I've been watching this "thread" for a while. My two cents worth -- (1) tools such as squares, scales, and the like get "clothed down" with carnuba wax with great regularity (call it once a month); (2) tools such as dial indicators, micrometers, and the like get (A) stored in tightly closing wooden boxes with (B) a "cloth stoppered" vial of a (1/3rd each) mixture of oil of wintergreen (penetrent/dispersent), light mineral oil, and acetone; (3) tools such as files, scrapers, and gravers get cleaned and dried before being stored in (powdered) railroad chalk; (4) all my "metal table surface" get will cleaned with solvent, light machine oil, and (again) with solvent and polished with carnuba wax (call it monthly).
I live in western Washington State (which used to be called "The Soviet of Washington") where "rust" is considered a camouflage color.