Care of cast-iron tables

[Gary]

Hey gang,

I'm busy Googling as I type this but I thought I'd post here as well, given that I'm likely to get some good advice through this forum.

I just got an awesome deal on a "floor model" cabinet saw. When it was assembled the person stripped the protective plastic (and grease) cover but neglected to protect the tabletop afterwards. As you can imagine, a couple/few months on the showroom floor ensured that the iron tabletop collected quite an array of smudges and handprints that are beginning to manifest themselves as rust. (Hence the awesome deal....)

I set up the saw last night and then literally soaked the entire top with WD-40 and let it sit overnight. After work today I used a random-orbit sander with a nylon pad on it (green pot scrubber) and the top is now rust, smudge, and fingerprint free, and a gleaming silver-grey.

I finished it off by spraying some WD-40 on a cloth and wiping the top down (leaving behind a thin coat of WD-40)

Soooooooo.... I'm wondering what the experts here recommend for further tabletop care.... I'm looking for advice on what I've done already (PLEASE don't tell me that I screwed it up! LOL) as well as advice for daily care. The owner's manual that came with the saw suggests paste wax, but I dunno if that's the best idea out there.

I would imagine that anything good for tablesaw top care would apply equally to my bandsaw and jointer.... Am I wrong?

Thanks,

Cheers!

Gary

[dausbrooks]

Gary, I have used Boeshield on my old Sears contractor saw with great sucuss. I too recently moved up to a cabinet saw and the owners manual suggest applying talcum powder with an eraser. (I haven't been brave enough to try it on the new Powermatic) Neither of these have wax to cause finishing problems. I wonder if anyone uses talcum powder out there? David

[bitternut]

I use good old Johnson paste wax on my General. Works great and is cheap. WD-40 is a waste of time. I think they all have to be renewed periodically. There are some liquids made just for that purpose but they have a nasty solvent in them that is given off when they dry.

[Leon]

TopCote

[maico]

Just avoid anything with silicone in it because if it transfers to the wood during your cuts, the finishing you put on that wood will be spoiled.

I like TopCote myself too.

[Mortimer Schnerd, RN]

It's as good as any. I've used Boeshield with good luck but frankly, nothing seems to last as long as plain old Johnson's Paste Wax.

Not at all. I treat them all the same. As somebody else already pointed out, just avoid products containing silicon.

[CW]

Johnson's paste wax is what I use. The way you reconditioned it was good.

[millleft]

Gary wrote:

Hey Everyone!

I just purchased the Delta 14" a couple of months ago and noticed that the table milling marks (which are poorly done to leave that rough of a finish) were pulling/grabbing the stock as i was cutting (my first cuts were complex curved cuts) so I started block sanding the table (solvent with wet-or-dry sandpaper) a couple nights and wasn't getting very far very fast. I was and still am getting this POS into usable form. Anyway I had problems with the rust/maintainence issue with the C.I. table, I tried the wax and still had rust trying to start up, since I really only have one day a week to try to use my shop, I noticed two weeks ago that this is silly after a fresh coat of wax and one week that it was rusting again. So after many I-net searches and finding nothing pro or con I decided to paint my table top. During the two times that I was block sanding my table trying to smooth it out, I used up the last of my Remington (the gun company) Rem-Lube (signifigantly better than WD-40), now I needed to remove the latest coat of rust and needed a solvent to wet sand with and all I had was Brite-Bore ( another Remington Product), I mention this because the rust was gone before I was even finished sanding in prep for primer, I didn't realize that it would remove rust. Anyway, I used about 3 medium thick coats of Dupli-Color grey primer/filler (lacquer base not enamel), wet sanded with water and after drying put on 4 medium wet coats (2 at a time within 3 hours) of Birchwood-Casey Tuff-Sheen clear poly-urethane gunstock finish. I know this to be a very tough finish which is solvent proof and very durable. I let that kick off for 30 hours and carefully wet sanded again to remove/hide/fill the last bits of milling tool marks and applied 2 more fully wet coats of Tuff-Sheen for a nice, smooth rust free finish. Even though the paint hasn't fully cured, I've made a few small cuts on some smaller stock and can tell the differance already. Just so you know it will take about 4 to 6 weeks to fully cure and I'm almost half way there but I can tell that it will be worth it so I dont have to worry about rust or milling marks grabbing and pulling my wood stock.

[dadiOH]

Wax works. Makes it slick too. When it isn't slick anymore, time for another coat of wax, Johnson's Paste wax preferred.

[sweetsawdust]

[Pat Barber]

[bremen68]

Howdy Gary.... I use Johnson Paste wax on all of my tool tables. I put it on a little heavy, let it dry fairly well then buff the daylights out of it with a wool blanket piece... The wood glides like it's on rollers. And like it's state above, when it gets a little tacky just redo it with the wax.

I'm not keen on leaving the WD40 on the top. It could leave marks on the wood that won't show up until you try and finish it...

[Gary]

Thanks everyone for the great advice.

For some reason I thought that wax would prevent the wood from absorbing a finish but I obviously wasn't thinking that through.

I haven't managed to find Johnson's wax yet (still looking) and will look into the spray-on solutions as well. (Someone told me that the spray on products are nothing more than really, really expensive "Endust" .... Any truth to this?)

Thanks again, everyone,

Cheers!

Gary (makin' sawdust, in Canada)

[Mortimer Schnerd, RN]

If you're in Canada, call the manufacturer of Johnson's Paste Wax toll free at

1-877-506-7352. Tell them you're looking for a local source and see what they say. SC Johnson maintains a manufacturing presence in Canada, if I'm not mistaken.

Forget the spray wax. Johnson's is nothing more than pure canauba wax in paste form. One can will last a lifetime.

[Dave Jackson]

I've always wondered if it's possible to "season" my cast iron table tops much like I do my dutch oven. After seasoning, it doesn't rust or feel oily. The only problem would be how to heat the big tables! --dave

[CW]

No.

[CW]

[CW]

Yes, it would work. Problem is though that it may well warp. Heating and cooling cast iron is a common way of stress relieving. If the table was not fully stress relieved, it will move. I wouldn't chance it.

[Phisherman]

I use Johnson's Paste Wax too. Goes on easy, then I use an auto buffer for a soft shine. A can of wax lasts years.

[Gary]

Not sold in Canada? Dang!

How about this stuff:

it contain Bad Things like silicone?

I also found "natural" (non tinted) Minwax finishing wax... Is there a reason that this would be a bad idea?

Cheers!

Gary