I thought I would put this out there as a blog. I had been looking for something to clean my sawblades with. I thought about some of the kits available from woodoworking stores and online, but while I was looking found a blog on simple green. I started researching that and found a couple quotes from members of the Freud company about the product. I don’t know how credible they are, because I could not find anything out about them or it on any publication from Freud. It did spark my interest tho. Simple green does not contain lye or any other harsh chemicals, so as far as I know it does not harm the bond on carbide blades(don’t quote me on it though). As for the result, I think it worked rather well. I dilluted the concentrate 1:10 with water and let the blade soak for about 15mins. I then took a toothbrush and scrubbed some of the tough areas. After that I rinsed the blades with water and dried extremely well to keep rust from building up. After that some WD40 and back to the saws. I used the blades that were cleaned tonight on my Squirrel Whirler project and everything cut like new again. If anybody has heard anything about it harming the blades let me know. I don’t want to work with dangerous equipment, but so far so good.
Heres my cleaning kit; Simple Green, a tooth brush, and a auto oil pan.
-- Steve-o
8 comments so far
PaBull
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292 posts in 562 days
posted 498 days ago
Thanks, my kind of stuff; off the shelf from the kitchen.
-- http://www.twinoaksgrowers.com
Sawdust2
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1186 posts in 985 days
posted 498 days ago
Works great. Been using it for a couple of years, now.
Haven’t had a tooth fly off yet.
Lee
-- No piece is cut too short. It was meant for a smaller project.
GaryK
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9537 posts in 886 days
posted 498 days ago
The stuff works great! Beed using it for years. Instead of a toothbrush I use a small brass bristle brush. Works very fast.
I pour the leftovers in a jar and keep using it. I use it full strength and have been using the same batch for months.
-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.
BroDave
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86 posts in 711 days
posted 498 days ago
Hmm.. I haven’t thought about Simple Green or loosing carbide teeth.
I use Easy-Off oven cleaner, the cold oven formula. No fumes and no scrubbing plus it has a lemony fresh scent..
Does or could the oven cleaner cause the bond on the teeth to fail?
I’m too old and fat to dodge bullets.
-- .
Sac
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236 posts in 531 days
posted 498 days ago
Great post. I’ll have to look and see if we still have any.
-- Jerry, Set in the foothills of the Smokey's
rikkor
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11335 posts in 772 days
posted 498 days ago
Simple Green is great stuff!
daltxguy
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565 posts in 811 days
posted 497 days ago
I’ve been using Simple Green on bicycle frame and parts since 2001. No harm has ever come to either one of us.
-- Steve, New Zealand, www.steveracz.com
Gofor
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109 posts in 684 days
posted 497 days ago
I use denatured alcohol and it also works well. Simple green is acidic, so rinsing and drying well is the key, but it won’t harm the carbide or the bond to the steel. Easy-Off, on the other hand, is a lye based cleaner, and will degrade the brazing material between the carbide and the blade (most have some aluminum in the alloy) as well as cause pits in some of the less expensive carbide teeth. I used to use easy off and greased lightning, but quit after I had a couple miter saw blades start slinging teeth at me. Upon examining them, I also found the remaining teeth were pitted.
Go
-- Go http://ncwoodworker.net/pp/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=730