How do you guys clean your table saw top?

[Dick Holt]

After getting my new jointer, I noticed my table saw top looks kind of dingy by comparison. No rust, some small stains, some scratches and looks "dirty". I used some 400 grit wet or dry sandpaper with WD-40. It helped, but not as much as I had hoped for. Should I try a coarser grit? How do you clean your saw top?

Dick

[Thomas S Stockton]

Dick
I don't worry about it unless it has rust. Stains are a fact of life and it is a tool. Use it and worry about how it works not what it looks like. I never take anything more coarse than steel wool to my tools because every time you sand it you are removing some metal and overtime it could cause problems. If you look at old tools the get a great patina to them that that to me looks way better than shiny new.
But any way if you want it to be shinier you need to go progressively finer in grits not coarser and depending on how shiny you want you could also buff it out.
My opinion has always been it is not the person with the nicest tools that wins, it is the person that does great work with them that does.
Tom

[Rick Huelsbeck]

WD-40, 00 steel wool and bar keepers friend, works great

[Myk Rian]

Do a search here. There must be a thousand threads already.

[Stephen Cherry]

Bar Keepers Friend

Get it at the grocery store near the other powdered cleaners, like comet. It's a mild acid and will take the corrosion and discloloration of of many surfaces. It's great for copper wiring also, and even bars. I use it with a scotchbrite pad.

[Jacob Mac]

I use a slurry of bar keepers friend and 3-1 oil. Works well.

[johnny means]

Compressed air, I blow off the dust and keep it moving. There's enough sanding and polishing for me to do without adding machines to the list.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Compressed air, I blow off the dust and keep it moving
I suck it up w/a shop vac myself, using a cut down 2" chip brush to get into the knooks and crannies....less mess.
I do rub a coat of SC Johnson paste wax on the cast iron every couple of weeks.
Which remonds me - it's due for a coat.

Whooeeee!!!! Finally!!! Something productive to look forward to doing in what's been a week long living hell!!!
(I believe it's referred to as "being retired"....)

[Ted Calver]

Dick,
My solution is not for everyone, but it works for me. I keep my table saw top so loaded with stuff that I never have to worry about it...you can hardly tell its there :) :)

[Trent Shirley]

Sorry Ted, I did not realize I had been copying you all these years. I will try to stop.
But my saw top is granite not iron so I have different issues. :)


Dick,
My solution is not for everyone, but it works for me. I keep my table saw top so loaded with stuff that I never have to worry about it...you can hardly tell its there :) :)

[Jerome Hanby]

Saw (pun intended0) a couple of spots on mine this week, may be trying that razor blade trick and I'm definitely overdue for a good waxing. Not good for dust collection I guess, but I keep a bench brush handy for knocking dust off the top and out of the miter slots and fence rail nooks and crannies.


I suck it up w/a shop vac myself, using a cut down 2" chip brush to get into the knooks and crannies....less mess.
I do rub a coat of SC Johnson paste wax on the cast iron every couple of weeks.
Which remonds me - it's due for a coat.

Whooeeee!!!! Finally!!! Something productive to look forward to doing in what's been a week long living hell!!!
(I believe it's referred to as "being retired"....)

[scott vroom]

Are you eating dinner on it or cutting wood?

[Kyle Iwamoto]

+1 on hiding the saw top. I hide mine under a sheet of plywood and multiple bags of bowls that I've turned and are drying. After all, it is called a TABLE saw.

Seriously, barkeepers friend/WD-40/scotchbrite works great. After I dig my saw out from under the pile of turnings. Then Johnstons paste wax.

[phil harold]

If you used your saw enough,
the wood will keep the top polished

l;o)

[Jerome Stanek]

after buying my CNC i hardly need a table saw. just like Ted works great for holding my finished jobs

[Glen Butler]

Compressed air, I blow off the dust and keep it moving. There's enough sanding and polishing for me to do without adding machines to the list.

I completely agree.

A little wax to keep the wood sliding well, though.