Fast way to clean up a top

[Tim Einwalter]

Had a badly rusted planer bed to clean up. I know that some have been using scotch brite pads under a wire brush, but there's a better way. I used a 3m Deburring wheel chucked into my 1/2" hand drill. The wheels are not cheap, but the results are freekin' awesome. I believe it took me a total of 3 minutes to clean the polished area between the rollers. You can see what I started with to the right.

https://www.grainger.com/product/SCOTCH-BRITE-6-Multi-Finishing-Convolute-4ZR70?searchBar=true&searchQuery=4zr70

[Bill Dufour]

You could glue sandpaper to a board and plane that

[Charles Lent]

I agree with your choice, if doing it under power and not with chemicals, but I would worry about over doing it in spots and ending up with loss of flatness of the table. I hope you were careful to keep it even.

I used one of these 3M deburring wheels in my drill when removing the rust from the floor pan of my truck, before applying 2 coats of truck bed paint. It did this job very well and lasted the whole job. It was much better than trying to do it with sandpaper or Scotchbrite pads.

Charley

[Jared Sankovich]

Ive always just used a RO sander and 150 to 320 paper

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[Mark Wooden]

Any abrasive can dig in to a top, especially sandpaper and abrasive wheels that are impregnated with mineral grit. Best way I've used is a single edge razor blade in a scraper handle, followed by hand powered red scotchbrite, mineral spirits clean up and a coat of hard finish paste wax.
I guess a few thou divot won't matter much in general, but it's surprising how quickly a machines accuracy and ease of use can be thrown by a dished bed or one filled with high and low spots.