storing tools in cold garage?

[mwbrewster]

Does anyone have any input on storing power tools in a cold environment? I'm building cabinets in my unfinished garage to store my TS55, OF1400, CT 26 and soon to be purchased Rotex. Love to have a climate controlled shop but not in the cards right now.  gets pretty cold up here in New Hampshire. Not often, but the temp in there periodically drops below freezing during the winter months.  Also gets pretty humid in the summer.

thanks in advance.

 

[pixelated]

IME, moisture from summer humidity is worse than the cold.
My shop space is an enclosed, but unheated porch, it's part of the house, so doesn't down to freezing. But, some of my stuff lives part-time in the wood shed.
The cold hasn't been an issue for the tools, for me, that's a somewhat different story.

 

[semenza]

My tools have been stored and used in NYS winters for many years in freezing or below. I have not found any detriment from the cold.  I too would say that moisture and condensation is a much bigger problem.

Seth

 

[rst]

Pixelated is correct in that moisture, whether from general humidity or condensation, is the killer.  I used to keep paint in an unheated garage within an old refrigerator that I installed a 60 watt light bulb kept lit.  You can do the same with a cabinet to hold your tools.

 

[mwbrewster]

Good to hear. thanks for the input.

 

[sancho57]

I was living in England for the last 4 years, the only thing I did to my shop/garage was us rigid insulation capped wit 1/4" OSB on the floor and drywalled the ceiling to keep the heat in when I turned on the little bench top heater I used. I had no issues

 

[ear3]

No adverse problems from the cold for me, who, like you, store them in an unheated garage.

The only thing to watch out for is extreme shifts in temperatures, particularly from cold to hot, as this is where condensation can develop on metal parts.  This hasn't been so much an issue for me with power tools as it has been with cast iron surfaces and hand planes.  I remember one particular day last year where my planes looked like they had been sprayed with a water mister, after it climbed something like 25-30 degrees in the space of a couple of hours.  Your particular tool list looks ok except for the OF1400, which would probably benefit from the posts being wiped down with some rust inhibitor like T9 Boeshield or the equivalent.

 

[mwbrewster]

Your particular tool list looks ok except for the OF1400, which would probably benefit from the posts being wiped down with some rust inhibitor like T9 Boeshield or the equivalent.

Good point. thanks.