Sealing cast iron table saw top

[Lynn Reid]

Hi all...thanks for all the help you guys have given me! I bought the Grizzly 1023RL and am very happy with it. The trouble is sealing the top. I used Boeshield...wiped it down but a few days later it was not dry. I wiped again and waxed it with Minwax paste wax. I was getting a little flash rust on the top. I washed it all off with naptha and did the Slipit stuff from Grizzly...I had used this before and had drying problems. However...on my band saw...it worked great since I seldom use it and it dried at some point. I am looking for a good way to seal and protect the top...wondering how you guys do it. That top sure does scratch easily too! Thanks for your help!

Lynn

[Jim O'Dell]

Lynn, I've had good luck with the Boeshield product. In fact, I just ran out of the rust cleaner. Man that's some nasty stuff. But it works. I usually put a thick coat of the protectant on when I'm not going to use the saw for a few days. I'll even leave it on for the weekdays, come back to it on Friday night and wipe it down with a clean dry rag. Then I put on a thick coat of Johnson's past wax. Makes for a nice slick top.
Yes, the tops do seem to scratch easily. I've got one scratch in my 691 that I don't even know when it happened. And it goes sideways on the top, not in the direction wood would be pushed across it. Jim.

[Forrest Bonner]

Lynn, many of us have used plain old "The Original Formula" Johnson Paste Wax for decades. Rub on a generous amount and when it flashes dry buff it with a soft cloth. Do that ever time you use it and it will not rust. For long term storage of my cast iron jointer, I put on a thick coat but don't buff it. I have to re-do that whenever I use it to get the residue off. I have read, somewhere, that the Johnson Paste Wax does not contain any silicon which would interfere with any finish.
Forrest

[Myk Rian]

I slather on the Johnsons paste furniture wax, and melt it in with a heat gun. Then I buff it up.
Haven't had rust with Michigan weather in 7 years.

EDIT: Scratched tops mean you actually use the things.

[glenn bradley]

Johnson's Paste Wax here too, for years. Your climate will determine what works best for you to some extent. I'm in SoCal and we aren't really sure what weather is . . . although some of us put on airs and pretend that we do. If you are getting flash rust, things are getting wet. Wax, Boeshield or whatever, you'll have to cure that problem.

[Neil Brooks]

I'm in SoCal and we aren't really sure what weather is . . . although some of us put on airs and pretend that we do.

SoCal gets four seasons: mudslides, Floods, Earthquakes and Fires

Neil
Half my life in San Diego ....

[Chris Fournier]

I too have only used paste wax and not had a rust problem. I am careful not to throw the shop door open on a hot humid day - this is a rust recipe! Perhaps you should monitor the relative humidity in your shop and if it is say 60% plus you might consider a dehumidifier if it is feasible.

[Bill Huber]

I am in the paste wax group.

I cleaned the saw with mineral spirits when I got the saw and let is dry good. I then waxed it with Johnson's and have had no problems.
I even had a leak in one of my sky lights which you know had to be the one over the saw. It got dripped on and beaded right up, lucky for me. I wiped it off and no rust.

[Mort Stevens]

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.

[Lynn Reid]

Thanks guys...Ill build up wax and see what happens. I was hoping the boeshield would dry quickly...it seems like there should be something that would sink into the pores and dry hard. Have any of you used the micro crystalline wax?

[Mike Gottlieb]

You can use Renaissance Wax which is a microcrystalline wax, but can be expensive. Johnson's works just as well at much less cost.

[Daniel Berlin]

You can use Renaissance Wax which is a microcrystalline wax, but can be expensive. Johnson's works just as well at much less cost.

You guys are doing this all wrong.
What you are supposed to do is do minor maintenance to keep it usable ,but if it is rusting, let it rust.
Then, in 3 years, show your wife how bad it is, and tell her you need to upgrade the saw to something better that won't rust.

Repeat until you have a brand new unisaw x-5/sawstop/whatever.
*Then* take care of the damn thing.

[Mark Ashmeade]

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 think he might have a problem when it does eventually scratch though. Hopefully it's the kind of paint that won't flake around the scratch. Thinking about cars though, scratched paintwork will rust if not treated.

I couldn't bring myself to paint the thing. I'd rather invest the time and elbow grease looking after my tools. I take as much pride and enjoyment in having a shop full of clean tidy tools as much as using them.

[Bob Wingard]

A friend of mine has a small, 2 person cabinet shop and it is equipped with a PM-66. He built support tables to the side and rear, then covered the whole works with the thinnest grade of Formica he could find. A few years ago, the Formica was getting pretty beat up, so he peeled it of to replace it, and the PM-66 top looks like the day he got it.

[David Gulik]

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.