Strange coating on cast iron

[sweet sawdust]

Went to do some bandsaw work today and noticed that my table had a high friction coating on it. Nothing that I have knowingly put on it would cause this. I checked my jointer, table saw, drill press and sander and all of the cast iron tables had a similar coating. Coating is clear with no smell, no sticky feeling, no rust just a high friction feel. Cleaned all tables with denatured alcohal and rewaxed and now they are a slick as ever. Slow drizzel type rain (1/2 inch in 24 hours) has moved in after about 12 weeks of no rain and about 3 weeks of 100+ temps. Temp today was in the low 80s. Any one have an idea of what could have caused this?

[Tim Douglass]

Just a guess, but the combination of high heat and a sudden change in the humidity probably interacted with the wax, especially if you had a pretty heavy coating on them.

-- "We need to make a sacrifice to the gods, find me a young virgin... oh, and bring something to kill"

Tim Douglass

[Curran Copeland]

the past. Wax was Johnson's paste and was well past time to renew so it shouldn't have been to thick. Tools did get warm to the touch during the hot weather. Wooden and plastic surfaces that were also waxed like the cast iron did not show any signs of the coating. Only found the coating on horizontal cast iron. It has me wondering what is going on. I have been using a lot of pine the past few weeks, I wonder if that may have anything to do with it.

[Old guy]

The pine might be a clue.

Any chance it was fairly pitchy and the machines threw pitchy sawdust into the air?

Not sure why it wouldn't have affected other surfaces.

Old Guy

[sweet sawdust]

Could be. The pine didn't seem very pitchy though and none was used on the drill press. Temp was hot enough to fry eggs in the shop so I guess that could have something to do with it. Just seems strange that it would show up now instead of some time sooner when I was working with the wood. I was also working with red oak and poplar during that time and didn't notice any problems. I guess I will just blame the pine and temp change and let it go at that.

[Tim Douglass]

The problem wouldn't be at the high temperature, but when it cools and the humidity goes up. Still, it sounds a bit strange. Might be aliens at work.

-- "We need to make a sacrifice to the gods, find me a young virgin... oh, and bring something to kill"

Tim Douglass

[sweet sawdust]