cleaning turning tools

[Bill Wilcox]

Well I broke down and decided to try my hand at some practice turing. I promised myself that I wouldn't turn anything until the garage and shop is done. I am now 99% done and figured that the one little wall that has been spackled and taped could wait till the morning.
I had a 1/2 log of the Black Walnut in the garage and just for fun, trimmed it up and put it in the lathe. I was using a 5/8th bowl gouge and went to town. Man, what a blast!!!! I have 400 lbs in a ballast box and the lathe was smooth as silk. After roughing the bowl out, I was in for dinner and when I went back out, my turning tool was turning black.
Question I have is : When you are done turning for the day/night, what do people use to clean off their tools? I air hose off my lathe and WD40'd the ways. What can I use for the gouges and such the same product?
Thanks,
Bill Wilcox

[alex carey]

no idea, ive never cleaned my tools. My hands get pretty dirty by the end of the day but it's never really been a problem.

[Steve Schlumpf]

On the steel portion of the tools I use one of those course green scratch pads - removes all the built up crud before it solidifies!

[David E Keller]

I'm with Alex... Never cleaned them.

[Steve Vaughan]

Me too. I like that used sort of look. Actually, I'd think it's not gonna hurt them other than appearance, unless they're not used too often.

[John Hart]

I don't clean anything. Interesting concept though.

[Bernie Weishapl]

I clean my ways with WD 40 and never have cleaned my tools. Only use some synthetic wool to take off sap.

[Jeff Willard]

:eek: Clean??

[Jon Lanier]

Bernie,

I'm a firm believer in cleaning up 'my ways', but what are 'ways' on a lathe? I may know, but don't know that term. I may think of it as, 'that thingy.'

[alex carey]

ways = Thing where thing that rotates and thing that supports slide.

[Kaptan J.W. Meek]

The "ways" are the flat bands that your tailstock and toolrest slide on.. I use a little WD-40 steelwool on that, then some topcoat to keep the rust away.. After turning some Mesquite, you want to get that black pitch off the tools, so some mineral spirits (paint thinner) will do the trick.. thats about it.

[Bill Wilcox]

The reason I ask this question is the I found that after turning wet B?lack Walnut and going into the house for a little break, that when I come back out and the gouges have discolored. Even the ways on the lathe have noticable marks left on them from the wet wood. I do spry down the ways with WD40 and blow them off at the end of the day but I was just wondering if anyone cleans off their gouges at the end of the day.

[Jon Lanier]

Ahhh... I gotcha. Yea, I topcoat or Ren Wax. Should I WD40 instead?

[George Guadiane]

The reason I ask this question is the I found that after turning wet B?lack Walnut and going into the house for a little break, that when I come back out and the gouges have discolored. Even the ways on the lathe have noticable marks left on them from the wet wood. I do spry down the ways with WD40 and blow them off at the end of the day but I was just wondering if anyone cleans off their gouges at the end of the day.

Black walnut is not as bad as red oak, but there are actually more than a couple of woods that will corrode your tools. I had a similar experience with wet red oak. Till I came up against it, like the rest of our crew here, I didn't clean. I left some chips on the lathe bed and I had several of my tools in a five gallon bucket, points down. Shavings had gotten into the bucket and when I came back the next morning, my lathe bed and the parts of the tools covered in shavings were BADLY corroded. It seems that when the same woods are dry, they don't cause the same destruction.

[Joseph M Lary]

Lemon juice will clean off the the stain that the walnut leaves on tools & the lathe.

[Reed Gray]

Clean them?????? Nope, just resharpen and they are good to go. I tried to keep the ways on my old PM clean for a month or so, and gave up. If I had used steel wool, I would have sanded through them. Got the Robust now with stainless. No need to worry.

robo hippy

[alex carey]

cleaned and waxed my "ways" today, as well as the bottom of the tool rest/tailstock. I would have accidentally pushed the headstock off the bed if the pin was not there to stop it. I was so used to putting my back into it that when I pushed, it slid 8" inches past how far I had pushed it. Certainly nice to push it easily again, i feel like I have a whole new lathe.