Anniversary gift from SHMBO

[Jeremy]

My lovely wife just came in and asked to take me to town so we can pickup a new Grizzly G0444Z contractors table saw. What a great surprise for me! Now I can finally move up from the Craftsman bench saw I've been trying to use (soon FS in the paper). I'm definately only a hobiest woodworker so a cabinet model was out of the question.

In exchange, I've been told NOT to mention tools, wood, projects, or anything else until January - so I'm mentioning it here. What is recommended to clean the shipping grease from the cast top? The last thing I want to do is mess up the iron by using the wrong cleaner before I cut my first board. I'm also trying to decide between TopCoat or Paste Wax to protect the top after it's cleaned. I haven't seen wax at the local grocery store and may check at Ace. Otherwise it's another trip to town and Woodcraft (or mail order from any number of sources).

TIA

[Swingman]

WD40 or mineral spirits works for me. I've used both JPW and TopCote as a rust control, and the latter seems to work better in the humid Gulf Coast, at least in my shop (un air-conditioned in Houston, TX).

[DarylRos]

Lacquer thinner, mineral spirits, the usual stuff. I prefer mineral spirits. It takes a bit longer, but the vapors are less hazardous. If you use regular rags, it will be quicker than paper towels, and will elave less residue.

I use TopCoat on my cast iron tops, but it has to be resprayed on a fairly regular schedule.

If you want that saw to cut really great, the one thing more you want to spend on now is the blade. Make that blades, get a good rip blade, like the Amana 20 tooth Euro ripper, and a generic crosscut, like the Freud 50T all purpose.

Then, come January, upgrade the rip fence if you feel the need. Bies, Unifence, a friend loves the Vega, they are all good.

Then you can change the pulley to a turned steel one and the belt to a link belt, but that's really much less important than the blade. Enjoy!

[Secret Squirrel]

"Jeremy" wrote in news:Hgagd.433$ [e-mail]:

Saw tops are typically coated in cosmoline which is petroleum based.Any petroleum based solvent will cut it. Delta recommends (or did in the manual for my saw anyway) kerosene. I've used Wd-40 succesfully as well as mineral spirits.

[Just_call_me_dusty]

would you ask your wife to call my wife and tell her how she did that.. smirks.. I need a little help in that direction

[RonB]

Don't worry much about messing up the metal top with most cleaning solvents. But you do need to be a little careful with the paint. For removal I have had great luck with Citrus based degreasers. Just put it on, let is set for a few moment and work the thicker areas with fingertips. Then wipe off with a wad of paper towels. As others said, WD40 works well just a little messier.

For protection I bought a product from Grizzly called SLIPIT. It is a protectant and contact lubricant. Comes in spray and brush-on paste form. The Grizzly rep recommended brush on. It was $10 a can for most of a lifetime supply. Works well when used a few times a year.

Griz is pretty good about providing touch up paint if the paint is scratched or damaged.

RonB

[Gary]

'Hoo be "SHMBO"? You don't have an affinitity for a certain central Virginia university, do you?

Gary

[Greg O]

I would caution everyone about using lacquer thinner. It will attack some plastics, and also some enamel paints. On the other hand, mineral spirits are pretty safe. Either one will burn, so no smoking! Greg

[Ollie]

Grizzly rules.

I got my G5959Z cabinet saw 8 months ago, cleaned the surfaces with WD40 and since then SLIPIT has protected the surface. I have applied it on all my jigs and slades with excellent results.

The reason for my good mood is that today I just learned that the G0543 jointer is available with a solid 75" table. The original G0500 and G0543 had 65" table with two 5" extensions. The confirmation from Grizzly was not easy - in phone, web site, and once through e-mail they claimed that the solid single-piece table was not available. After two independent e-mail confirmations, I was convinced that the one-piece table is available.

I did order the jointer today and should get it on next week.

Cheers, Ollie

[Jeremy]

[Jeremy]

[LRod]

Kerosene is far and away the best solvent for shipping grease (cosmoline). More agressive solvents such as lacquer thinner may potentially damage finishes elsewhere on the saw.

Trust me, mineral spirits, WD-40, etc., do NOT work as well.

What does SHMBO mean?

- - LRod

Master Woodbutcher and seasoned termite

Shamelessly whoring my website since 1999

[LRod]

It may very well be that WD-40 does an adequate job. It has not been my experience that it does, with respect to cosmoline/packing grease. Kerosene, however, cuts it like butter. It's as if it was made for it, which, in a backwards way, it probably was.

It is my opinion, based on my experience, that those who espouse mineral spirits, WD-40, and other mild solvents have not tried kerosene because if they had, they would never bother with the others.

It is that much better.

- - LRod

Master Woodbutcher and seasoned termite

Shamelessly whoring my website since 1999

[Ollie]

LR - What is the problem with WD40? It has worked fine for my cleaning and other purposes.

Btw, we know that you know what SHMBO means. It is just a different spelling for hu (who that is).

Cheers -- Ollie

[Swingman]

Maybe ... but I rarely have any other use for kerosene in a woodshop, while WD40, another petroleum based product with similar solvent properties, is always on-hand due to its usefulness for other tasks in a woodshop.

Besides, it is also THE 'killer app' for cleaning the stainless steel on stove, rangehood, and refrigerator doors and tops.

[LRod]

Heh, heh. In my yout when I worked at a factory that manufactured stainless steel sterilizing machines for labs and hospitals, we used to clean them up before crating with a mixture of kerosene and motor oil.

Yeah, I use WD-40 on the stainless stuff in the kitchen (range, fridge, dishwasher, hood), but since I have kerosene in the shop for cleaning off packing grease, maybe I'll mix some up the next time I clean the kitchen.

- - LRod

Master Woodbutcher and seasoned termite

Shamelessly whoring my website since 1999

[Silvan]

I agree. I got a new table saw last spring, covered in that goo, with wax paper or something stuck down in the muck. I tried mineral spirits first, because I had some at hand. It worked slowly, and didn't have enough oomph to soak through and get up all that paper crap. Then I tried some ultra-pure lamp oil, which is basically highly refined kerosene. Night and day. It didn't even smell much.

(It makes great trumpet valve oil too. $1.50 for a 1/4 oz. bottle of official bona fide trumpet valve oil vs. $6 for half a gallon of Ultra Pure. Hrm. I'll bet a chemical analysis would reveal they're the same damn stuff.)

[Robert Bonomi]

*Any* 'light petroleum distillate' (kerosene, diesel fuel, gasoline, mineral spirits, paint-thinner, 'Coleman fuel', naphtha, etc.) works almost equally as well as any of the others. (WD-40 _is_ built around a 'light petroleum distillate' base, but it is *very* expensive per unit of said distillates.)

Equipment manufacturers recommend kerosene for two primary reasons: (1) it is the _least_ flammable of the collection, (2) it is generally the 'least expensive' of the choices.

In addition, it is *usually* 'readily available' almost everywhere.

[RE Quick Transit]

If you can't find kero easily, buy lamp oil at Wal Mart.