I don't know what it is (top cote) but it works. The guy I work with says it smells like the stuff they use to spray in bowling shoes. I think it's some kind of powder, like talc, with a propellant.
Mike O.
snipped-for-privacy@milmac.com (Doug Miller) wrote in news:NupMk.5851$ snipped-for-privacy@nlpi061.nbdc.sbc.com:
Good guess, Peoria actually. Indy's farther south than I realized, now that I look at a map. I'm probably short on the distance, too. I just wanted to point out that the same technique worked for someone else with relatively the same climate.
Puckdropper
I just keep a good coat of paste wax on mine. Of course this is a low humidity area. The folks that come in from Colorado don't think so, but I moved here from the Gulf South. This is low humidity.
Tom Veatch Wichita, KS USA
Swingman's right on the money. TopCote is the way to go, and that is true even in the desert. Besides preventing rust, it makes a super slick surface that lasts a long time. Slippery is good on woodworking machinery.
When I first started woodworking, and my shop was in the basement of my first house, the basement would leak every time it rained. Needless to say rust was a major issue. I used everything, car wax, candle wax, I even melted wax in lacquer thinner and painted it on, still, rust would show up in no time as wood sliding would wear it off quickly. Then, one fine day a buddy of mine who worked for 3M got me a can of 3M Dry Lubricant. This stuff was amazing. One quick spray and the surface was slick as ice on a warm day. One coat lasted me 6 months at least and zero rust. When I ran out of it years later, I could no longer get the stuff, I even contacted 3M and sent a picture of the can, no luck. Recently I bought a can of Bostik TopCote and I think it's the same stuff, the can is even the same color.
Wax is NOT the way to go, even though a ton of people use Johnson's paste wax. I guess it's OK in a pinch, but it is not as durable as this stuff, not as slick as this stuff, not as easy to apply as this stuff and doesn't prevent rust as well as this stuff. TopCote has no downside to it that I can find as long as you don't set yourself on fire or use it as an inhaler...
TopCote is a bunch of chemicals and petroleum stuff designed to put on iron table tops, like table saws and jointers.
Some are, but from the money guys on here throw around on Festools and so on they seem less than frugal when it comes to their tools.
-- surely there is an alternative that's pennies per use..
If you find one, let us know. Wax is not it, I've used wax. Truth is, TopCote is around $10 a can, and that should last years. Not bad for having a super slick surface and no rust to deal with. The most dangerous thing in your shop is rusty tables or any non-slick top. Once you see how nice things slide on this stuff and how long it lasts, you won't worry about spending $10 every year or two on a can.
Not a guess, really -- my son is a junior at Millikin U in Decatur, so I know exactly where that is: 150 miles directly west of Indianapolis. US 36 runs right through the center of each city, in pretty nearly a straight line. But yeah, I'm sure the climate is pretty much the same. I used to live in Springfield, and I think it's a little more humid there than in Indy, but not much.
There is a way that works for me and found it out quite by accident. I live in northern Minnesota where temps. very from 90 in the summer to -30 in the winter. When it gets to cold to work in the garage I move my operations to the basement but there is machinery that is left in the garage all year long such as my table saw, bandsaw, thickness planer etc. I had come to the conclusion that I was just going to struggle cleaning off the rust from these items every year. Well, to my surprise when spring came around and I was getting things set up in the garage again, I found an 8" mill bastard file that I had left on top of my tablesaw. When I lifted it up, there was no rust. That was interesting. Over the last few years I have just covered those items using blankets or what ever that lay flat on the surface. It is not "completely" free of rust but it has cut down its presents tremendously. To clean the surfaces quickly, I use WD40 and a block of wood with 320 grit sandpaper. Wipe clean with a paper towel or cloth and then sprinkle and rub baby powder over the surface. I can have all this done in 30-45 minutes. I can't say that this will work in all parts of the country but it does here. Try it and good luck.
John
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