cleaning saw blades

[Mike Stanton]

What do you like to clean table saw bades with? Mike

[Peter Stahl]

Simple Green works well.

[Rick Haigh]

Mike,
I use oven cleaner. It smells, but it works very well. I just use a tooth brush to get the pitch off and then rinse them with water. After they are clean I spray them with dry-cote.

Rick

[Keith Outten]

Greased Lightning will remove everything, even the manufactureres label and text from a blade.

[Kurt Aebi]

I soak it in Simple Green and brush it off, then spray with Dri-Cote.

[Julie Wright]

Simple Green

[Arvin Brown]

Goof off and then thin coat of WD40.

[John Miliunas]

Simple Green and then shoot some Boeshield on it. :cool:

[Lee Schierer]

I use either simple green or sudsy ammonia to clean my blades with a preference now for simple green as it smells nicer than the ammonia and is easier to buy.

I've heard that turpentine also works to dissolve the pitch.

It used to be common practice to clean HSS blades with oven cleaner. However, with the advent of carbide tipped blades, this practice has been shown to cause damage to the braze that holds the carbide tips to the steel and is not recommended by most blade manufacturers.

I've also found that since I carefully aligned my TS that I see much less build up on the blades than I used to since the blades rub less on the wood.

[Mac McAtee]

A houshold cleaning product called Fantastic works very well.

[Zahid Naqvi]

Ok, somebody better tell me what "simple green" is and where can I get it from. Can I use it on hand saws as well.

Zahid
P.S. I know what WD40 is ;) ;)

[Alan Turner]

Oxysolv, from Woodworkers Supply, @ 28/gallon. No need to soak, just spray, wait about one minute, and use a toothbrush. Then rinse it off at the back sink. Non-toxic, very effective, goes a long ways. Buy a gallon with your friends, and split it up.

[Gene Collison]

What do you like to clean table saw bades with? Mike

Mike,

CMT makes a liquid cleaner in a spray bottle for about $10 depending where you buy it. A spray bottle lasts me about a year and it takes the sap right off immediately.

Gene

[John Miliunas]

Ok, somebody better tell me what "simple green" is and where can I get it from. Can I use it on hand saws as well.

Zahid
P.S. I know what WD40 is ;) ;)

Zahid, Simple Green is a general, all-purpose cleaner. It's biodegradable and just does wonders on grease and most anything "sticky". Does a fine job on saw blades plus, if you soak sanding belts in it and then brush them off with a bristle brush, you can really increase the mileage of your belts. Locally, I get mine at a Menard's (a Big Box type of store), though I do believe I've spotted it at HD, as well. :cool:

[Chris Padilla]

I use the same product as Gene does...from CMT. It is called Formula 2050. Here's a blurb about it:

http://www.sommerfeldtools.com/products.asp?id=180

I spray it on, let it soak for a minute or two, then take a toothbrush to it...then wipe and let it dry (no rinsing). I then spray it with dry-cote.

I do this process with all saw blades and router bits before use and occasionally on my drill bits (twist, forstner, etc.) as needed.

[Larry Browning]

I had this same question a couple of weeks ago and got some simple green. I used it full strength, letting it soak for about an hour. It not only took off the rather large amount of pitch, it also removed the mfg logo and lettering. I put it in a 5gal bucket lid and the 10" blade fit in there like it was made especially for the job. There is even a ridge in the lid that allows the teeth to be suspended in the solution. When I finished, I just poared the SG back in the bottle. It still looked good except for the bits of logo which I strained out as it poared back into the bottle.
2 questions: 1)Is full strengh proper? Or does the SG need to be diluted? 2) Should I just poar it down the drain or is it ok to recycle?