• Congratulations to Rick Moreton, People's Choice in the July 2025 Turning Challenge (click here for details)
  • Congratulations to Jaramiah Severns for "Stacked Forms II" being selected as Turning of the Week for August 4, 2025 (click here for details)
  • Welcome new registering member. Your username must be your real First and Last name (for example: John Doe). "Screen names" and "handles" are not allowed and your registration will be deleted if you don't use your real name. Also, do not use all caps nor all lower case.

lathe maintenance

P

Perry Hilbert

Joined
Sep 27, 2017
Messages
408
Likes
210
Location
Windsor, Pennsylvania
When i got my lathe, a lowly HF 12 x 33, I cleaned the oil off the ways so any wood that touches it will not be stained. But what do I treat it with to prevent rust? Should I also treat the underside of the banjo, tail stock, etc.?

I also have an old lathe that was stored in a garden shed and the ways are a bit rusted. What do I to bring back that smooth finish, and do I treat that with something like paste wax also? I thought about a block of wood and fine abrasive, to just knock off the high parts of the rust, then treat it despite the brown color and fine pits.
 
I use Ballistol.
I get mine from Don Geiger.
I coat the ways, underside of the banjo and tailstock by sliding them over the ways.
Also,squirt a little on the tailstock ram and the rod inside the banjo.

I coat at the end of the day after turning a lot of wet wood
Also about once a week when not turning a lot of wet wood.

For rust balistoll and a 400 sand paper on a flat board will smooth the surface.

I have used past wax and it work well. The balistol is quicker and lasts about as long.
I hate the smell of balistol so it is applied when leaving the shop
Like the smell of WD 40 so in the rare event anything need lubrication while I’m working I use it.
 
Last edited:
My lathe permanently lives outside, so it sees some moisture here in Alaska. Like Al, I spray the bed and other parts and the end of the day. By morning the smell is about 3/4 gone. I just wipe down any extra with newsprint in the morning. For serious moisture and removing rust, Kroil is my current favorite. It smells like a combination of a drunk and a petrochemical plant, but works like a champ.
 
I have used Aero Kroil* (in orange spray can) ever since the days when I was an aircraft owner. It might be the same thing that you are using, Zach. My only complaint about it seems that every can I get leaks around the spray button so I get the stuff all over my hands (and then I smell like a drunk at a petrochemical plant).


*Aero Kroil has a peculiar smell and seems to be good for solving just about any mechanical problem like stuck pulleys, frozen hinges, corroded bolts,and it's good for displacing moisture. Moisture is a problem when you've been flying at high altitude where it's really cold and then you descend into warmer moist air.
 
On my wood lathe I just spray the bed with WD-40 and then wipe it down. I use that same rag then to wipe down the bottom of my banjo and the inside cam. The hit the tool rest tops. I do this a lot. I used to use Johnson's paste wax which is what i use on all my other machines but eh WD-40 is faster to apply and seems to keep the rust from green turnings down really well.
 
I lightly polished the bed and the bottoms of the banjo and tailstock with 600 wet/dry sandpaper. Wiped off all the dust and applied a thin coat of Ballistol Sportsman's Oil. Made sure it was a thin coat to keep sawdust and shavings from collecting. Plan on checking it periodically, cleaning and reapplying if needed.
WD-40- Read that the WD stands for water displacing. BTW, it is said that it contains fish oil. Not true according to the manufacturer.
 
Depends on where the fish come from. Are you aware that the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, OH, caught fire several times in the early 50s? You could walk on the sludge from Ohio to Ontario and never get your feet wet.
 
After cleaning and drying I have used a Teflon spray on sliding surfaces. The carrier evaporates and leaves a dry film on the surface. It is good as it can get in hard to reach places that you can't get wax to.

See:
https://jet.com/product/detail/b2ac...MImKL9xrfO2AIVkIizCh2gkwfDEAQYAyABEgJ83vD_BwE

I got it in the box stores.

It is also good for locks and other small mechanisms that you want to slide. if you get it where you don't want it to slide then you must use the antidote, duck tape.

Stu
 
thanks a lot one and all - after reading this thread I decided it was finally time to do some lathe maintenance chores I’d been putting off for longer than I should. Everything went smoothly until I went to clean and reassemble the tailstock quill and discovered that the key for the handle had gone missing.
Ordinarily, this would be a look around on the floor, a moment of joy on seeing the shiney surface down where no man has tread for a while, but no joy. I need to point out that the area around the lathe has the guts from several large madrone bowls piled generously about. After spending the better part of an hour and a half going through shavings by hand and magnet, still no joy.
In short, I wound up cleaning out the whole shop - a chore long overdue. The missing keyway was filled with an old HSS hollowing cutter ground down to fit.
Thanks to this thread I’ve now got a cleaner, better organized space to mess up...
 
Another vote for Johnson's. red scotch brite and WD-40 for the oh no's. To free rusted items I like mouse milk.....Bill may know what I'm talking about.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top