Tiny gloat and question

[Glenna Rose]

Dual post here.

Finally got around to building a base on casters to go under a 4-drawer file cabinet in the basement (if it can be called a basement!) and putting it in place last night. Out of one of the drawers fell one of my ex's purchases. It is book(let), circa 1970. EAA How-to Series, "Basic Hand Tools, Vol. 2," I showed it to a pilot friend this morning who said, "Wow! An Environmental Aircraft Association book. This has to be almost a collector's item."

Not sure it can be called a collector's item, but it has a lot of great stuff in it. As my friend said, lots of things change, but basic woodworking is constant. Though it is hardly likely drilling cowl fastener holes, cutting glass tubing, or bending tubing with spring type tube benders is in my future, it has a lot of good, practical information. It's what I call a score.

Question: How do you folks keep your tool tops in good condition, specifically table saws? Keeping them waxed is one thing I've read, is that practical, and does it work? It's time I cleaned up the tiny almost-rusted areas on my TS top and make certain it is babied in the future.

Glenna

[Leon]

Wax works for many but seems to be an on going process. I personally have been using TopCote for 15 years and get no rust unless I drip water on the surface. I live in Houston so the humidity is normally in the 90% range but have no condensing moisture.

[Charlie Self]

Glenna Rose asks:

Paste wax, such as Johnson's, works for me. I've recently made my own blends, adding more carnauba (hardest wax we use), and using a cordless power buffer on three coats. Makes an appreciable difference but may not be worth the effort for casual use. Do the Johnson's bit, buff lightly, do it again, buff well. Repeat at intervals that reflect your use--lotsa use, repeat weekly; not so much use, repeat monthly or as needed. I avoid car waxes, as too many have problem substances that cause fish-eye in finishes if transferred, and I'm too lazy to read the labels, but car waxes without silicone are good because they are almost all very hard.

For commercial products, I've used a lot of Boeshield T9 and it works exceptionally well for me. Use the same routine as above. Apply and buff lightly. Apply second coat and buff to a high shine. Repeat as needed. TopCote is also worthwhile, though I've only used it a couple times, so can't comment much on it.

Charlie Self "A politician is an animal which can sit on a fence and yet keep both ears to the ground." H. L. Mencken

[Roger Shoaf]

I think that is the Experimental Aircraft Association. Those are the folks that build their own airplanes.

[Frank Ketchum]

Johnson's paste wax. Do not use Minwax furniture wax. It has something in it that prevents it from being slippery (I guess in case you wax your floor with it). I found some Johnson's at the local hardware store, but some claim the Johnson's can be hard to find. You can search the archives, some have posted online sources for the stuff.

Frank

[Robatoy]

I wouldn't start the day without a can of Bostik TopCoat nearby. Perhaps it's 'job specific', but sliding a 7" x 7" square routerbase along an aluminum fence with a PC Production router on top, is almost fun when TopCoat is applied to the base and fence-edge. It's all over my table saw as well. I'm addicted and swear by the stuff. I do NOT know what kind of residue it would leave on a wood veneer panel prior to finishing..it might cause fish-eyeing with laquer.

When using laquer finishes, you always have to keep 'additives' like waxes and sillycones away from your work...they can cause havoc.

Rob--->who is feeling pretty good today knowing that his knee-lube appointment was moved from Aug 23 2005 to January 27 2005.

[Knothead]

Johnson's paste wax is a normally stocked item at most midwest Ace hardware stores. I seem to never need to do anything with my Unisaw. Constant use keeps it rust free for me... But I did wax it a few years back before the big Y2k thing thinking we were going to lose power and return to the stone age for a while.

Knothead

[Leon]

Since TopCote was developed specifically to reduce rust and earlier developed specifically to cut down on sliding effort on TS surfaces it was also developed to not affect the finish. Perfectly safe with no ill effects in 15 years.

[Glenna Rose]

Yes, Roger, it is. Guess the increased traffic noise overhead from PDX is grating on my nerves, hence "environmental." As I sit at the computer, mid-house, television on, etc., the noise is way too loud and getting worse. This happens whenever they change the flight path which has been often.

At one time, my ex planned to build an airplane; I asked him where, he said in the basement. How are you going to get it out? We'll lift up the house. This person took a deep breath and told him, "When you have it finished, we'll hire someone to do that," with as much sincerity I could muster, knowing full well it would never happen. At that time he was a good father and husband (and my best friend and soul mate), but some folks should *never* be homeowners and should remain renters forever.

What makes this worse is I was looking at the back of the book when I typed it! Geez.

Glenna

[Glenna Rose]

Thank you, everyone, for all the information. This was so much more helpful than a sentence saying, "Saw tops should be maintained with paste wax."

Hopefully this weekend, I'll get that taken care of. Luckily, it has very little rust, only what has accumulated over 20 years from normal air moisture and lack of use and is more a discoloration than rust. I'll use a fine steel wool to take that off and use the wax. It has given me much good service in the past and surely will in the future and deserves to have some tender loving care.

Thank you, again.

Glenna

snipped-for-privacy@bullt>Rob--->who is feeling pretty good today knowing that his knee-lube

Good luck, Rob, for an accurate diagnosis, excellent treatment, and extremely good results.

>

[Larry Blanchard]

Floor wax. I use Trewax, others use Johnsons. I only have to do it once or twice a year, in spite of the fact that winter is our wet cold season and the shop is unheated for most of it. IIRC, I had to wax a little more frequently when I first started doing it. I think it builds up in the pores.

[Jane & David]

In case you're still looking, Johnson's paste wax is available at Fred's (you're in Portland, right?) with the other floor products. Look down by the floor, since Johnson's doesn't seem to pay for eye-level shelf space.

PDX David

[BillyBob]

I recently had all the cast iron tops of my table saw, jointer and drill press screwed up. I'm having my house siding redone with hardi-plank. the contractor set up a tablesaw right outside the door of my shop with the door wide open. Concrete dust covered everything. Coupled with a near condensing atmosphere weather condition for a few hours, everything had a coat of nice even coat of rust within hours.

After seeing a demo at woodcraft, I decided to give the rust cleaner made by Boeshield a try. Its basically a weak solution of phosphoric acid. You spritz it on and scrub with a 3m scouring pad (green grade). It removed all the rust and uglies within a matter of minutes. My top had not looked this good since it was new. I sprayed a couple of coatings of topcoat on afterward and I'm happy with the results.

Bob

[RKG]

I use the minwax as it is the only wax I can find in this area and things are a lot more slippery than without it.

Rick

[Silvan]

Put me down for a me five or a me ten or whatever on Johnson's. My top is a year old now, and I can see my face in it if I angle myself right. This in an environment where tools used to turn into rust buckets overnight, before I started waxing everything, and keeping a cheap box fan running 24/7 to keep the air stirred up.

Just to clear up the myth about scarcity, the stuff is available all over the place. I bought my last can at Wal-Mart two weeks ago, and they had a jillion more of them. We think the myth started because they stopped selling the stuff in Kanukisan. But you're not a Kanukistani, are you? (Canadian, if you don't get the wreckfrence.)

[Patriarch]

"BillyBob" wrote in news:sWBDd.403$ [e-mail]:

A little kerosene, used with the green scrubbies, does pretty much the same thing, for removing any rust. Butcher's Bowling Alley wax thereafter, because I still have half a can of that, and it works really well.

The only rust problems I have are when I leave wood, generally oak, on the iron portion of the saw table. So it's a user problem...

Patriarch

[Patriarch]

[e-mail] (Glenna Rose) wrote in news: [e-mail]:

If it's smooth, and not rusty, there's really no reason to scrub it aggressively. Bright and shiney really doesn't cut any better, with saw tops.

Sharp blades, and well aligned fences count for a lot more.

That's where I'd spend my time.

Patriarch

[J T]

Thu, Jan 6, 2005, 11:10pm (EST-3) [e-mail] (Glenna=A0Rose) queries: How do you folks keep your tool tops in good condition, specifically table saws? Keeping them waxed is one thing I've read, is that practical, and does it work?

Duh, yes. That's why people say to do it.

JOAT EVERY THING THAT HAPPENS STAYS HAPPENED.

- Death

[Silvan]

You're a poor sport. It's all about gleaming. Gleaming makes the saw blade sharper. Gleaming makes the fence straighter. Gleaming makes the finish stick better. Gleaming makes the saw cut faster. Gleaming is good. I like gleaming. :)

(Although I used a friend's saw once that was covered in stable dark brown rust that had been burnished to a sort of rusty shine with use, and it cut just fine. I think in days of yore they use to just accept the inevitable and encourage things to develop a stable rust. Now, however, it's the 21st century, and we have the chemical magic necessary to promulgate gleaming. Gleaming is good. I like gleaming. :) )

[Patriarch]

Silvan wrote in news: [e-mail]:

BS. I saw your posts on cleaning and laundry. ;-)

Patriarch