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Salt air and cast iron


Buter

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Gentlemen, it's a pleasure to be in your company again and I will soon be rejoining the ranks of those who waste countless hours making guitars that you just can't find in a store.

Getting to the point... I've just liberated some older Delta and Craftsman machinery that will get me started on a new project in a few months. The machines have been dormant for a while, but they all work fine, just a bit of rust on the beds/tables.

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Nothing too serious, but I'm wondering how best to clean em up without saturating them with oil that will later mess up the finishing process. I'm also wondering how to keep the rust at bay because this is how far the machines are from saltwater (that cord is plugged into the bandsaw):

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Thanks in advance for your advice!

Cheers

Buter

ps - nice to see they put you to work, Scotty!

Edited by Buter
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BUTER!

Man you so thoroughly disappeared I was afraid you'd pranged your bird. I'm looking forward to hearing your charming take on all those earth shattering subjects we discuss around here.

As for the question at hand, I confess I'm chiming in more to hear the answer than provide one as I battle the same issue--though perhaps not to that degree. I currently use naval jelly tor CLR to cut the rust and auto polish to try to hold it bay. I seem to remember Wooden Spoke giving advice to this question years ago, in this very catagory I believe. I'll do some digging.

Welcome back!

Did you change islands?

Cheers!

-Scott

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Thanks Scott

Those hand planes cleaned up nicely. Good reference, but not too sure it's gonna work for my needs. I might give it a shot on the smaller drill press table and see how she turns out.

No, haven't pranged the little birdie yet. Being kicked off the current bird in September so I'll have to learn a new one, which will provide plenty of pranging opportunity! Will take a few months before I can spend any time in the workshop due to the course and having to work full time for 3months afterwards, but that's alright because I feel like I'm pretty much back at the bottom of the learning curve again and I can use the time to refresh my guitar building knowledge.

Yeah, I traded the cold, wet and windy little island for a hot, humid and beautiful little island. Takes a wee bit longer to get to work, but the quality of life at home now is beyond compare.

Cheers!

Buter

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You know, I had a table saw at the plant that had been allowed to get into that condition. Alcohol makes a decent solvent for rust, so I just got a good flat sanding block and wet sanded it with alcohol --180, 220, and 320 grits and ended up with a nice flat rust free surface. It didn't quite look as good as that plane.....but it was fine. That one I soaked in WD40, because it doesn't get much use and it's in a non-climate controled space. I wouldn't do that with one I was using for guitar work or if I did I'd clean it off with more alcohol before using it. Good old paste auto wax is the go to method for keeping those surfaces protected.

It seems like you were learning a new bird last time we talked.....how many is that now?

I did think your front yard looked positively Caribbean....or at least tropical. I would make that same choice everytime, were it available to me.

Enjoy re-visiting the learning curve. Everytime I make a new one, I find something new on that curve that suddenly makes sense....often not realizing it hadn't quite made sense before.

Cheers!

Scott

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Gentlemen, it's a pleasure to be in your company again and I will soon be rejoining the ranks of those who waste countless hours making guitars that you just can't find in a store.

Waste? haha

Good seeing your name in the roster of wasters then! Those are some hella rusty machines. A sack of silica gel wouldn't help in that locale!

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