Official Luthiers Forum!

I was lucky enough to borrow an older shaper from my brother , it runs but the table has some rust, does anyone have a good way to clean the rust without using oil? thanks Jody

Jody, I like a paste wax (Butcher's) as a cutting medium under steel wool or scotchbrite, then wiped off with clean rags, and finally flooded with naptha and washed until clean rags show no more rust or dirt. Sounds counterintuitive, but perhaps some wax remains down in the crevices, because this treatment on cast iron seems to be a good rust preventive.

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Dan
http://www.acme-archtops.com

Jody...I'm in the process of restoring and tuning up a used jointer. I used WD-40 and Scotchbrite to loosen up any surface oxidation and grime followed by clearing with Naptha. I also plan to apply several coats of a non-silicone wax to make the surfaces slick as well as for protection from future rust formation.

Your brother made a wise choice in allowing you to borrow his abused tools. You might just want to keep it for his own good!

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JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

lol JJ yeah he offered me two of them.. didnt think I would have a need for two ... but now I am having second thoughts... for his own good Ya'know ? ...... thanks for the help! guys... Jody

I've restored several old tools including the Crescent 12" jointer in the pictures below. As the other guys have said, nothing wrong with using oil, just avoid anything silicone based. WD 40 and some silicon carbide paper works fantastic. It's like scary sharpening your table. Start with 180 or so, clean off the debris and move up to 600 or so. Also Boeshield's rust remover product is supposed to work really well, but I've not personally used it.

When done, I've always used Trewax. Johnson's paste wax is also good. You can find them in the floor care section of the hardware store. Again, avoid anything with silicone. This means most super duper newfangled auto polishes.

Good Luck.

Darrin

With my new Jet table saw, the manual recommends using WD 40 and a scotch brite pad. I tried in on my bandsaw and it brought it up like new. Seems to penetrate into the cast as well. Hopefully it'll keep it looking new once the wet season comes around again in a few months.

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Allen R. McFarlen
Barron River Guitars & Ukuleles
Facebook
Cairns, Australia

About twice a year I clean off all my table top tools and put a good coat of turtle car wax on them. Of course I have bought some that had minor surface rust ont hem and the scotch brite pads and some elbow grease will usually clen them up.

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Reguards,

Ken H

A fine grit stone and some mineral spirits. Levels as it cleans.
Works good on cast iron, probably not so good on aluminum.
I keep a couple stones for stuff like this. I don't use them for my cutting tools.

Edit: Duh! I guess aluminum doesn't rust does it. Corrosion maybe.

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Horton, MI