Sealing cast iron table saw top

[Jim Rimmer]

My neighbor down the street keeps his relatively new Delta Unisaw tablesaw (only stationary power tool he has) in his un-air conditioned garage (oh, the horror!), usually with the door open. I always wondered what the top on that saw looked like and one day they were having a garage sale and I made a point of stopping by and asking. The top looked brand new, it even had a polished look to it - his secret? He sprayed the top with an automotive clear-coat finish, nothing fancy just the rattle-can you get at the auto parts houses. He said he sprayed 2 cans until the entire can was used up and that gave a total of about 6 coats. Apparently the clear-coat dries hard enough that it doesn't easily scratch, because I see him using that saw about once a month. My shop is in a conditioned space, but if I ever had the need to put it in a rust prone environment I would definitely go the clear-coat finish route - it seems to work.

I use the paste wax method. You need to be careful of automotive protectant as they may contain silicone.

I live in hot, humid Houston only a mile from Galveston Bay. I don't wax mine as often as some others have said they do (but I probably should to be on the safe side) and the paste wax has protected it well. Only problem I have is sweat drops in the hot, humid summers here.

[Jim Rimmer]

Just reading through this thread and had a follow up question.

I just purchased a Grizzly Sander G1071, set it up put on a coat of boshield and topcoat and tested the thing out today only to see tons of little scratches on the table top after only a few minutes of using it. I have no clue why this is happening. I thought maybe the edge of the table had some rough spots that were getting fine pieces of metal into the wood or something like that. I'm very confused and not sure how to avoid this large amount of table scratching in only a couple minutes.

Could you be getting sanding grit from the new cylinders under the wood?

[curtis rosche]

I was reading a thread somewhere and older guy had posted. heat the iron with a heat gun, pour on some old motor oil, then heat again till its dry. exactly like seasoning a cast iron skillet or pot. just dont over heat or get too hot in one spot

[Lewis Ehrhardt]

Curtis, that sounds like a recipe for leukemia to me

[Phillip Gregory]

I use Turtle Wax. It dries in a few hours and buffs out easily to make a nice smooth surface. The only bad part is that my shop smells like coconut-scented suntan oil for a day.

[Howard Acheson]

What was the topcoat? Also, are you sure that the scratches are not in the Boehield and/or wax? Neither Boeshield or paste wax will prevent scratches?

[Mark Wooden]

Butchers White Diamond paste wax, wears pretty well. I use it on all my tables and beds.
Too much build up of paste wax can get gunky, so I clean my machines once in a while with steel wool and mineral spirits and fresh wax.

[curtis rosche]

Curtis, that sounds like a recipe for leukemia to me

well it could be done with cooking oil,, but the concept is the same as a seasoned skillet. Cooking oil would work, the post i had read the guy used what he had layin around

[Jamie Schmitz]

My saw, unfortunately resides outdoors in a rain forest of sorts. I sprayed the top with deft lacquer. No rust. Make sure if you do spray it to completely remove any wax or foreign matter with lacquer thinner.

[Mike Goetzke]

On all my cast surfaces I used "Dave's Dirty Dozen" as a guideline:

1) Scrape as much of the sludge as you can off with cardboard from the shipping container or a plastic scraper.
2) Use Simple Green right out of the container and tons of paper towels to get the rest off. (I used Greased Lightning)
3) Wash off the Simple Green with more paper towels and clear water. Dry off with even more paper towels.
4) Spray the top down liberally with WD40. The WD in WD40 stands for Water Displacing, by the way.
5) Take a finishing sander, like a Porter-Cable 330, and put it on a ScotchBrite green pad. Random Orbital will work, but makes a hell of a mess.(I use a 1/4 sheet sander)
6) Sand the top evenly until you feel like you've "massaged" the WD40 in very well. This also will knock some sharp spots off your top, a good thing.(I clean with rags and do this a second time)
7) Take even more paper towels, and wipe the top until dry. It will feel slightly oily.
8) Using a quality furniture paste wax (Johnson's, Minwax, Butcher's, whatever is available in your area), wax the top thoroughly and allow to dry. (I Boeshield the top first then wax)
9) Wipe off the bulk of the excess wax with paper towels.
10) Wax it again.
11) Buff well with paper towels.
12) Last step. Take a piece of wood with straight edges, and rub the surface of the saw in the direction of cut with the wood, as though you were cross-cutting it.
It's a damn sight more steps than "wash off with kerosene", which is what all the manuals say. But, it leaves a top that is seriously ready for work, and won't need to be screwed with every couple months. I rewax my tops every year or two, and they ain't rusty...


Dave Arbuckle

[Erik Loza]

I have cleaned about a bizillion machines and do almost the exact same process as above ^^^, except that I use turpentine or a citrus-type-degreaser to get the heavy stuff off. Simple Green to get the light oil off any painted/powder-coated surfaces. What I have found is that running wood over the table tops seems to scrape off all the wax you just applied, for the first few weeks, but then you just keep re-waxing it and soon, the metal just gets so impregnated that it needs little touch-up.

Erik Loza
Minimax USA

[Mike Hollingsworth]

Another great use for Waxilit.

[Chris Tsutsui]

When my company wants to prevent corrosion on buried uncoated cast iron or ductile iron for a very long period of time, we use a paste wax primer such as Trenton Wax-Tape Primer and then we layer on a wax tape followed by a polypropelyne plastic film.

The problem with this is probably removal of the sticky paste wax when you want to use the machine again though this method would protect a bare surface for a very long time.

So with this in mind, perhaps using a thick layer of Johnson's paste wax followed by overlapping layers of plastic wrap should might make the wax last longer. I don't see an issue with this as long as the paste wax is non-corrosive / non-conductive.

[ken masoumi]

I use Colinite insulator wax,it's an amazing product.I use it on my car also:



http://www.collinite.com/automotive-wax/insulator-wax/