just saying,

Herb

43 minutes ago, Dadio said:

A granite top never rusts,

Just saying,

Herb

I've read that they do crack, tho. 

53 minutes ago, Gene Howe said:

I've read that they do crack, tho. 

Could be, I haven't heard that, but I did hear that they chip, I know they are heavy and the added mass shows up in less vibration and sound. I know some owners and they are happy with them only miss the magnetic qualities of CI.

Herb

1 hour ago, Dadio said:

A granite top never rusts,

Just saying,

Herb

I get nervous when I get too close to a slab of granite or marble...especially if it has my name on it.

1 hour ago, Gene Howe said:

I've read that they do crack, tho. 

and break...

Hoping I don't need to start a new thread on this

 

Regarding covering the TS with magnetic cover or what have you

 

what stops condensation from forming on the "down" side of the covering trapping the moisture and encouraging rust to form.

And for that matter even if the material breathes what stops the humidity from going through & causing it to rust.

 

BTW--oddly it's only the wings that are rusting not the main table

 

Little bit late to seal the concrete with everything in place but since the house is only 3 yrs old the floor may still be "out gassing" --don't know/can't remember the correct term--but sealing might be in the cards come the fall & cooler weather

 

Switched from an aluminum TS (BT3100) to a real metal one b/c of the limitations of both the saw & the aluminum 

 

Put one coat of wax on this am & will doing 2nd coat this evening.  

 

really leaning on/listening to opinions that the cast iron ----to be polite--has impurities in it and I'm going to have to live with it.

 

smitty

If the magnetic cover is impermeable to moisture, nothing gets between it and the cast iron...at least that's what iIthink. I've also used a small piece of plywood, and it worked just as well. It's probably a little more porous to humidity, but not so much to be a problem. But I've read suggestions where folks have used a blanket, and I had the same question about that. Seems like the fabric would absorb moisture and then cause the cast iron to rust, but I've never tried it. What about putting a dehumdifier in there and letting it run, at least during the most humid periods.

1 hour ago, Fred W. Hargis Jr said:

What about putting a dehumdifier in there and letting it run

I think a dehumidifier wouldn't cut it b/c

the garage isn't air tight like a house. There are air leaks around the door by the track & from the access door to the attic.

I currently keep the access door cracked open to let some of the heat out--like a chimney effect.  

Also every time the garage door is opened the humidity would just pour in & you'd have to start over & the evaporator motor would be adding heat to an already hot garage.

 

Maybe if I moved the tools to a better place (cooler & drier) & left swmbo here (who likes the heat) I could kill 2 birds with one stone.  HMMMM!!!

18 hours ago, smitty10101 said:

what stops condensation from forming on the "down" side of the covering trapping the moisture and encouraging rust to form.

And for that matter even if the material breathes what stops the humidity from going through & causing it to rust.

 

really leaning on/listening to opinions that the cast iron ----to be polite--has impurities in it and I'm going to have to live with it.

Condensation requires a temperature differential, and you wouldn't expect that in your circumstance.  The kraft cover plastic prevents stray handprints from placing oil/moisture on the TS surface.  The felt lining (underside) allows moisture to move in/out.  Thinking on cast iron cookware, you coat with oil but then heat it to drive the moisture out of being trapped under the oil.  Wax protections might still trap some moisture under them.  (No I am not advocating heating the TS after oiling it! )  But I do think "live with it" looks like your future (well, you could move...ok, forget that).  You may just have to settle for polishing the surface before each use.

I also use a product called Slip-it. My wood working tools

is all in a unheated barn. I've used Slip-it for a few years

now and I'm happy with it.

I'VE always used johnson's paste wax and never had a problem. Never saw any reason to try any other. 

 

The environment seems to be the problem not the wax...

You could cover the tools with cloth but the cloth/tarps would have to breath on their own to release any moisture trapped under the cloth/tarps as the temperature rises...