recomendations for cleaning CI tops

[Bryan Naber]

I'm looking for ideas on how to clean and wax my table saw and paner cast iron tops? Any help would be great. Thanks

[Ken Shoemaker]

Spray WD-40, and use a green scotch-bright pad on a hand sander to work it in. It will be messy but effective. Clean-up with mineral spirits and finish up with a good coat of Johnsons Paste wax.

I just did mine this way after being stored for 2 years in an unheated storage facility. They were a mess, but turned out great.

Good luck... Ken

[Jason White]

Mineral spirits and a scotch-brite pad works great for light rust. Fine grit sandpaper and a palm sander works well for heavy rust. Afterward just coat with whatever silicone-free wax you want.

Jason



I'm looking for ideas on how to clean and wax my table saw and paner cast iron tops? Any help would be great. Thanks

[Wayne A Hall]

If it has heavy rust, I use a palm sander and 120 grit paper. Then go over it with 220 grit paper. The sandpaper doesn't last long so use several pieces. Virtually no mess. Use a good wax on it.

[Michael Roland]

I don't mean to hi-jack this thread but I am having rust problems on the surfaces of my CI tools as well.

I recently moved from NJ to VA and I now have a shop that is a detached unheated garage. In NJ I used the attached garage in the house that I owned there. In NJ I never had any issues with rust. Here in VA I am getting rust about every 3-4 weeks.

I have cleaned the tools with Bar Keepers Friend and mineral spirits, then coated them with Boeshield T9 and a coat of paste wax. After a couple of weeks, I'm getting a uniform light coating of rust across the entire surface. It's not happening to just one tool (table saw, band saw table, jointer, drill press table, router table, etc). I think the temperature swings of night time lows below freezing and day time highs in the mid 40's are causing condensation.

Any idea on preventing the rust once I clean them up again? Anybody tried the magnetic sheet tool covers and if so do they work?

Thanks

[Neil Brooks]

Dehumidifier??

[Ryan Welch]

have had this issue in the past as well. I cleaned off the rust and sprayed a liberal coat of T-9 let it sit overnight came back in the morning and buffed it with a lint-free cloth and then put three coats of paste wax buffing between applications. every 3-4 weeks I renew the wax coat. Its alot of work but, my CI tops are still as beautiful as they were when I bought them.

[Bryan Naber]

Thanks for all of the great advice. I just bought a 20" grizzly planer last night and can't wait for it to get here.:p:p:p:p:D

[Greg Portland]

Living in Oregon I have a lot of experience with this topic :-). Mineral spirits + scotchbrite on a rotary sander works well for light rust & packing grease. For heavier rust I use evapo-rust. Boeshield is a good protective coat. However, in some environments you are always going to get condensation and then rust. In those cases I would suggest cutting a piece of cardboard and completely covering the top (so it is against the iron surface). Alternatively you can get some of those expensive machine covers (make sure they sit flush against the top). This will prevent the condensation from forming.