If you live in the US or Canada… A trick I picked up from an old blacksmith helps me keep my larger tools from the dreaded “red patina”… long posting I know… Apologies.
Crown Royal velvet bags are tossed out by the box-full at commercial ABC suppliers… Restaurants don’t keep the bags either. They already have a drawstring and are great over golf clubs, spoon/dishing stakes, hammer heads and larger items…
Just squirt a bit of 3-in-one oil or sewing machine oil over the bag and secure it over the metal… Rub the bag/hammer like a favorite dog getting his head scratch once in awhile to keep the oil on the metal…
One other source of moisture control that is FREE is the little shoe dessicant packets… I visited the store my wife likes and they said they throw away hundreds of them… One Starbucks gift card and I had a large shoebox full… Oven on “warm” setting and bake them on a cookie sheet to dry them out… Then store in a sealed gallon ziplock bag in toolbox. Every week or so toss a new one in the drawer… When the drawer gets full of them… Collect, dry in oven… Repeat… Keeps you at LEAST knocking ambient moisture down.
Frugal… Yes… Cheap… Yes… Now you know a dirty little secret from my hammer-rack! (And I’m near the Chesapeake Bay so pretty salty/moist too)