Spray-on lanolin.

I get it off with scotchbrite (or the B&Q lookalike green scouring pads) and WD40. Takes it off as if it was never there.

I can't imagine anything I'd want to coat chuck or crosslide with – if it stuck it'd attract dust and swarf and be difficult to get clean, for example for precise location of chuck jaws and vertical slide – and if it didn't stick it'd be no good anyway.

Condensation is as much to do with temperature change as humidity: warm damp air loses moisture to a cold surface.

Try and keep the lathe warmer than the air and/or damp air away from the lathe. A plastic cover would help do that, and a blanket is even better. Covers aren't too much bother on small machines. Keeping the lathe well smeared in grease or oil is a good idea because that keeps water droplets away from the metal.

Condensation is more serious in a damp poorly insulated outhouse or shed than inside a proper building. This is mainly because well insulated buildings don't suffer such big temperature swings, and may be heated or air conditioned as well. Also worth eliminating any obvious sources of damp, like combustion, rising damp, single skinned walls, or a leaky roof.

Dave

I have a home made wooden shed as a workshop and have a dehumidifier running almost continually. I bought the dehumidifier second hand 28 years ago. When I first got the dehumidifier I monitored the power used ( I have KWH meter) and wasn't a lot, about 200 watt when on, its cycles on/off as required.I thought one has to decide whether you want a rust free workshop or not. Not intending to be the riches man in the church yard. John

I am with you John, I run a dehumidifier at night on economy 7 and that with plenty of insulation keeps my freestanding workshop rust free. Can’t insulate enough with a workshop, helps to keep temperatures relatively stable, it’s fluctuations in temperature that help with depositing condensation which = rust.

Dave W

Beeswax for things you are going to handle, unless you like the taste of grease on your biscuits. But not furniture or car polish which contain silicone. Never a plastic cover because they sweat but do cover with natural fibre blanket or sheet because they absorb the condensation that falls down. Yes condensation falls down. If you ever look at stuff that has been static in shed for a while the top surface is always worse than the rest.

Yes I agree silicon free.

The paste wax that I use which is for furniture has no silicon in it the name is Woodwax22 supplied by Chestnut products.

I use spray on lanolin and it has saved my machines from serious condensation many times !

This year was the worst and one morning i went out into the workshop early only to find my machines literally dripping wet , it looked like they had just been hosed down but the lanolin protected them .

The good thing with lanolin is it doesn't smell and is a natural product , the down side is once it dries you have to use a degreaser or wd40 to loosen it up especially if you have applied a heave coating .

I just spray some on some papre towel and wipe the machine over but in winter i tend to apply a heavier coat .

Yes, this year, my normally rust proof shop contents have shown signs of light surface. East Anglia, U K

The shop, (10'9" x 6'9" external) is well insulated (50mm glassfibre between 19mm wooden outer cladding, 12mm ply inner. No windows, similarly insulated rubber roof, but with vent at high level in back wall, (weatherproof cover over intake for 6"fan) with two small fixed vents near to floor level.

The low level vents are important to allow the heavy moist air to escape.

In the old shop, the oil on the Myford used to go grey!. In this one moisture problems are almost unknown, put down to good insulation and ventilation. For winter (frosty) a 60 watt tubular heater under a bench is switched on to keep the temperature above ambient outside. After a day nor so, the steel benches even begin to feel warm.

Howard

Nothing wrong with giant spiders, very effective at keeping women away from the man-cave!!

Martin.

I have used Loctite SF7803 surface treatment for some time, it is very effective at preventing corrosion, easily applied to any ferrous metal and leaves a surface film of less that a few microns.

Steve