Even though I use my framing chisel daily it is getting rusty past the blade. What is a good way to remove the rust and take good care of it?

Hey Canopy, Didn't you have a project before? Unless I'm mistaken how did it go?

Rusty chisels? Mine got a little rust when I didn't use them one time. Put them on the stone, got off the rust back to two inches from the cutting edge and it worked finely. As long as the working edge is good, I can't see the rest of your chisel rusting too much until we're both dead.

Oil it, any kind will do, maybe coconut butter? Otherwise, think patina.

Tim

I think I've heard that you can seal the metal parts of the chisel that won't be getting sharpened often with a spray acrylic finish, so that it won't rust up.

I'll see if I can find out the brand name and type and if I do I'll post it here.

Hi Canopy,
I see you are in Thailand, which is in the Tropics - latitudes of much higher humidity throughout the year than we experience in the Northern or Southern Temperate zones. I lived in Sumatra Indonesia for 2 yrs a few degrees N of the equator. The air humidity hadn't been below 66% in 100 yrs and was more frequently 85 - 100%. There are 2 seasons, the "Dry", when it rains small amounts,in local moving cloudbursts every day. And the "Wet" season, with the arrival of the monsoon rains when it rains lots, hard and steady over wide areas for hours a day, every day.
Steel tools need special care and protection, and frequent use helps. Remove all rust, then immediately coat thoroughly with oil or grease, boiled and strained lard or bird fat can be good. Don't try to hard coat them with wax or acrylic or varnish, wax wears off too easy and is a PIA to apply, and water will get under the other two and start to rust your steel. Whenever you're not using your chisels, wrap/roll each in oilcloth to continue the oil protection barrier from humidity. I like flannel saturated, but not dripping. Then put them in a roll-up pouch of leather or nylon. Keep a pc of cotton cloth for wiping them off as clean & dry as you need each time you're gonna have em in your hands.
Hand and brow sweat is good and oily, but also salty, so wipe the salt off and re-oil or grease when you're done for the day, including the cutting edges. Same treatment after sharpening, esp if you use a water stone.
Traditionally, other metalware for cooking and eating and storing is brass, tin or Bankah tin (pewter) in Sumatra. These alloys resist corrosion from humidity much better than steel or iron. The two most common steel edged tools were the machete and the chunkel (similar to an asadon in Latin America). Daily use and greasing/oiling kept ahead of the rust. That was out in the lowland rainforests before stainless steel came into use. I hope I never see a st st machete. It'll get dull fast and be dangerous.
Where are your chisels made? Where in Thailand are you? Is democracy comin'?
Steve

I agree, if rusting is a problem, roll them up in an oil soaked cloth. I like gun oil or mineral oil. Organic based oils can go rancid, whereas the ones I mentioned will not. Motor oil will work, but gun or mineral oil are better for your contact. To remove rust, you could wire brush or better yet wire wheel and polish them. A light wire wheel will help to burnish a patina if that is what you want. A more aggressive method would be glass bead blasting. You might find an auto shop that has a glass bead blasting cabinet. I'd still wire wheel it after that to polish closed some of the metal grain. Freshly blasted will rust the most quickly, whereas polished much slower. I usually keep my chisels in leather sheaths, but there is also some residual oil in the sheaths from it being applied to the chisel.

To answer a few questions: My small build is coming along fine and it is my first timber framing experience. I'll get some pics up but first have more to do and may have a few questions here or there yet.

My chisel is a very nice one I think, a guild member selected it from the US and it has a bear stamped on it and a handle that is amazingly durable. I'd be nowhere without it.

I am originally from the US, but now I'm up in the mountains of Thailand in the middle of nowhere. A real timber frame like this is a real novelty here and so I describe it to the locals as a jigsaw puzzle style frame. Politics in Thailand? I just politely step aside and just don't go there

We all love pictures!