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Cleaning your chisels

Richard Patrick

Richard Patrick

Joined
Jan 20, 2021
Messages
67
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Location
Stuart, FL
So I trash picked a small log the other day and today I decided to play with it ( first time working with green wood). The wood was very green and wet and so it left a sappy residue on my tools. I just used mineral spirits to clean them and followed up by rubbing them down with a paper towel that I sprayed with T-9 Boeshield. Is there any I should be doing differently to clean them or is that good?
Thanks.
 
Denatured alcohol or acetone. Don't think you are supposed to spray any lubricant or preservative on tools.
 
You can spray lubricants on your tools if you want. Won't hurt anything but not really needed. I just wipe them down every now and then with WD-40 which is the same thing I use to wipe down my lathe.
 
I use gouges and hollowing tools on wet wood

don’t clean the tools with anything.
I use a slip stone to polish the flute of the gouges and then sharpen the tool.

When turning wet wood I often sharpen a tool mostly to clean the bevel when I feel it begin to drag.
The tool is still sharp enough to cut cleanly but the drag of the bevel fights the clean cut.

hollowing tools I occasionally polish the top with the slip stone. As these are scraping cutters the bevel drag is never an issue.

I clean the slip stone every couple of weeks with naphtha or alcohol and a small brass brush.
 
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Madrone is very sticky, lots of gunk. If I don't clean it off before I leave the shop for the day, it is twice as sticky the next day. I keep one grinder with a wire wheel on it. That removes all the build up. One product I have yet to try is the Slick Stick from Ken Rizza. Supposed to work wonders on CBN wheels. Most of the time for me, I use honing oil on the CBN wheel. They also gunk up when turning madrone. Since I don't hone, I don't know about how it works on the stones I have. The honing oil did seem to resurrect my 30 year old DMT stones. I have tried WD 40 and Glide coat on my tools with little benefit. I tried the Boeshield, and found it to be rather sticky. Most of the time, it hasn't seemed to be worth the effort...

robo hippy
 
I use regular household ammonia to clean wood residue from turning tools, saw blades, router bits, etc. Mainly gouges, before resharpening I wipe off the tip with a paper towel, spray it, wipe again. Dont want my wheels loading up with it. Never use any lube or rust inhibitor on them and no rust issues.
 
I have a squirt bottle (nozzle) with lacquer thinner and an old toothbrush. It evaporates quickly. Probably any solvent would work...maybe even water. If the toothbrush isn't stiff enough then I'll use a small brass brush.
 
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