Preventing Rust

N

nightwish_sg

Junior Member
In my climate where humidity is high, my kit tends to rust much faster those those countries that are "drier". Anyone care to share how to prevent or delay the rusting process? Will oiling (sewing machine oil) and then bone dry help?

Greatly appreciate any ideas.

Cheers
 
A dry iron based surface will rust(oxidize) faster than a protected one.If the humidity is extremely high,I would use WD-40 to clean,drive out moisture,and protect metal parts.Use a good quality furnature wax on your shells.Drum heads will be just fine by themselves.

The WD in WD-40 stands for water displacement,and thats what it does best.after cleaning your chrome,wipe of the excess,and just leave a slight film behind.I would do this monthly,as not to give oxidation a foot hold.

Steve B
 
Do you think a silicone-based car wax would work on the metal parts?

No different than a car bumper (well, in the old days...) clean up the rust freckles with chrome polish wax it up!!

Museums and gun collectors use Renaissance Wax to preserve metal parts - it's a microcrystalline wax. Different than paraffin based waxes. It's awful expensive but a *little* goes a long way. Might last longer than an oil?!?
 
I just use regular car wax after a good cleaning. Much easier to keep it looking good if you get something new and take care of it from the start, rather than trying to fix up something already damaged.
I've got a set I bought new over 30 years ago, and the chrome still looks new.
 
Living in central California most of my life I had never dealt with rust. Now I live in the north east and I pulled my snare out of the bag for the first time in months only to find that the tops of the lugs were rusted. Completely destroyed the look of the snare.
I am thinking it happened during the move, but now I have to buy all new lugs.

No real point to this post, or any usefull information. Just saw a post about rust and wanted to vent a little. Thanks for listening.
 
Thank you all for sharing.

I read it some where that WD40 or chrome polish may be too harsh on the hardware and may actually be removing microns of plating / chrome each time we use it.

Since in the army,we are often told to oil our weapons to prevent rust, thought of giving it a try. But i guess i will try waxing the chrome parts since i am into automotive detailing or at least i was ;)

Fully agree that to prevent rust is definitely the way to go.. i have to get a new kit recently after neglecting the old one for a while :(
 
Brother Nightwish_Sg.

Sorry to de-rail your thread...

Thanks for your service to your country!!

If you are not offended, may I ask in which Country's Army you served? I am a retiree of the United States Army since 1998, but only a drummer since 2009.

Back to your original question - I would think that any type of oil would be satisfactory to protect the metal parts, but the useful life of that preservative coating might be limited by the amount of physical contact. I would think a wax coating might be "tougher" and offer more proection.

Chrome plating is a very hard surface - military rifle bores in the U.S. are chrome lined to prevent rust and wear. I wouldn't think that normal cleaning and oiling (waxing?) would be too harsh for chrome plated drum hoops and lugs. At least in our life-time!

My drumset is set up in the basement of my home where humidity is often above 70% RH in the summer. I use a dehumidifier to contol humidity when the temperature rises above 70° F and don't have rust problems with my drumset or steel woodworking tools.
 
Hi Smoke,

No.. no offense at all. I am from Singapore, and it is by law that all Singaporean males serve the army for a minimum of 2 yrs at some point in our life.

I think i will do something like wat we do for car detailing i.e polish, sealant and finally a layer of wax. That;s a lot of elbow grease.
 
I'm definitely getting some car wax this weekend - great idea!

My kit lived in a bay window in Wales during university - not good! Very warm inside, pretty cold outside ..... condensation city! I've replaced one hoop and the throw off on my snare after the pitting and rust got too much! The rest of the kit has good hardware, but my tom stand, floor tom hoops and one FT lug didn't fare too well =(

It's without doubt best to prevent it - have you tried poishing rust out form inside a double braced leg? ;)
 
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I am gonna use this product, used to use it for car detailing. It's actually a polish/ wax and sealant...
 
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