Potential For Rust, Florida Hobbiests?

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Tinkerman

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I am hoping to move from my Kentucky home to Deland, FL it is 30miles west of the Daytona coast.

I have no problems with moisture forming rust here in my dry basement shop. Metal work and wood work machines.
Anyone have an idea if moisture is going to be a major problem in an outside garage at ground level?

I know fighting rust can be a huge problem her in KY if not temperature controlled. As the dew point is reached.

Thanks,

Tinkerman
 
Plan on running a dehumidifier at night in your shop...maybe 8pm to 9am. If not, you will see rust just overnight in places never imagined.. Daytime, with the doors open and temps equalized seems to be ok. If you can afford to run it, an a/c unit with shop sealed up could be the answer also. Rust inhibiting oils etc. help some, but it's ....Florida...
 
I live in St. Petersburg. The gulf is on one side and Tampa Bay is on the other. I live in the middle. My shop is an aluminum building. I wipe my metal working tools down with Break Free CLP for fire arms. And I don't have a problem with rust. For wood working machines they make a wax that works great.
 
No personal experience with Florida rust. My buddy that lived there said it was horrid. With guns, he said they would be cleaned and oiled, taken out of the safe to go to the shooting range. Whether he shot the firearms or not, he said they would ALL have surface rust started by the time he was halfway home from the range.
 
High humidity and rain are the bain of my existence in the machine shop. I coat all metal surfaces with oil and if I'm not out their (in the shed) every day I'll still get a coat of rust in unlikely places.
 
Basically the rust greats you when you cross over the Florida state line. The further south you go the more you get.
I looked it up in Deland right now the temp is 67° and the dew point is 65° with the humidity is only 92%.
I use ATF and when I can afford it "Fluid Film" from Tractor Supply.
Other than that invest in a brass wire wheel for your bench grinder as you will find lot's of work for if.
On a quite night you can here the Chevys rust.
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I have much fewer problems with rust here in Florida compared to Seattle and Arkansas. Up North where it gets colder with high humidity, it used to rain in my metal sheds. Here, not in the 5 years I've been here. I now have my shop in the garage, where the only rust problem comes from sweat. It is amazing how fast sweaty hands can get rust going. A trick I came up with in Arkansas is to brush the exposed machine surfaces with vectra #2.
 
The big rust causer in the coastal areas is the salt spray carried inland. You can see it on your windshield in the mornings. Deland probably doesn't have that issue but humidity is always pretty high. Like Baithog, I keep all my exposed machine surfaces covered with way oil. Living right off Biscayne Bay, I have 4000 miles of salt wind blowing over me, so I have devised a waxy paint (beeswax and heavy oil, thinned with mineral spirits to paint consistency) that I have used on things like collets and other bare-steel items and after 20 years they still look as good as they came out of the plastic. But it's a PITA to have to clean it off, use the item, clean off any moisture or fingerprints (mine would corrode platinum) and re-coat. Not practical in a job shop, works fine in a lightly used hobby shop. Something to think about for your seldom-used vulnerable items, though. There are several commercial preservative sprays that do the same thing, I found a good one at Home Depot.
 
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