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Thread: Should I Stop Cleaning My Tools?

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
    Location
    Beaver Falls, PA
    Posts
    435

    Should I Stop Cleaning My Tools?

    Here's the problem. Last November I bought a new X5 Unisaw. Works great. Got the zero-clearance inserts for the WWII blade AND the Dado stack. Needs to be waxed at least once a week. I use Briwax. It seems every time I wax it up I nic myself on the ledge between the fence and the table top. The first time I left a nice chunk of flesh. Subsequent waxings have resulted in a painful little scrape here and there. Now I remove the wax as if i'm trying to steal the Hope Diamond from the Smithsonian in broad daylight.
    So This Feb I got me a spanking new Grizzly G0490 Jointer. Works great. Got it all set up and joint away. But when it's time to wax that beautiful bed, I catch my finger on the only rough edge on the whole stinking machine...the edge on the right side of the fence about one inch up from the table. I'm rubbing and buffing and rubbing and buff...HEY where did THAT blood come from?? Left a decent chunk of flesh there, too. Fortunately it was from the other hand as the skin graft just took hold on the original slash on the X5.
    So it seems a tool's not a tool until it's been christened in blood. Here's my problem: Just got a 12" Metabo Compound Sliding Miter Saw. Should I just pinprick my finger and offer up some blood on the turntable before I ever turn it on?
    Trees. Tools. Time.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    Monroe, MI
    Posts
    11,896
    You should really invest in a file and clean up those edges!

    Also, if you have time to wax your tools once a week, you need to do more woodworking. Seriously, I wax my tools maybe once every 6 months with Johnson's Paste Wax (available at Lowes and Meijer by the cleaning products) and it protects them great.

  3. #3
    Scott, I've done similar self-mutliations, although with less blood. (For some reason, I sometimes forget to keep my fingers out of the miter slots when sliding the fence, and I have the blackened fingernails to prove it.)

    Your question about making an offering to the new Metabo reminds me of an old friend. I was helping him patch a roof one day, and as soon as he opened the roofing cement (pookie), he got a bit on the tip of his trowel and smeared it on his jeans. He explained that he knew it was ineveitable that he'd get pookie on his jeans, so he might as well just get it over with.

    - Vaughn
    Last edited by Vaughn McMillan; 04-06-2006 at 11:32 PM.

  4. #4
    Doug Lindley Guest
    I used to have similar problems waxing my table top, especially around the miter slots. One day looking around the shop I noticed some leftover carpet from the living room, I cut to pieces about 3 by 3 inches. I use one for putting the wax on and one to buff it off, works great and no more cut fingers.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    Farmington, AR
    Posts
    1,465
    Scott, I keep a file nearby for such occasions. At least it gives you some satisfaction getting back at the stupid castings. And maybe "that spot" won't bite you again! Topcoat does a nice job that seems to me to last at least as well as Johnson's and involves less application time. It is more expensive though.

    David

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    Placitas, NM in the foothills of the Sandia Mountain.
    Posts
    527

    I hear you!

    After a couple of weeks and thin deep cuts on about half my fingers I started wondering (things are slow paced here) why I was getting all those cuts. Found that the bleeder valve on the bottom of my pancake compressor had a slight sharp edge. Wish I had paid more attention sooner

    Seriously though, Briwax is overkill for machine maintenance. I save my Briwax for fine woodworking. A can of Johnson's does fine for the saw and jointer tables. Also, Briwax has some nasty stuff in it, be careful.

    I apply paste wax once a month (unless there is some reason like a spill to do it more often). That day I also poke and prod around to see if anything needs TLC, check belts, brushes, lube what needs to be lubed. I think that if you organize it, you can get all your maintenance done quickly and not let it get in the way of woodworking the rest of the time.

    My two cents.

    BTW, try puting a clump of wax inside an old sock. It bleeds out at a good rate and buffs well.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
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    SE PA - Central Bucks County
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    65,675
    I'd suggest you not wax your chisels...
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    Farmington, AR
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    1,465
    OK Jim, I'll bite. Why should you not wax your chisels? Is it because when you 'miss' they will go in deeper?

    David

    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Becker
    I'd suggest you not wax your chisels...

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
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    SE PA - Central Bucks County
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    Quote Originally Posted by David Rose
    OK Jim, I'll bite. Why should you not wax your chisels? Is it because when you 'miss' they will go in deeper?
    The OP seems to have a black cloud over him when he's a-waxin', so yes...a sharp chisel slips into the flesh oh-so-easy. Trust me...I know all about that "slipping in oh-so-easy" part. 1 January 2005 comes to mind...
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  10. #10
    I get enough cuts from wood, screws, chisels, etc., without one of my machines doing it to me.
    Time to dig out the files, sanders.


  11. #11
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
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    Farmington, AR
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    It doesn't help (some of us) to remove the edge either. I assume that is the reason for Steve's post about "breaking out the file". My worst injuries (at work) have come from screwdrivers.

    Jim you make that sound sooooo painless! Yeah, it is... at first.

    David

    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Becker
    The OP seems to have a black cloud over him when he's a-waxin', so yes...a sharp chisel slips into the flesh oh-so-easy. Trust me...I know all about that "slipping in oh-so-easy" part. 1 January 2005 comes to mind...

  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by David Rose
    It doesn't help (some of us) to remove the edge either. I assume that is the reason for Steve's post about "breaking out the file". My worst injuries (at work) have come from screwdrivers.

    Jim you make that sound sooooo painless! Yeah, it is... at first.

    David
    Hear that David. Sometimes I can be inside, and still get rained on.

    I'm one of them that also likes to stick his finger in the miter slot while moving the fence. Man. That will remove hide in a hurry


  13. #13
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    Farmington, AR
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    1,465
    Steve, don't really know what to say! <yeah, right...> I guess that beats sticking a finger in your blade clearance slot while raising the blade. Wonder if that is the reason for "0" clearance slots? You think it's all just a liability thing?

    Did you see my post earlier, before the place really got rollin'? Do you see a problem with a blanket chest with end panel stiles being 1/4" narrower than front panel stiles? That is on the corners. It seems to me that it would make the "corner support post" (top down) look rectangular in stead of square. But I've got too many hours in this to mess it up.

    David

    Quote Originally Posted by Steve Clardy
    Hear that David. Sometimes I can be inside, and still get rained on.

    I'm one of them that also likes to stick his finger in the miter slot while moving the fence. Man. That will remove hide in a hurry

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by David Rose
    Steve, don't really know what to say! <YEAH, right...>I guess that beats sticking a finger in your blade clearance slot while raising the blade. Wonder if that is the reason for "0" clearance slots? You think it's all just a liability thing?

    Did you see my post earlier, before the place really got rollin'? Do you see a problem with a blanket chest with end panel stiles being 1/4" narrower than front panel stiles? That is on the corners. It seems to me that it would make the "corner support post" (top down) look rectangular in stead of square. But I've got too many hours in this to mess it up.

    David
    Seene that. Didn't respond there.
    I think the 1/4 narrower will be fine.


  15. #15
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    Farmington, AR
    Posts
    1,465
    10-4! Your vote is good enough for me! Thanks. I'd just not seen any done that way, so... Some things in design are pretty flexible. Some aren't!

    David

    Quote Originally Posted by Steve Clardy
    Seene that. Didn't respond there.
    I think the 1/4 narrower will be fine.

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