Metal Workbench Care or

[Mamrak76]

Metal Workbench Care / Finish / Paint?

Just getting into metalworking and I was gifted a 1/4 plate that I cut to fit my workbench top. Formerly wood, is now steel. How do you finish it and prevent rust? I don’t think paint will work. Maybe treating with mobil vactra oil? What about using some liquid bluing chemical? Or a DIY blueing with heat and oil?

How do you care for your metal workbench?

 

[Mamrak76]

A few pics of my bench. I tried bluing in 2 places with my map gas torch. I can get an Oxy torch if I decide to go that route.

 

[Machinitect]

If you use it enough, it doesn’t need any treatment. I wipe mine down with mineral spirits once in a while, or after I spill something on it. The vactra would work, or a thin layer of motor oil, or nothing at all.

 

[BillK]

I have three at my business and I have never done any type of treatment to them. They get cleaned off with brake cleaner when dirty. Thats it. They have lasted 30 years that way

 

[rmmiller]

I'll echo what's been said, rust hasn't been an issue for me. I clean it on occasion and spill oil on it regularly when working on stuff.

 

[Shootinok]

Put a coat of wax on it.
Plain old turtle wax or inexpensive car wax. That'll keep the areas that don't see a lot of use from rusting. The main space you use a lot will take care of itself with the frequency of wiping it off.

 

[mfnlonewolf]

spray wd 40 then wipe, works great!

 

[niget2002]

We use Johnson's paste wax on wood working cast iron tops. Not sure if that'd work for your situation, though.

 

[sick467]

Mine gets little use (few times a year) so I wipe it down with new motor oil and cover it with cardboard and then a cut-to-fit piece of 3/8" plastic. It's then used as a spare catch-all or work table. The cardboard soaks up any excess oil.

 

[Machinitect]

I’ll elaborate a bit on my rust control system. I live in Kansas where the weather is perfect for about 2 weeks per year. The rest of the year it is too cold or too hot and very humid. My shop isn’t conditioned or insulated. There is always a warm day in the winter that rusts all of the tools with water literally dripping on the floor from the machine tools.

I keep two sure shot sprayers around. One has mineral spirits for cleaning, and the other has marvel mystery oil for oiling and keeping rust at bay. I just use MMO because I bought a 5 gallon bucket of it 15 years ago and still have some left. When I’m done with the drill press, lathe, vise, and sometimes the workbench they get sprayed with mineral spirits then wiped down and sprayed with MM oil. For winter I rub Johnson’s Paste wax on the expensive tooling and Kurt vises. I still get rust, but it’s not as bad.

 

[nadogail]

If you can just keep it from rusting, IMHO, that should be enough.

 

[steaks&anvils]

coat it with boiled linseed oil (BLO). it will wear and need to be reapplied, but the areas not often used won't rust.

Works for vises and such, so worth a try?

 

[islandkent]

Metal working eh??
Wire wheel on your grinder. Just like new. Whenever you see fit. Easy peasy. Don't put to much thought into that one. Like the others said. You'll be spilling oil/ cutting fluid on it in you "work zone" wipe it in as you go.

By the looks of your bench you use it. So no worries.

 

[Mamrak76]

Thanks for the help!

 

[asallwey]

I'd suggest that you paint the underside with Rustoleum or something similar. As for the top, like others have said, a quick wipe periodically with some type of oil will work fine.

 

[ItsNemo]

spray wd 40 then wipe, works great!

That's all I ever do.

 

[didit]

I built my steel work bench more than 40 years ago, painted it, use protective, sacrificial pieces of plywood to cover it sometimes depending on the job at hand and try to clear it off and give it a quick wipe down with WD40 or whatever spray lube/ penetrating oil I have on hand occasionally, just to keep it clean. Even where the paint has been completely worn off, a well used bench doesn't seem to rust. Never really thought much about it and the garage being climate controlled isn't prone to anything suffering corrosion from temperature variations or humidity.

 

[matt_i]

I have two of them, I rely mainly on the hot rolled mill scale.

One of stored a 250# lathe apron for awhile that leaked all over it and helped, it actually got Vactra applied to it (!)

If I was doing it myself purposefully I would use LPS-2 or LPS-3 spray a little bit and wipe the rest around. I worry about it catching fire someday down the road if I was doing torch work.

Biggest thing has nothing to do with the workbench itself. I keep the doors closed as much as possible and I have a ceiling fan running low speed 24x365 to keep air moving.