any pitch removal suggestions

Least expensive products would be lye, trisodium phosphate (TSP), and ammonia. (Some claim that lye products - oven cleaners fit this category

- attack and weaken the binder in the carbide. Others have said lye won't affect modern binders. Still others say it's a non-issue.)

Commercial products are oven cleaners, general household cleaners (Simple Green, Fantanstic), plus pitch removal products from woodworking stores.

Here's the easiest, cheapest, least toxic, most environmentally benign method:

Next time you're at the grocery store, get a box of Arm & Hammer Washing Soda. It's on the same aisle as laundry detergent, bleach, and that kind of stuff. Should cost around US$2.50.

Fill a dishpan with warm water to a depth of about an inch, and stir in a quarter cup of washing soda. Lay the sawblade in the dishpan for five minutes. Pick up the dishpan and swirl the water around. Watch three-fourths of the pitch just float away. Scrub the rest off with an old toothbrush. Rinse the blade clean, and dry it carefully. Pour the solution down the drain.

This works for bandsaw blades, too -- just coil them first.

-- Regards, Doug Miller (alphageek-at-milmac-dot-com)

There is a balance between great cleaning and chemical attack of the brazing that holds the carbide tips. I've read through the suggestions and would be a little hesitant to use EZ-off oven cleaner or lye. The washing soda seems relatively benign. A local supplier here swears by a product called Charlie's soap.

Bob

Flamethrower. Works everytime.

Oxi-Clean and water. Just saw it in ShopNotes #70 page 5. "To clean router bits & saw blades, Gene Loose of Rockford, IL soaks them for a few minutes in Oxiclean dissolved in warm water."

Have not tried it myself, have no interest in Oxi-Clean (though my wife saws it is good stuff), it's parent companies or subsidiaries & not related to Gene Loose. I _do_, however, subscribe to ShopNotes!

DexAZ