Tool blueing alternative? I don’t want black.

[Gaogier]

Hello

So, as the weather is turning wetter for the autumn and winter months ahead, I have noticed my tools that I have kept in my shed, (had a huge hole most likely a bird death fallen onto the plastic roof, I have patched it, hopefully it won’t leak. Directly above my house is high power cables, and the pylon is home to peregrine falcons and the young birds strike but miss, and the prey fall, or the bigger birds hit the high power lines and fall. Over the last 30 years we have lived here, we have had 4 birds go through the roof, and damage the ceiling below. The smaller birds get eaten by my cats or other animals.

My really nice hand tools I now keep indoors, and my general everyday use tools are in the shed/workshop (if you want to call it a workshop).

I want to protect the tools from rust, but being outside, it’s nearly impossible to prevent it. The solution is to paint or blue the tools, but I want to keep the tools in their natural colours, so the screwdrivers to keep the metal shaft, the wood planes to show the silverness of the metal. I really don’t like the black that blueing and the other one… parkering maybe?

So, do you know of a way to keep rust away, without changing the colour of the metal?

Thank you.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Wipe them down with a bit of oil. Not enough that they're soaked just enough to create a very thin barrier.

 

[foxhole]

Would need to be a very flimsy roof for a bird strike to damage .

 

[Old Salt]

A good dowsing and regular wipe over with wd40 will do it. I wipe mine down after use and a quick spray over before the winter. Had some for over 50 years and still looking good.

 

[Lower]

As above, oiling them is the traditional way of preventing rust. An alternative way that is a bit harder wearing is a coat of wax polish.

 

[wv62]

In a previous life I was a toolmaker and we used to wrap our tools(!) in an anti rust paper. It was like an oil impregnated brown paper. I assume it's still available somewhere online.

 

[Gaogier]

Would need to be a very flimsy roof for a bird strike to damage .

We have the following birds
Magpie average - 250g
Wood Pigeon - 550g
Crows - 600g
Gulls (aka sea gulls) - 400g to1500g
Buzzards - 1kg
Peregrine falcons - 1kg to 1.3kg

Plus many smaller birds like robins.

The birds then hit the pylons and fall some 30meters, or a bigger bird takes out a smaller but still a big bird somewhere high or smaller birds a lot higher they can do some damage.

Some of the birds I can remember that has fall.

A smallish bird fell through out flat roofed porch and ended up in the downstairs restroom.
A peregrine falcon fell into our roof, straight through the loft and into my mums bedroom. Our roof is ceramic tiles.
One hit the shed roof, (I believe it’s bitumen) - see picture.
So yeah they can do quite a bit of damage.

With the oilling of the tools, would I need to bake it on like you do for cast iron pans?


The bird hit the corner and you should be able to see how thick the roof is.