Best Way to Shine up Band Saw Table?

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SteveHGraham
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Best Way to Shine up Band Saw Table?

Post by SteveHGraham »

An unnamed person mistook my band saw for a coffee table/grocery bag rest, and so I am cleaning it up. I just buffed it with White Diamond metal polish, mainly because I wanted to turn the compressor on. This stuff is amazing on chrome and stainless. The rust doesn't seem all that impressed, although now it is shiny rust.

I think wiping the buffing crud off with paper towels and WD40 probably improved things as much as the buffing.

Recommendations?

I know this isn't machining, but the band saw was MADE using machine tools, so it counts.
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SteveHGraham
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Re: Best Way to Shine up Band Saw Table?

Post by SteveHGraham »

Since no one loves me, I am answering my own question.

I read a bunch of stuff about Scotchbrite and razor blades, but I didn't really want a hard blade on my saw. I grabbed some WD40 and a putty knife and went to work, and it absolutely massacred the rust, in three minutes. It's too dull and soft to scratch the cast iron. It just glides over it and shoves the rust out of the way. And because it's WD40, whatever I couldn't remove with paper towels will evaporate.
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Harold_V
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Re: Best Way to Shine up Band Saw Table?

Post by Harold_V »

SteveHGraham wrote:Since no one loves me, I am answering my own question.
I was going to respond, but I feared I would be misunderstood by some, who might recommend that you and I get a room. :lol:

That being said, one of the things that can be tried is the application of some phosphoric acid. It converts rust to a black substance and discourages further rusting. I've used it extensively on steel doors that have surface rust that I wish to eliminate before painting. Works great, and appears to be long lasting.

Yeah, I already read that you used a putty knife and some WD-40, but the next guy might want to try the phosphoric acid.

Harold
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BadDog
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Re: Best Way to Shine up Band Saw Table?

Post by BadDog »

Phosphoric acid is great, I use it a lot. I buy it as "Concrete Etch" at Home Depot.

Don't worry about using a razor blade. I do that too. It's just like cleaning over spray or the like off glass. Use a nice new blade, sharp and with no nicks in the edge. Applied flat at about the angle of the edge bevel (about 10* off the surface), it will slide over removing anything proud of the surface without marking the surface at all. I wouldn't worry too much about nicks on iron, but on glass, nicks in the blade can mark the glass permanently, so you need a clean fresh blade. Think of it like a single edge version of the flat surface file we recently talked about (I can't think of the name again).

And remember, this is a saw table, not a precision scraped way surface. My recent vertical band saw (Roll-In 20" Tool and Die) had quite a brown surface patina going. No where near enough to affect the use of the tool, but enough to look like it was grungy/dirty. I used oil with a red scotch-brite pad to clean it up nicely. It still has the staining and by no means looks polished, but it does look clean and cared for now, and that's really all I care anything about.
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tornitore45
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Re: Best Way to Shine up Band Saw Table?

Post by tornitore45 »

Other than face shield and Nytrile gloves what safety measures are required to handle Phosphoric Acid in a use as posted? Will vapors for the stored contained rust everything around?
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BadDog
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Re: Best Way to Shine up Band Saw Table?

Post by BadDog »

Always play it safe with general acid safety measures, but Phosphoric is very mild. It's what gives the "bite" to Coke. The most important thing is eye protection, I just wear safety glasses to avoid the accidental splasy. I also wear nitrile gloves, but I've gotten it on my skin and it's not a big deal. For submersion, dilution is between 1:1 to 1:4 acid added to water. For wiping on, I would use 1:1, perhaps with a wet (but not dripping) towel patted into good contact and left for a bit, then wiped until satisfied or until needing renewing the mixture. Mainly just keep the area wet while it's working, and avoid dripping on concrete or other areas it might stain. It often doesn't even harm paint, and even disposal is not a problem (concrete etch is meant to be just hosed off). There are no vapor rust issues like you have with hydrochloric, but you want to avoid getting it on aluminum, and I'm sure there are other things as well, but that's all that comes to mind.
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WJH
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Re: Best Way to Shine up Band Saw Table?

Post by WJH »

Never dilute acid by pouring water into the acid. Instead, pour the acid into the water.
David Merrill
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Re: Best Way to Shine up Band Saw Table?

Post by David Merrill »

Johnson's paste wax is commonly recommended as the final finish to be applied to smooth cast iron table top surfaces of woodworking machines. https://www.google.com/webhp?complete=0 ... s+past+wax

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SteveHGraham
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Re: Best Way to Shine up Band Saw Table?

Post by SteveHGraham »

Indeed. I have a big can of it for just that purpose! The residue from the WD40 is looking pretty good though.
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steamin10
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Re: Best Way to Shine up Band Saw Table?

Post by steamin10 »

My tools sit in a high humidity garage and suffer greatly for it. Various methods of cleaning are used with a wire cup brush being my fav, as it leaves a buffed surface, that is polished and chemical free, as most chemicals draw water and promote rust. One of the favored preservers is plain auto paste wax. Makes for a slick surface and tho it wears of quickly, is too easily re-applied, with the limits of laziness on my part. I have used candle and parrafin wax in various concoctions, trying to avoid chemicals that seep where you dont want them. Paste wax is most handy and trouble free. Sprayed the surface of my table saw with poly clear from a rattle can. It wore off too of course, but left a more unsightly mess, with rust between wear areas.

As it works out is that I broke the shear pin on my 12 inch Delta planer trying to force the platten up for a cut to make a threashold on the deck project. So I must mechanically disassemble and clean my most able tool and restore the function of the depth selection. It is a PITA, but I needed to install new blades anyway. Being a morom trying to do the job at hand, I substituted brawn for brain, and that is usually bad somewhere. So it broke, lesson relived, I knew better but orked it up anyway.
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schor
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Re: Best Way to Shine up Band Saw Table?

Post by schor »

600grit wet sand with varsol will bring up the shine nicely on the table. I did my drill press table and it was like a mirror after that.
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lakeside53
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Re: Best Way to Shine up Band Saw Table?

Post by lakeside53 »

Heck, you could have it ground, polished and hard chromed ;)
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