Cleaning carbide with Magic Eraser

[Matt Schroeder]

What do the carbide gurus wading in the Creek think of this?

A few days ago I needed to clean the pitch off my Freud dado set and a Forrest WWII. After finding so many uses for the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser inside the house, I tired it on a couple teeth of the blade after running under warm water for about 15 seconds. The pitch came off with just a couple strokes. I dried the blade with a towel and sprayed it with WD-40 before wiping it down really well. It looks brand new, but I can't tell if the cutting action has changed since I only did a few teeth.

I emailed both companies to see what they say about the idea. Freud replied that they had not tried it and therefore could not comment, but their recommended cleaning method is kerosene soak for 24 hours and clean with a soft brush. Forrest did not reply. I am not a fan of the kerosene soak as I have no other use for kerosene and don't want more HazMat in my garage.

Is this method a viable simple and low environmental impact strategy, or will it damage the blade over the short or long term?

[del schisler]

What do the carbide gurus wading in the Creek think of this?

A few days ago I needed to clean the pitch off my Freud dado set and a Forrest WWII. After finding so many uses for the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser inside the house, I tired it on a couple teeth of the blade after running under warm water for about 15 seconds. The pitch came off with just a couple strokes. I dried the blade with a towel and sprayed it with WD-40 before wiping it down really well. It looks brand new, but I can't tell if the cutting action has changed since I only did a few teeth.

I emailed both companies to see what they say about the idea. Freud replied that they had not tried it and therefore could not comment, but their recommended cleaning method is kerosene soak for 24 hours and clean with a soft brush. Forrest did not reply. I am not a fan of the kerosene soak as I have no other use for kerosene and don't want more HazMat in my garage.

Is this method a viable simple and low environmental impact strategy, or will it damage the blade over the short or long term?

I wouldn't use derosene and let it soak for 24 hours while unless you have another blade you are down. Bad idea my 2 cent's . I use greese lighting and it clean's the blade in a few min. i wipe dry and spray with T9 I am up and going in less than 1/2 hr. when i am in no hurry. Some use 4 o 9 aslo I don't belive in soaking. If it is on their bad than when you get the pitch off Don't let it get that way again. I don't do pine in my shop.

[David Weaver]

I'd say do what you want - if you wear safety glasses, the risk isn't really that great.

A new blade is what...$50-$75? You can run that much wood through the TS in a minute. Cleaning a TS blade often is such a PIA that I'd do it the easiest way possible as long as it wasn't a *known* way to damage the blade quickly.

I have seen a lot of teeth missing from blades, and been present when they flew off due to hitting something that was either not checked for or that was not supposed to be present in wood products.

I still haven't seen a tooth come off of any cleaned blade, and I have a buddy who likes to clean his with carb cleaner and brake cleaner. I'm sure it's happened when someone did something ridiculous, but otherwise in the hobby shops I've been in..not seen it.

I don't like kerosene, either, I don't like having any more solvents and fossil fuel based stuff to handle and absorb than necessary - the news about their effect only gets worse as time goes on. You could always do it outside, though, and store a gallon of kero outside in a container. Worst that could happen would be someone stealing the kero.

[Tom Walz]

Tungsten Carbide is made to be wear and corrosion resistant. It really is very hard to damage it at all. I have never seen any proof that any cleaner damaged carbide. It can affect the surface but that is extremely difficult. Even when it does affect the surface it is only the very top.

When you wash your hands you remove skin cells, mostly dead skin cells. Whether bathing damages your skin is your decision. However the level of damage is about the same in either case.

I have been researching carbide applications and developing advanced grades for 30 years. My approach has been using chemical processes to affect the surface of tungsten carbide and similar materials for brazing. Making new grades of high wear carbide is hard. Making new grades of high wear carbide that will stay on the saw through brazing is even harder.

Chemical attack can be a huge wear factor in carbide in both wood and metal so it is heavily researched.

Probably the use that is hardest on tungsten carbide is cutting green Western Red Cedar in a sawmill. Western Red Cedar is a very high acid wood. Yet a carbide tipped blade with a modern grade of carbide can cut constantly for eight hours before it dulls enough to need sharpening.

We did some work on this a couple years ago and the results are at:
http://www.carbideprocessors.com/pages/Cleaning-Saw-Blades.html

More articles at:
http://www.carbideprocessors.com/pages/Saw-Blades.html

There are also articles explaining why saw tips come off.

Tom

[Sherzod Niazov]

I recently bought highly recommended famous name brand blade cleaner (non-toxic, safe for blades etc). It was quite expensive and works very well. One thing i noticed was that it smells and looks like windex. So i tried using windex, i can't tell the difference, to me windex cleans blades just as well. I've been using windex since then. No soaking, just spirnke over teeth, and a light scrub with a toothbrush.

[Chris Tsutsui]

I used oven cleaner for my last cleaning session. This was based on like 30 minutes of searching.

[Gene Howe]

I've tried oven cleaner, Windex, WD40 and 409. I stick with 409 and a brass brush. I'm gonna try those Mr. Clean sponges, though.

[Matt Schroeder]

I've tried oven cleaner, Windex, WD40 and 409. I stick with 409 and a brass brush. I'm gonna try those Mr. Clean sponges, though.

Gene,

Let me know how your trial works. I found the warm water first makes a big difference. Without it I had to scrub harder, shredding a corner of the sponge in the process. After giving the blade a warm rinse the next tooth only took a 3-4 light strokes.

I have a couple router bits that could use a touch up so I think I will try one of them next to see how the cutting action changes before/after cleaning.

Matt

[John Shaffner]

If I remember correctly, oven cleaner is a caustic solution and will cause pitting in the carbide and also soften the brazing that holds the teeth on the blade's plate. I would not recommend anything caustic for cleaning blades or bits. I use Simple Green and have very good results. I may give the Magic Eraser a shot though.
John

[Erik Christensen]

i use the kit sold by Rockler - soak blade for a few minutes then hit it with a brass brush they sell to clean BBQ grills with - really stubborn build up takes a second pass

so far works great for me

[Chip Lindley]

If I remember correctly, oven cleaner is a caustic solution and will cause pitting in the carbide and also soften the brazing that holds the teeth on the blade's plate. I would not recommend anything caustic for cleaning blades or bits. I use Simple Green and have very good results. I may give the Magic Eraser a shot though.
John

A 24-hour soak in kerosene?? I can clean a blade in less than 10 minutes. I will continue to use Easy Off and a brass bristle brush with a warm water rinse on my blades as I did in the last century, and thus far into this one.

No real evidence that carbide exposed to oven cleaner (caustic soda/lye) for brief periods has caused any "real" problems with carbide. (None for me in 25 years!)

Simple Green in on the No-No list for cleaning carbide also, per it's maker. No real reason why though! But read on:

...this is posted with Simple Green's permission..

Dear Ben,

Thank you for contacting Simple Green and for your interest in our products.

Simple Green All Purpose Cleaner should not be used to soak saw blades for any period of time. Any application other than spray and wipe is not recommended.

The recommended product for cleaning saw blades is Simple Green Pro HD which has no effect even during long soak times. Simple Green Pro HD can be purchased at Home Depot.

I hope that this information helps. If you have further questions about this or other Simple Green products or uses, please feel free to contact me via reply email or directly. My contact information is provided below and my regular business hours are Mon thru Fri from 8 -5 Pacific Standard Time.

Thank you again for your inquiry.

Sincerely,

XXXXXXXXXXXX
Technical and Customer Liaison

Who knows what's in that Magic Eraser!

[Larry Frank]

This thread on cleaning blades comes up very frequently. I base my cleaning technique on the information from Tom Walz who posted earlier in this thread. He posted the links to the information that he has developed.

It appears that it is very difficult to chemically damage the carbide and that almost any of the techniques suggested are OK as long as you are comfortable handling the chemical involved. I use oven cleaner which is fine on the carbide but one has to be very cautious as it is not OK on humans.

[Dan Rude]

I have had good luck with FRANMAR Soy saw blade cleaner, I picked it up at the Woodworking show last year.
http://www.franmar.com/shopping/inde...roducts_id=137

Their stripper I haven't tried yet, but they use it at the place I work and love it because it is non-hazardous. Since it's a large hospital this is a major concern.

[Lex Boegen]

I used oven cleaner for my last cleaning session. This was based on like 30 minutes of searching.

I used oven cleaner once, on a Teflon-coated blade. It removed all of the Teflon as well as the resin. Now I don't see much in the way of Teflon-coated blades anymore, so it's probably not an issue.

[Mike Harrison]

All I've ever used is about 4 Tblsp of baking soda in about an inch of HOT water. Let soak for about five minutes, scrub with a veggie brush, rinse in hot running water, dry with the hair drier. Clean as new.