Jo block preservitive

My favorite rust preventative is CorrosionX. It is oily and does not harden over time. It is not like a wax.

It also works very well. The worst abuse that I subjected it to was in a wheel well of my old truck where I had a couple of square inches of bare metal. When covered with CorrosionX HD, the metal did not rust at all despite the typical Chicago environment with ice, salt etc.

I think that LPS 3 does not even come close.

I think old time toolmakers kept a small bit of camphor in their toolboxes.

I send mine out and had them chrome plated! They won't rust now!

Grab a tool catalog and dig around.

You can buy separate spray cans of both Gage Block cleaner (if you want to be accurate, they HAVE to be clean), and Gage Block preservative. The Gage block preservative I used, did not appear to dry out or dried very little.

In use, we would pull the blocks we needed, clean them with soft clean cloths and the cleaner, then slide them together. after, each would be cleaned, then oiled with the preservative, and replaced in their respective positions in the case. Another spritz of preservative after that, and the lid goes down.

Cheap, compared to replacing a couple blocks due to fingerprints.

As long as you are ordering, get a box of nitrile gloves. Good for use when handling the blocks, to keep your oils off them, and to keep your hands out of the oils applied to them after use.

Cheers Trevor Jones

You're kidding, right? How much did they grow in size? Randy

I just wirebrush them when they get rusty.

Starrett Tool and Instrument Oil would be my weapon of choice. That's what I use on my pin gauge sets. You are correct that those wax paper wrappings become glued to the gages after a while.

On Mon, 31 Dec 2007 13:02:41 -0600, with neither quill nor qualm, Ignoramus8643 quickly quoth:

Haven't you guys heard of electrolytic derusting?

Pete

Five minutes in hydrochloric or nitric acid every couple of weeks will keep that nasty rust away, with no elbow grease at all. However, elbow grease applied after they're clean will extend the time between de-rustings. Get the elbow grease that's free of detergents. d8-)

-- Ed Huntress

I tried to keep my gage blocks in hydrochloric acid permanently to prevent rust.

Unfortunately, when I checked them after a week, apparently someone stole them.

On Mon, 31 Dec 2007 15:15:50 -0500, with neither quill nor qualm, Pete Snell quickly quoth:

I'm hoping that all of us were kidding. I was.

That sounds just like what happened to me when I was a kid and wanted to clean the dirt and dead-critter stuff off of my seashell collection. Somebody told me to put them in vinegar for a few minutes. But they weren't clean after that, so I left them in overnight.

The next morning, they were gone.

-- Ed Huntress

Who's kidding? d8-)

-- Ed Huntress

I read that too.

What sailship riggers use on metal fittings and galvanized steel cables exposed to saltspray is anhydrous lanolin and tar in various combinations. For indoor use, lanolin should work.

Reportedly, one can buy anhydrous lanolin at any drugstore. Perhaps also available at traditional ships chandlers.

Joe Gwinn

Ref: "The Complete Rigger's Apprentice -- Tools and Techniques for Modern and Traditional Rigging", Brion Toss, International Marine (a division of McGraw-Hill), Camden, Maine, 1998, 392 pages.

Line box with vpi paper.

Wes

Thanks all, for the practical responses and the humorous ones as well!

Happy New Year Paul

We should point out that the major makers of gage blocks also sell preservative oil for them. It's in their catalogs. I don't know if it's really anything special or just a plain light oil, but you could ask. The people at Mitutoyo, for example, have always been forthcoming with straight info about such things for me.

And Happy New Year to you, Paul.

-- Ed Huntress

Larry lives in an alternate universe that only slightly overlaps this one...go easy on him.