Care and Maintenance of your Cast Iron tables?

[Bill Serino]

Thanks for the tip on the Johnson's Paste Wax.

I picked some up and spent the last hour getting it applied.

Yeah it's AZ but the humidity was 86% this morning and currently 54%.

Only for a few months a year but I like to take proper care of my investments

ETA: Oh, and how smooth does it make that surface!

[Charles Lent]

You will really appreciate the smoothness of the waxed surface when you pass wood over it, but this is also a signal to you. When it doesn't slide as easily, it's time to add more wax.

85% is too much humidity for your shop. You should be running a de-humidifier when it goes over 50-60 %. Keep your shop closed up during times of high humidity and remove the excess in the shop with an air conditioner or de-humidifier. Both should have condensate drains to the outdoors. Swamp coolers add humidity to the air, and this is great when the humidity is single digit, but you don't want to be running the swamp cooler when the humidity goes up. Workshop humidity problems start when it's about 50% and get worse as it goes higher. Do your best to keep it out of your shop, and wax everything iron that's in the shop.

Charley

[Nick Shattuck]

I keep a 1/4" plywood cover cut to fit the surface on my jointer and bandsaw's tables and leave a "cross-cut" sled on my tablesaw that is the same size as the surface. Having the cast iron covered makes a huge difference. I once left the sled partially exposing the tablesaw's table for a week and I could clearly see rust starting to form on the uncovered part.

So this, in addition to johnson's paste wax is what I use and it works great. My shop is my garage, so no AC.

[Bill Serino]

You will really appreciate the smoothness of the waxed surface when you pass wood over it, but this is also a signal to you. When it doesn't slide as easily, it's time to add more wax.

85% is too much humidity for your shop. You should be running a de-humidifier when it goes over 50-60 %. Keep your shop closed up during times of high humidity and remove the excess in the shop with an air conditioner or de-humidifier. Both should have condensate drains to the outdoors. Swamp coolers add humidity to the air, and this is great when the humidity is single digit, but you don't want to be running the swamp cooler when the humidity goes up. Workshop humidity problems start when it's about 50% and get worse as it goes higher. Do your best to keep it out of your shop, and wax everything iron that's in the shop.

Charley

It's a garage shop and 1 car still gets parked in it and the open door is part of my dust control. No fixing that. It fluctuates from 30%-100% yesterday. Right now it's 72% and will probably burn off by mid afternoon it'll be back to the 30's and if the monsoon rolls in it might rain. It may not but it's only for a few months a year. July and August typically, not too worried about it. The paste wax is perfect.

[Charles Lent]

If you continue to have rusting, strip the wax off with paint thinner and a rag. Try to put on enough paint thinner to disolve the wax in the pores and get it all. Then apply a liberal coat of WD-40 or the equivalent CRC water displacement. Let it soak in for about 1/2 hour and then wipe off all you can get with a clean dry rag Then go back and re-apply the Johnsons Paste Wax and let it dry to a haze before buffing it off. As hot as it is there, you may need to wait until its cool at night or the wax won't dry to a haze. If you wipe it off before it dries, there won't be enough left to protect the cast iron or steel. Then re-wax it again the same way. In your situation, this should work, but you will probably need to apply another coat of wax about weekly while the humidity is higher than 50%, especially if you use the tool. There is no perfect solution when the humidity is this high, except to do this as well as keep the humidity out of where the saw and other tools are located. This means keeping the doors to the garage shut and either an air conditioner or good de-humidifier running constantly with drains to keep the condensate tank from filling and shutting the unit off. It's not a battle, it's a WAR against rust.

Maybe you could keep the cars outside when the humidity is above 50%, and use an air conditioner and fans to circulate the air inside the garage, rather than opening the door. My shop air conditioner runs 24/7 when it's in the 90's and above 50% humidity here Just North of Charlotte, NC). I only open the door (passage door) to go in or out. The big door stays closed when it's like this outside. My cars live outside all Summer.

You kind of have a choice, fight the rust constantly, or close up the garage and keep the humidity low inside through mechanical means. Most woodworkers leave their cars outside rather than fight the rust, but most also wax their tools to make the wood slide easier.

Charley

[Bill Serino]

I actually haven't had any rust.

Just being proactive

[Ben Rivel]

WD-40 and a Scotchbrite pad to clean up light rust if it occurs. Havent needed more than that for light rust on new equipment either. Then I clean up with denatured alcohol.


For protection I spray light coating of T-9, wipe on evenly, let dry over night, wipe off excess the next day and apply two coats of Renaissance paste wax allowing to dry 30-60 minutes in between. Used to use the Johnson's Paste Wax, but like the Renaissance more. Keep up with regular applications of the paste wax and never get sweat or moisture on the cast iron and youll be good to go.

[Shawn Pixley]

Southern California beach with a constant hot salty air. I use Boeshield and then paste wax. Cover with a HF moving blanket each night when in use.

[Bill Serino]

So it's been raining like crazy here every afternoon.

Before using paste wax last week I had oil on the tables. I had wiped them off and then used the paste wax.

Turns out what I thought was either stains or residual packaging grease may had been rust... or maybe it was just residual packaging grease.

So I got some distilled white vinegar, no scratch scotchbite scrubbing pads and already had #0000 steel wool and went to town.

Spent a few hours cleaning the oscillating sanders table, drill press table and the band saw table. Got them sparkling and put about 4 coats of paste wax on back them.

Looking beautiful.

That got me wondering. What do you guys do with your clamps and other types of tools you keep out in the shop. Routers, sawsall, grinders etc etc...

I guess most of those tools are aluminum so it doesn't really matter. I've had my jig saw, framing saw out there for years and never even thought about it. But the clamps....

[Charles Lent]

Anything that wants to rust or needs to slide easily can be waxed. I wax my chrome plated planer bed, the soles of my circular saws, even my granite flat plate
(actually a 18" square scrap of granite counter top) that I use for precise measuring and sharpening. I coat my un-plated tools with WD-40 applied and wipe off with a rag. For instance, I have several pair of Channel-lock pliers that are un-plated. I've had them for 50 years or more. They have developed a patina. (not sure I would really call it rust), but there is never any noticeable flaky or bumpy rust on them. As I'm putting my wrenches back in the tool box after using them, I wipe off any thick oil or grease and then give them the "WD-40 on a rag" treatment too. The WD-40 removes all traces of dirt and grease while protecting them from rust, should the plating maybe get chipped in use. If I build any type of small cabinet with wood runners or slides, I always put Johnson's Past Wax on the runners and slides too. Then add more whenever the drawers don't seem to slide well. Johnson't paste Wax is all that I use for lubricating gears and ways in my Unisaw, planer, and band saw table. For this purpose, I apply it thick with an old tooth brush to the wear points. It makes an excellent lubricant that doesn't experience sawdust build-up like oils and automotive grease does in these places. The surface of the wax dries, so the sawdust doesn't stick to it. I use TriFlow lubricant on shaft bearings, etc. in the tools where the Johnson's isn't appropriate.

In central NC we are getting heavy rain and thunder storms almost every evening. The temperatures have been in the high 90's every day, and it hit 100 in the late afternoon 2 days ago My shop air conditioner (a window style heat pump mounted high through the North wall) doesn't keep up when it's above 90. It was 87 when I quit working in there yesterday. Fortunately, my house systems have been sized large enough, so I have a cooler place to go when it gets this way.

Charley