7 Things You Should NEVER Store in Your Garage (The Amish Way Saves $1000s)

My name is Isaac Miller. I am Amish, and I have run my own forge in Lancaster County for thirty-two years. Much of my living comes from neighbors who bring me tools ruined in their own garages, ten feet from a warm house. You shut the garage door and believe your tools are inside. It has a door to the kitchen, after all. Then spring comes and every edge is orange. You did nothing wrong. The idea you were handed was wrong. A garage is outdoor air with the wind taken off it. It follows the sky, not your furnace. Steel cools faster than the air around it, and once it drops below the dew point, water condenses right onto the metal. You never see a puddle. Rust only needs a film, and a garage provides one about three hundred nights a year. The fix is wax, a chest and charcoal. Melt two parts mineral oil to one part beeswax, rub a thin coat on the steel and buff most of it off. Keep the tools in a closed wooden chest with a coffee can of hardwood charcoal. It costs about twenty dollars, once. A cordless drill costs a hundred and twenty-nine dollars, and the average homeowner replaces one every four to five years. In this video I show you the seven things that should never live in a garage, why a garage is outdoor air, what dew point does to cold steel, how to mix the wax paste, how to put your tools to bed, why chalk belongs in a toolbox, and who profits when you do not know any of this. I also tell you where it falls short. The wax cannot bring back steel that is already pitted. --- **WHAT YOU WILL NEED** Beeswax, one bar, about six dollars Mineral oil, one quart, about nine dollars An old cotton sock A tin can and a pan of hot water A coffee can of hardwood charcoal White blackboard chalk, about a dollar a year A closed wooden chest or cabinet with doors **A WORD OF CAUTION** Never melt the wax over open flame. If you swap in boiled linseed oil, the rags can heat themselves and catch fire in a pile. Lay oily rags flat outdoors to dry, or drown them in a bucket of water. Subscribe for more on keeping tools and hardware well. Next time I show you how to bring a rusted tool back with vinegar. #amish #garagestorage #rustprevention #toolstorage #beeswax #blacksmith #oldways #diy