Chris, it may be a good idea. I had this stuff put on my car. I never thought about it for cast iron. My only concern, possibly out of ignorance, is that unlike wax, baby powder, CRC, etc., the ceramic treatment it is so long term permanent. I’ll go poking around internet myself, but is there any documentation or literature, i.e. not anecdotal experience, that you are aware of that supports using it for these types of tools?
So the stuff I use mothers ceramic actually has a sister product that I use prior called prep spray which basically removes any coating or wax to allow better adhesion, I wasn’t talking about the legit real ceramic coatings cause yes those are on there once applied but this is just a spray on ceramic coating but no I don’t know of any literature on using auto for tools
Is it certain not to rub off on the wood run through the machines? If any does rub off, will it affect the ability to finish the wood?
No, so it’s not actually a coating but a substance that bonds with the surface molecularly which is why it’s so durable and long lasting cause it’s not actually on the surface it temporarily fuses to the surface( how strong it fuses is based on quality)
I’ll be in at 10:30 or so today, is there anything left that needs service?
Use a fine grit scotchbrite pad, then once rust is gone follow up with fine talcum powder. I’ll leave it to google to explain why talc uis best, but we used it for several years - no rust, and nice slidey decks.
1 Like
That’s what I normally use, but talc absorbs moister from the air, accumulating the thing you try to keep away for rust, but as far as for smooth glide it’s unparalleled I use it every time on the jointer that’s why I always have white powder on me at the space haha
@prl2018 left some oil and fine grit sand paper in a labeled box by the door this afternoon.
The jointer and planer both looked like they could use some love when I looked at them. The table saws and lathes looked ok.
2 Likes
I was going to bring my supplies in and polish jointer and planer surfaces at 3, but could be there at 12:30. If anyone wants to help or observe let me know, I’ll take some photos. I’m flexible on time this aftermoon.
Randy
2 Likes
Before
Wiped with naptha to remove wax
Rust was heavier than I expected so I used a unitized wheel, kinda like a dense scotchbright
![IMG_20200704_134114|374x500]
Then purple scotchbright
Then gray scotchbright
Then sprayed with CRC 3-36 and wipe off excess
8 Likes
Volunteers like you make DMS great! Thank you Sir!
4 Likes
A brand name (or product photo) would be useful, if you wouldn’t mind sharing.
1 Like
Thank you Randy!!!
@rlisbona I’d hoped to see you there at the shop this afternoon and help, but I got there too late. Your work was done. The jointer looks better than brand new. I could practically shave in my reflection off that surface. It is simply amazing! I was there to square up some 2" hard maple and I must’ve been the first to use it after you were finished. What a joy to use!
The planer bed was just as nice, but when I ran my two boards through it and there appears to have been some residual gunk left over inside the planer. The first couple of passes, the boards came out pretty marked up on the bottom and there was some black debris that came out with it. It got a little better as I made more passes, but it was still marking the boards up it a little when I finished. (See pictures.)
I was initially worried that it the rubber rollers inside the planer were deteriorating, but I think they probably had some stuff kicked up on them from the work you did on the bed. I think it will go away in time. I just wanted to give you a heads up in case someone who doesn’t know what’s going on uses it and gets startled by the black marks.
And you left your bottle of CRC hanging off the jointer fence. I put it on the RFID box.
Great job!! I think we should do the same to all of the cast iron surfaces in the Woodshop!
1 Like
The rollers are steel and there was lots of glue or something else stuck to the rollers, i tried to get it off. I usually let the CRC dry overnight at home. Brought a heat gun to speed up dryng but couldn’t find an extension cord. I rub soapstone on after it dries but had to skip that step. I could have done a better job wiping the planer with naptha before applying CRC. I remember being kinda annoyed by the deep deep scratches in the planer, probably caused by embedded sand in reclaimed wood, our machines take a beating.
The black stuff, metal removed by scotchbright plus grit from the scotchbright should wear off quickly.
I also tightened the nut on the planer handwheel and infeed height lever on the jointer. We need to teach people to pay attention to wobbly tool knobs and fix them. Also pay attention to normal sound so they can recognize abnormal sounds. And never casually let go of a board halfway through a cut while picking up a pushstick which happened a few days ago.
4 Likes
Before I used the jointer, I had to square the fence to the table and increase the cutting depth just a bit. The planer seemed to be fine with no adjustment. Other than the black marks, it worked just fine.
I wholeheartedly agree about listening to understand what normal is and isn’t. I cringe a bit when I see guys in the Woodshop operating machinery with earbuds in, ostensibly listening to music. I know it can be loud in there, but one of the best indicators of something going wrong is the sound a tool makes. It’s both a safety issue and a tool misuse/abuse issue. Other senses come into play too, and they are things we probably should be teaching. When wood binds in a blade, you can feel it. You can smell the wood burning (even if it is just a little). You can see the scorch marks, which should tell you either to adjust your technique or that the tool may need adjustment.
5 Likes
Nope, Talc repels moisture, and fills up the pores in cast iron preventing the ingress of dirt, oil and water. When I was maintaining the woodshop, that’s what I used on all the tables. There used to be a chaulkboard eraser in the cabinet, and I used it to rub the talc into the table. It worked far better than wax, and kept the decks clean and super slick, and for longer. And it took about a minute to dress a table, and move on to the next.
Feel free to verify on Google.
DO NOT USE OIL ON THOSE TABLES, EVER. OIL ATTRACTS EVERYTHING.
1 Like
Well, that got me to wondering…
Just to be defiant, I did NOT use Google, but I did arrive here, which feels at least marginally authoritative
https://www.ima-na.org/page/what_is_talc
and asserts hydrophobic property.
But causes cancer in the State of California 
1 Like
Not just California. It’s going to get harder to powder a baby’s butt to keep it dry.
Johnson & Johnson ordered to pay $2.1 billion in baby powder lawsuit
Johnson & Johnson says it will discontinue selling talcum -based baby powder in the United States and Canada. … Separate investigations by Reuters and The New York Times in December 2018 revealed documents showing Johnson & Johnson fretted for decades that small amounts of asbestos lurked in its baby powder .
1 Like