A soft tool roll made from cloth is a great way to store tools. I learned many things while sailing aboard Challenge Accepted in the 2022 Newport-Bermuda Race. Among those things was the creative use of household wall-mounted flexible shoe racks to store various tool items. And how a roll with zippered compartments makes the best possible tool storage solution.
I’m away from the boat right now, so I can’t put up the shoe rack, but I did order two cloth tool rolls online. One will be used here, and the other will go aboard Zanshin.
I couldn’t just leave well enough alone with the roll, though. I decided to weatherproof the canvas material, hoping to stave off rust formation aboard and make the tool roll more durable in the process. Waxing canvas has been used for centuries, and the wax is generally a mix of beeswax and paraffin, sometimes with other hardening oils such as Tung oil or linseed oil. I thought about mixing my concoction, but after visualising the mess in my kitchen, I opted to buy a bar of waterproofing wax from Dr Gee in Germany.
The application of the soft tool roll made from cloth is quite simple. Place the object on a flat surface and rub the bar firmly across all surfaces to apply a layer of wax to the canvas. Then use an iron or a hair dryer to melt the wax coating into the fabric. Repeat until the desired level of waterproofing is reached.
