[Jewelry making - Article 00533] - Re: [Orchid] Prepare & care for a steel bench block?

[Trevor F]

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>     ... I just bought a new steel bench block and it arrived coated in
>     a protective oil of some sort, I'm wondering how best to prepare it
>     for use and how to maintain it? 

Hello Bruce,

    Sounds like the beginning of a joke: there are these two newbie
    jewellery makers and one says to the other: how should I oil my steel
    block? ... Anyway I'm sure you get the idea. Ok, so I'm a newbie too
    and what I've found is this: it depends. If you're in a relatively
    dry climate with little ambient pollution and you use your block every
    day you shouldn't need to do much with it other than avoid whacking
    it with a hammer. But do keep it stored away from other hard,
    scratchy, pointed or acidic "tools" so it doesn't get scored, nicked,
    or stained. Also very good idea to wipe it down with a cleaning rag
    and a little white spirits, diesel, turps, something-of-that-nature
    before putting it away for the day. This helps get the salts and such
    from your hands off and reduces the likelihood of rust. 

    If, like me, you live in quite the opposite climate --lots of
    moisture, and pollution, etc-- then you'll know it PDQ because you'll
    start seeing rust showing up real soon, as in every day or so. This
    requires more determined rust prevention and the hands-down best
    solution to that that I've seen is rust inhibiting oil. (See the
    Orchid discussion at
    http://www.ganoksin.com/orchid/archive/200311/msg00658.htm). 

    Since I started using this stuff on my tools -that's hammers, steel
    blocks, anvils, forming blocks, dapping tools, rolling mill, pliers,
    etc-- I have had _zero_ rust problems. Of course I have to take 20
    minutes to clean and oil the tools I use on any given day but there
    it is. My rust inhibiting oil was a gift, not once but twice!, from
    the gracious folks at Durston. I tried to find this stuff on my own
    but the smallest I could buy was a 5 gallon pail which I estimated
    would last me about 5000 years, assuming I could convince the Shell
    Oil rep to sell it to me which was by no means a sure thing since
    they didn't return my emails. 

    Cheers and good luck in the War Against Rust, 

Trevor F.

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