On 26 Feb, 01:56, DS wrote:
Considering the interaction between steel and oak, the way it blackens
the wood, is there any concern about long term storage of steel and iron
tools in an oak tool chest?

Yes, but use liners to avoid contact and you'll be fine. There's no
risk of "vapours", it would need contact.

Mine use lime (basswood / linden) for any "racking" of tools, or
closed-cell polyethylene foam where it's a sheet.

Be wary of wool felt, as it's full of sulphur. Be wary of felts and
porous fabrics in general, if humidity is a problem for you.

Andy Dingley wrote:
On 26 Feb, 01:56, DS wrote:
Considering the interaction between steel and oak, the way it blackens
the wood, is there any concern about long term storage of steel and iron
tools in an oak tool chest?

Yes, but use liners to avoid contact and you'll be fine. There's no
risk of "vapours", it would need contact.

Mine use lime (basswood / linden) for any "racking" of tools, or
closed-cell polyethylene foam where it's a sheet.

Be wary of wool felt, as it's full of sulphur. Be wary of felts and
porous fabrics in general, if humidity is a problem for you.

Humidity is a big problem along the gulf coast. Perhaps some type of
closed cell foam liner would work well.

On Wed, 27 Feb 2008 17:54:57 -0800 (PST), Andy Dingley
wrote:

On 26 Feb, 01:56, DS wrote:
Considering the interaction between steel and oak, the way it blackens
the wood, is there any concern about long term storage of steel and iron
tools in an oak tool chest?

Yes, but use liners to avoid contact and you'll be fine. There's no
risk of "vapours", it would need contact.



A story relating to that comment.

Engineer in charge of packaging determines that money could be saved
by eliminating the sheet of vapor paper that is protecting the ground
surface on the top of a Unisaw. Instead of the vapor paper, a less
expensive sheet of mikelman coated corrugated (a sheet of corrugated
with a wax type moisture barrier on one side) would serve the purpose.
So we tried it on a sample pack. Table top coated with a rust
inhibitor/light grease mixture, then the sheet of coated corrugated,
then the regular box top, so two layers of corrugated and a rust
inhibiting compound.

For shipment to the distribution center and storage they were stacked
two high, so we tested the pack in that manner. The wooden runners on
the mounting pallet were on the tabletop protected as described above.
Within a week there were two black stripes of corrosion on the ground
table where the runners were. The moisture/tannic acids went through
the corrugated and the rust inhibitor.

We went back to vapor paper.

Frank