Preventing The Rusting On Locks Outside
home repair 08-03-2026
Previously, I believe I’ve mentioned that if you don’t want your tools to rust in the Philippines, you need to:
- keep them in a climate controlled room.
- Store them in sealed plastic containers (not always practical).
- wipe them down (if not bath them) in oil
That special combination of 85%+ humidity, tropical heat, and salty sea air is not great for metal or anything involving circuitry.
Even the tools that claim to be stainless steel that I’ve bought in the Philippines are rusting. Most of the tools that I brought with me from the US are still not rusting, but probably wil lat some point..
I’d love to tell you that I have been highly disciplined with this ongoing maintenance, but I’ve only done it twice in the past two years.
The tools that I did wipe down with a oil soaked rag have generally not been rusting. So, this does work. I used the oil that was available, 10W-30. I always have a bit left over from changing the oil in the generators every quarter. So, that gets used for wiping down the tools to prevent rusting. There may be better oils avaiable for the task, but htis is what I’ve got and it seemms to be working.
It’s a similar situation with locks. I don’t think we’ve had a lock last more than about nine months here, outside. However, with the last set of locks that the girlfriend bought about two months ago, before using them, each one was soaked in a bowl of oil (same used with the tools) for 20 minutes. So far, it hasn’t rusted or faded.
Here’s to hoping that holds up. I’d love to get more than six months out of a lock.
You can see the lock after two months of being outside exposed to the elements in the photo at the top of this blog post.
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