Protecting your Tools

Aside: There is a short video coming (as soon as I can) about reconditioning tool tops, but in the meantime this is a followup to that video……

Oh, and while talking about proposed upcoming videos – yes, the penturning video is coming soon – I’ve just had some delay in acquiring a tool I need for the video, which hopefully will arrive in the next day or so.

So onto the topic on-hand.

When I first raised the topic of protecting the tops of tools, my uncle mentioned how he protects his tools (with a simple sheet thrown over), and it has taken me quite some time to get around to doing something about it.

During the big move etc (and shooting the recent top reconditioning video) I came across an idea for how I wanted to do it for my tools, and annoyingly it has been staring me in the face for a while.  I purchased some felt for a noticeboard a while ago, and it finally struck me that it would also be the perfect material for my tools.

The specific material is a very thick felt, and is sold in Spotlight as the weirdly named “Wonderwall”.  Costs about $12/m

Protecting the Tablesaw...

The main thing I am doing here is keeping dust etc off, which attracts moisture and therefore rust.

...The Thicknesser...

...And every other Cast Iron tool in the Shop

For all the tools in the shop, including the very large router table, lathe, bandsaw, jointer etc, the cost of the material was a whopping $30.