Cleaning up the studio

Now that Christmas is over I'm taking the week off to do some of the things I didn't have time for when I got back from my trip last month, like getting my stuff out that had been packed up at my parents' house, cleaning my studio, and working on some things I can't really work on at the store where I work.

I tried to work on some half finished lockpicks, but it was frustrating to have to keep searching for tools that had been misplaced years ago and decided I needed to get organized before I started working again.

I also had to clean.  Before I went to Korea I sprayed most of my steel tools with  LPS 3 Premier Rust Inhibitor.  I had used it before and it seemed good.  You spray it on and it dries to sort of a sticky grease.  They claim it will protect metal for up to 2 years indoors.  I was in Korea 4 years and it worked great, though I never had problems with rust in my studio before.

The stuff can be removed with mineral spirits.  Hammer heads and the rolling mill didn't take long, but my lathe took a while to clean.  I didn't finish everything, but I did enough for now.