Need storage advice for tools

[woodlandfarms]

So saddly my wife's father and uncle have passed away in the past 6 months. Upside is that both are master wood workers with largish wood shops. I have now inherited both shops loaded with tools

Saddly I do not have an enclosed shop. And I live in the rainy pnw. I guess I could build a shop but I really don't want to as I want to save for something better / bigger. So in the meantime I need to store all these tools.

What I am thinking about is buying a shipping container. But these tools will be in for more than a year. I am hearing horror stories of shipping containers and humidity

Money is an issue. 2k for a 20ft box is a lot but I am stumped for better ideas. Any solutions you can suggest?

 

[jeff9366]

You can buy a 110 volt dehumidifier on Amazon for about $150. Condensate line can be easily plumbed to outside of shipping container.

Set the dehumidifier to activate at 50% humidity.


If you are not interested in using the tools within the next four years, SELL THEM NOW.

 

[ericm979]

If you go the dehumifier route be prepared for it to go bad. I had to replace a control board on mine with only a year's use (which means about six months here). Nothing available from the manufacturer, had to get it off Ebay.

 

[woodlandfarms]

What bout vent holes. I plan to convert the container into a "cabin" on the property after the shop is built.

 

[sandman2234]

Sorry, vent holes won't do it, as the temperature changing in the container is what causes the rust via humidity. I would suggest looking at serious rust preventative solutions that you can apply to the equipment, especially in the critical areas where rust makes the tool worthless! Then keep it in the container, (and possibly adding insulation to the container to help keep temperature swings to a minimum) with a dehumidifier going steady!
Jeff had a very viable solution, one that never works for me, lol, but seems to be a reasonable idea. Your actual interests in the taking a piece of raw wood and making a very nice looking piece of finished furniture will determine if this is really an option. From what I have seen, taking machinery that was owned and loved by craftsmen and later replacing it with the junk that China is shipping us, really isn't a great option.
If your going to keep them, protect them, check on them regularly and enjoy them when you get them out of storage!
If your going to be doing some of the work on your house, then seriously consider going ahead and making the container "a shop".
Double check your pricing of the container. 20 foot boxes demand a premium here, and 40 and above really aren't that much more. For the extra square footage you get, the larger boxes usually are a better deal, as long as your not trying to put it in a residential backyard (which is why the 20' boxes sell for just as much as the bigger ones)
David from jax

 

[bigtiller]

There would be a lot of work to do, to put a "master woodworkers" shop into storage.

If your wife is the only remaining heir, hire an auctioneer and sell everything. Then, when you have the room and are ready for a woodworking shop, buy what you need to do the project at hand. I say this mainly because a "master woodworker with a largish wood shop" will probably have tools that you don't know what they are or how to use them safely. Also, some of the cutting tools will need sharpening and made ready for long term storage. The wood on the bins will need special handling for it to remain viable. There would be a lot of work to do, to put a "master woodworkers" shop into storage.

 

[woodlandfarms]

Yup Bigtiller. It is a lot. Basically a two plus car garage that you can barely walk into. And now I have duplicates (They tended to try and one up each other with gear purchases). The father in law tended to buy high quality gear but rarely used it. What he did produce was amazing. The uncle had older gear but in amazingly great shape and worked with it day in and day out. But selling it is not in the cards. Getting willed the gear changes a lot in the family dynamic. Expectations are high that I will continue building... and I do enjoy it altough as you correctly stated, I am pretty clueless to much of the gear.

 

[hslogger]

As one who knows well the conditions of the great PNW, I offer some thought. Rent some place in a decent warehouse or storage unit that is climate controlled or close to it. Before hand treat all the wood handles with linseed and thinner mix. Treat ALL the metal surfaces with a coat of WD40, Vasoline, machine oil, or some other stuff. Just like the military storing gear, if you store i right it should be ok but you gotta be really serious about coating those surfaces before they get ugly.

 

[countrybumpkin]

How long do you plan on storing the tools and what size of storage unit would have a big impact as to where or how also. If it's a year or less to give you time to build a shop I would rent a climate controlled storage facility , if it's till you get around to building something, and you have room for a container the right size , then I would look for a insulated refer trailer or even a truck mounted box unit from a cold food deliver truck. You could then set up your own climate control system.

 

[ishiboo]

A shipping container can be sealed pretty well. Make sure the door seals are good, and then put a dehumidifier in plumbed to drain outside. Since the container is sealed, it will basically run only for a bit when you open the doors, remove the majority of the humidity in the air, and then stop.

Use Fluid Film on the tools.

 

[beeforty]

DriZair (?) is something that I've used in the past for keeping a camper dry. White crystals that suck moisture out of the air and turns it to a nasty liquid. Liquid is as deadly or more than Roundup. I used it to get rid of all my poison oak. Motor home supply places carry it and the special container that holds the crystals and has a built in drip pan.

 

[TMGT]

DriZair (?) is something that I've used in the past for keeping a camper dry. White crystals that suck moisture out of the air and turns it to a nasty liquid. Liquid is as deadly or more than Roundup. I used it to get rid of all my poison oak. Motor home supply places carry it and the special container that holds the crystals and has a built in drip pan.

Sounds like it's just a desiccant bag, if it's really humid it's a fairly short term solution.
Humidifier in a sea container sounds like a good option.
From experience WD40 is not adaquate to protect the metal surfaces. There's a number of products that are designed for storage like that, can't remember any of their names though. Fluid film works ok, might have to reapply it every so often.

 

[Budweiser John]

First off, the decommissiong of a family members shop, let alone two shops is a daunting task.
Akin to viloting ones personal space digging into the personal resources of a deceased serious woodworkers shop is like opening a Pandora's box of emotion laced with a serious dose of THF.... Decisions will have to be made on what to save, what to toss, and perhaps what to give away. Unless you really need or want two of everything, something's got to give.
Through out the selection process, i'de five high pitotity to American made equipment especially vintage Delta, Powermatic, Walker Turner, Tanawitz, Northfield, and a host of others. Vintage machinery.org is a great resource on vintage woodworking equipment. Don't overlook the value in the accumulated machinery tooling such as shaper cutters, router bits, molding knives, and carbide saw blades.
Most woodworkers purchase tooling as needed and a lifetime collection of molding cutters can equal or surpass the value of a molding machine as an example.
Relative to short/long term storage, rust is the big issue here so plenty of grease, WD 40, and weather protection is a must as is a secure location. Hopefully, the current shop(s) are located such that a reasonable amount of time is available to sort and pack up all the stuff.
Good luck,
B. John

 

[tcreeley]

Get a shipping container and cut vents in it. Build yourself a wood framed inexpensive shed.

If there is good ventilation, tools will do fine. However, you need to realize unless it is climate controlled (heated,cooled. or indoors) steel tools will warm up with the rise in temperature and as the temperature falls, they will cool. When the warm air contacts a cool surface, moisture will form on the surface and that moisture will be the start of rust. Some rust is ok, but after a while it isn't good.
Oil the steel hand tools, wrap them and put them away (don't use linseed oil- some say linseed oil rags self combust- fire.). I'd do the same with steel table surfaces. (some -WD 40, or grease that you can later strip with rubbing alcohol. - I never used fluid film, but that sounds good. - If you are going to get into woodworking- keep the tools. It is costly to buy those new. Duplicate table salws, router tables, drill presses - you just need one. Sell one. - Keep the better quality one, and the bigger one. Keep any dust collection system- useful. Planers, jointers, lathes.
To find prices- just google the tool brand name and model number.

Re pawing through their stuff- don't worry about it.

A lot of work you set yourself.
You can just sticker what you want to keep. And let an estate buyer cleanout the rest.
Good luck.

 

[civilian]

I don't agree with the comment "if there are two of an item, keep one and get rid of the other." In my case I have 2 table saws and 2 band saws. One table saw is set up with a dado blade in it. The othe does the ripping, cross cutting etc. The bigger band saw is used to resaw thicker material in thinner stock used in furniture building. The smaller band saw has a smaller blade for cutting curves in the thinner stock. Jon

 

[BukitCase]

I'm with you Jon - I have 2 or 3 of dang near everything in the wood shop - 2 table saws, 2 radial saws, 2 miter saws, only one (woodworking, that is) drill press, 3 router tables, 3 jointers, 2 planers, 2 band saws, a pocket hole station, plus 3 or 4 separate routers, various sanders, 2 belt/disk sanders, 3 circular saws, 2 recip saws, 2 jig saws, and then there's the SEPARATE metal working shop area....

The advantage of this - I can set up 3 router tables, one with raised panel bit, one with stile bit, one with rail bit, using scrap pieces of intended materials - I can run all the material for a complete set of cabinet doors without ever changing/messing up the setup, and if done correctly the FIRST time, every single door will fit PERFECTLY. Some of the OTHER duplicates just sorta happened, the smaller 6" jointer was inherited and gets used for "junk" projects instead of using the Powermatic 6", and the 12" spiral head jointer happened when I got about 2200 board feet of rough-sawn oak planks for a bit less than firewood prices.

My shops aren't heated except to take the chill off a bit, they're un-insulated - my "de-rust" methods are: first of all, NO WD40, I find it just gets gummy after a while and doesn't belong in a WOOD shop - all cast iron surfaces get multiple coats of Johnson's Paste Wax (no silicone to mess up finishes), then each power tool gets at least one clamp light fixture with a 100 watt bulb inside (two on the jointers) - these get hooked up to a power strip that's fed by an SCR "motor speed control", set at around 50% and left on all but summer time - This keeps ALL the metal surfaces ABOVE their dew point and the bulbs pretty much NEVER burn out, so I NEVER get condensation (in rainy Oregon)

The light bulbs help keep the rest of the shop a bit warmer than it would be otherwise too.

It's a little more expensive, but I NEVER use combustible fuels for heat, only electric and not too much of that - all fuels produce a LOT of water vapor that I DON'T NEED helping things to RUST.

IF the OP goes with container(s), I'd recommend ALL the methods I outlined above PLUS a continuous-drained de-humidifier as mentioned above - in addition, maybe even a taut line at ceiling height, centered and running full length of the container, with a tarp draped over it and down at the sides, just in case the container decides to drip a little - the de-humidifier will eventually lower the moisture inside, but I tend to believe in backup plans

HTH... Steve