Happy New Year and thank you for visiting

Slow and steady, I have reached the point where the studio is able to produce bits of work. One would be amazed at how much time it takes to vacuum, wire brush, tripoli buff, wipe down with a mix of paraffin and mineral spirits, machine oil pivots and screws every steel tool I have then sort out for sale the many I do not use. Then there is dust. Working in warehouse space with gravel driveways and roads means there is a fine layer of dust on everything and over 10-12 years it works its way into covered boxes. Add working with a few new 6 inch buffs and the dust is everywhere – cotton and dirt. After beefing up the collector on my buffing machine I built a cheap area dust collector and this runs on 2 when I’m in the studio.

dust collector box fan merv 9 $20 a

dust collector box fan merv 9 $20 b

$20 – $15 box fan, roll filter media, cardboard, 2 pack clearance merv 9 filters 4.99 with duct tape.

Note – I used two filters to increase surface area of intake so the resistance caused by the filter media would not place a greater load on the cheap fan motor increasing amperage draw. Do not place a single high merv filter on the face of the intake side of fan. The fan is 20×20 and the filters used are 20×25.

I have seen many versions of this set-up on woodworking sites – not pretty but a nice addition for a workspace.

Recipe for wipe down steel tool rust preventer

1/3 C mineral spirits

1 T paraffin shavings

combine in sealed container, shake until dissolved, wipe down entire tool, spirits evaporate leaving micro layer of soft wax. Wear appropriate PPE – ventilation, nitrile gloves and glasses.

When I grab a tool I would rather feel/see wax than rust. For those who are worried about the wax film contaminating metal all cleaning processes done before soldering, heat and quench, for instance, remove this wax along with other dirt/grease.

Marshall