Protecting cast iron?

[Monkey Mark]

Evening all.

I'm going to be cleaning uo my table saw as well as a couple of planes that have been a little neglected.

Once cleaned, what would people recommend to use afterwards to keep them nice?

 

[undergroundhunter]

I use clear bri wax on my bandsaw table, as long as its applied regularly then its fine but that would be the same with most products.

Matt

 

[Jacob]

Keep them out of the rain. Use them often. Raw linseed oil is brilliant - brushed on very thin.

 

[Rorschach]

I use rennaissance wax on my bandsaw table, I apply it once or twice a year when I remember basically.

 

[MattRoberts]

I also use clear briwax, but I've been meaning to try poly - apparently it's pretty good

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I used Briwax til swmbo left a near full 5lt when we moved house. I now use microcrystalline, which is quite cheap as I make my own.

 

[Monkey Mark]

I make my own.

That sounds interesting!

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I make my own.

That sounds interesting!

You have a PM.

 

[Lons]

I make my own.

That sounds interesting!

You have a PM.

Could I be cheeky Phil and ask for the receipe as well?

 

[Benchwayze]

I'm probably teaching egg sucking, but here's what I do.

Beeswax and genuine turps. 2 to 1 mix. (White spirit will do, but it's a bit watery, and I wouldn't use quite so much)

Melt the wax in a clean ex-food can. (I use the flat Tuna tins). Check the depth of the wax, then add twice the amount of turps, and mix well. Allow to cool. If you want a superior polish, add some carnauba wax. If you want a thicker polish, use less turps. Doh! I reckon you could've worked that out! :mrgreen:

I know this polish sounds expensive, but I would imagine most woodworkers keep some genuine turps, and probably beeswax to hand. Also, you don't need much at one go, and a tuna-tin full lasts quite well, as you don't need to be heavy-handed. This is especially true for the turners among us. With the carnauba added, it's the best wax finish I ever used, and it would no doubt polish up a cast iron table well.

PS... PLEASE! Don't add the turps with the tin over the heat source! I know you wouldn't, but there.. I've told you!

HTH
John

 

[novocaine]

like benchwayze says, beeswax is pretty cheap in block form, something like 10 quid for a kilogram that will make a few years supply for a regular user.
I use white spirits at 1 to 1 for a soft paste wax and 2 to 1 for a harder wax (still rather soft though, might reduce it to 2 to 0.75)
I also use a glass jar for making it in and use a ban maria (or however you spell it, put jar in water, heat water), and storing it, saves having to dump it out. never bothered adding carnauba before, might give that a go.

 

[Benchwayze]

like benchwayze says, beeswax is pretty cheap in block form, something like 10 quid for a kilogram that will make a few years supply for a regular user.
I use white spirits at 1 to 1 for a soft paste wax and 2 to 1 for a harder wax (still rather soft though, might reduce it to 2 to 0.75)
I also use a glass jar for making it in and use a ban maria (or however you spell it, put jar in water, heat water), and storing it, saves having to dump it out. never bothered adding carnauba before, might give that a go.

I usually make enough to just fill the tuna tin. I use it straight from the tin, just as I would Briwax. I managed to find an old plastic lid, that fitted well enough, and it lives on a shelf. (Well at least it did last time I used it!)

 

[novocaine]

so same solution different material. (and mine doesn't smell of tuna)

 

[woodpig]

I'm with Rorschach, I use Renwax.

 

[wallace]

I will have to try making my own to see how it compares to renaissance wax. I find renaissance is good if applied regularly. I have found it doesn't work well where saw dust can settle on cast surface and be left. Saw dust seems to soak up any moisture and then cause rust.

 

[Benchwayze]

so same solution different material. (and mine doesn't smell of tuna)

I eat a lot of it, so if anything/one smells of tuna it's me! :mrgreen:

 

[Phil Pascoe]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Microcrystall ... 2096548422?
Is a source for MC wax - it'll be relisted continuously, and
http://stores.ebay.co.uk/oliverbrown-ch ... 581&_pgn=2
is as good as I've found for beeswax and carnauba.
There is a Bird brand pure turps on ebay for £8 + £4 P&P if you need real turps and can't find a local supplier for about the same price. White spirit is fine, but hasn't got the same smell.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Right, as I've had a couple of PMs, I'll give you all the benefit of my very limited knowledge. I made beeswax polish while at school the better part of fifty years ago, so knew how to do it. You must use a bain marie of some description - all it is is a double boiler. A pan in a larger pan, my way - a jam jar in a saucepan of water. This obviously for safety - any solvent by its nature is liable to go up in flames especially if you're using a gas stove. I used to put chips of carnauba in with the beeswax, as it hardens the polish - beeswax alone takes fingerprints easily, hardened up a bit it's better. I decided after PMing someone for a source of MC wax that it would be interesting to try making an MC/another wax polish to try to get one with a better depth of shine than maybe MC alone would give. All speculation, but plenty of scope for experimentation, as nothing really is wasted - it just gets churned into something else if not particularly successful. I use pure turpentine as I like the smell but White spirit is fine, and a lot cheaper obviously. For protection only straight MC wax and white spirit would be fine I would think, and could be kept thin for the ease of application - it hasn't got to shine, after all. I haven't needed to try this mix. I wouldn't think there was much difference (certainly for just steel protection) in other sources of MC - it's designed to have a high melting point, whatever it's meant for. This particular wax iirc has a melting point of 73c, with carnauba at 82c and beeswax at 63c which made me think to make a polish 50% pure turps, 25% carnauba and 25% MC (by weight - I tried to be a little methodical, which goes against the grain ), I didn't include beeswax in this because of its softness. This worked out at about £3 for a 200gm jar (a supermarket own brand mustard jar) when buying MC wax by the 200gm, carnauba by the kilo and pure turps at £3 per 250ml. I've been using Chestnut and I can't see much difference. If you're in a club or have turner friends you can pass some wax on to justify the bulk purchase.
I apologise for this collection of random thoughts, and will undoubtedly add more random thoughts as they randomly occur to me. :lol:

 

[Benchwayze]

(a supermarket own brand mustard jar) :lol:

Wow! Hot wax!
Cheers Phil

John

 

[SammyQ]

I was one of the PM's. My grateful thanks to Phil for sharing it on a wider stage. It's a simple, cheap receipe, seen variants and enhancements of it over the years as furniture polish etc, never knew or thought that microcrystalline was so easily obtained. Silly me.

Sam