Cleaning saw blades

[Cherryville Chuck]

I’ve been using Trend blade and Bit cleaner for a while and it works but leaves a gummy residue that needs to be cleaned off after. I’ve sprayed WD 40 on them to clean the residue and that worked pretty good. I’ve also been using WD 40 to clean gum, goo, and pitch off things for a while and it’s been working pretty good for that too.

So I thought I’d try using WD 40 for cleaning my saw blades and see if it worked for that. I bought a gallon can and wifey gave me an old 12” pizza pan which I put 1/8” of the WD 40 in and dropped a blade in. After sitting for a minutes I flipped it. It definitely softens the pitch deposits, about as well as the Trend does. Both need some scrubbing. I tried a nylon bristle brush but it wasn’t aggressive enough and switched to a brass bristled one which did work.

I cleaned up 5 miter saw blades I picked up at last weeks auction and this method worked well enough I’ll stick with it and WD 40 is cheaper than any of the blade cleaners like Trend.

Does anyone recognize the brand of saw blade in the picture? It’s a bright gold colour. The logo is worn off and it’s a pretty impressive looking blade and if I need more blades I’d want to see what it costs to replace it.

[Stick486]

what are you using to clean up 40 residue ...

[Cherryville Chuck]

There isn't any. Possibly because I spray the Trend on whereas I soak in the 40. Either way it all wipes off. WD 40 does inhibit rust too, possibly because it is a water displacer. FWW did a fairly scientific test a few years ago using different chems that claimed rust prevention and WD 40 was at around the 80-85% mark for effectiveness. A few did better , like Boeshield for example, but most were also quite a bit more money.

[Stick486]

from my research...
.

WD-40 no.pdf

[Cherryville Chuck]

Here is the Safety Data Sheet for WD 40. https://files.wd40.com/pdf/sds/mup/wd-4 ... us-ghs.pdf The main ingredient is aliphatic hydrocarbons. Just for reference, methane is also an aliphatic hydrocarbon. Neither one is considered a lubricant, nor do I ever use it for one. I do sometimes use it to cool drill bits down while I'm drilling or edges when I need to take them to the grinder. I figure that is a little better than using water. I also use Walthers tapping compound for that. It transports heat and lubricates. As your article mentions, it's a good solvent. It is hygroscopic for sure, truckers use it to get water out of their scale and trailer light connections here in the winter. The salt spray is bad for shorting the connections out and a heavy spray of WD40 will fix them right up. It may be that the hygroscopic action is why it works pretty well as a rust preventer. Oxygen and hydrogen atoms from water can migrate into the metal matrix and maybe WD 40 pulls the atoms back out. I know that's why you use low hydrogen welding rod on many steels. The hydrogen migrates into the metal during the weld and later combines with oxygen to form water and the water molecule is too big for the space it's in and causes the metal to crack. I had that explained to me by a rep for a welding supply company. The FWW test was over 3 or 4 weeks and by then many of the supposedly purpose formulated rust preventative products had done worse than W40. After about 4 weeks you should use it again. It is short term. I have a can of Fluid Film I use on planes, etc. for long term rust prevention. I know it's a better product although it looks and smells a little like runny cow poopies.

Like many other things, there is a time and a place...

[Cherryville Chuck]

Just out of curiosity, did you get the impression that whoever wrote the pdf you linked was doing a hit piece? The writer seems to have gone out of their way to highlight all the things WD 40 isn't good at while taking care not to note any of the things it is good at. There certainly are lots of misconceptions about what it is good for, no question but that's true about many things. It mentions about it being a mistake to use on something like bicycle chains but using regular oil or grease is equally bad, if not worse for example.

[Stick486]

Just out of curiosity, did you get the impression that whoever wrote the pdf you linked was doing a hit piece? The writer seems to have gone out of their way to highlight all the things WD 40 isn't good at....

I wrote that PDF... I did it as an FYI..[/quote]
I was correct then.

the crud that it collects causes more problems than it fixes... the T&E units on shop tools is an excellent example..,
the finishes it has blotched..

] Sorry, T & E units?

bearing failures after it broke down the bearing's lubricating grease and the bearing trashes and what got into the windings ruined the field and windings... so much for a 300$ router...

Does any of it's literature say to use it as a bearing lube? I don't know that I've ever seen that claim. You can't blame the company if you use it for something it isn't recommended for.

the 800$ industrial vac that caught fire because it sucked in over spray, (that was really interesting), when I was using WD to clean the pitch off of some saw blades as an employee was using the vac w/ the vac right next to me.. FLAME ON!!!

Yep, it says right on the container that it is flammable. Like methane, another aliphatic hydrocarbon. I've seen guys try using it for starter fluid, like you would with ether. Which might also be an aliphatic hydrocarbon.

the vinyl SGDs and windows I changed out because it was used as a lubricant to free up the slides.. can we say melted plastic.. WD is hell on wheels when it comes to rubber and plastic.. don't believe me??? go clean your tires and rims w/ it...
everything I said is VOE...
the detrimental con list far exceeds the benefit pro list...

The list of cons that go along with toluene far outweigh the pros too but it is a pretty good solvent for the right jobs. Trichlotroethane is another, but it's the right one to use if you are patching tires. I've used lots over the years. You essentially just listed a bunch of things you tried using WD 40 for that it wasn't recommended for and you're blaming the company for the failures.

[Stick486]

t mentions about it being a mistake to use on something like bicycle chains but using regular oil or grease is equally bad, if not worse for example.

WD hasn't any lubricating properties.. all you get is a crud collector and metal to metal wear...
spay it on a chain and any lubricant the chain does have will be washed away... the crap is a better solvent than anything...
put some on on some your Acme threads and Dry-Film Lubricant on others see what happens... do your own comparison...
I have lots of VOE at industrial levels in grain mills... use Dry-Film Lubricants instead...

decades of observation and VOE,= hard to beat...

[Cherryville Chuck]

t mentions about it being a mistake to use on something like bicycle chains but using regular oil or grease is equally bad, if not worse for example.

WD hasn't any lubricating properties.. all you get is a crud collector and metal to metal wear...
spay it on a chain and any lubricant the chain does have will be washed away... the crap is a better solvent than anything...
put some on on some your Acme threads and Dry-Film Lubricant on others see what happens... do your own comparison...
I have lots of VOE at industrial levels in grain mills... use Dry-Film Lubricants instead...

decades of observation and VOE,= hard to beat...

I don't know that they claim that it has lubricating properties so faulting it for not having something it doesn't claim to have seems kind of silly. You mentioned chain drives. I don't oil or grease them either unless they are running in a clean, sealed environment. You are better off with nothing. At the fertilizer plant I worked at you had urea, potash, phosphate , and sulfur dust falling onto the chains. Not only is that dust gritty, but also ionic. Grease or oil a chain and you get an ionic grinding slurry. WD 40 works great for cleaning metal parts off. I've been using it with great success cleaning knife blades, chisels, saw blades, etc, where there is sticky pitch or goo of some kind on them. And the WD40 helps prevent rust and corrosion. If you needed to clean threads then I would consider using WD 40 for that too. I've also used diesel and if you use diesel on threads and then assemble the part the threads will seize when the diesel dries out. You should dry the threads off before assembly and if it needs some lube to go back together oil it and if it's something that's prone to seize and will eventually need to come apart again, like exhaust manifold bolts, then I use a silver or copper anti seize. Once again, diesel works to clean the threads but not recommended for assembly. I would suspect the same is true for varsol which is the standard cleaning fluid. BTW, varsol comes in at least 5 grades and the top grades are what dry cleaners use to clean your clothes with. In any dirty environment you want to use a lube that dries with out being sticky after like graphite or silicone.

However, graphite and silicone do a shitty job of cleaning saw blades but WD40 worked pretty good. It's all about using the right chemical for the job, something you clearly have experience with.

[Stick486]

I don't know that they claim that it has lubricating properties so faulting it for not having something it doesn't claim to have seems kind of silly.

says so on the can..
the irony is the can out in the shop is all rusted...
and their PR dept descriptive...
.
WD-40 is an American brand and the trademark of a penetrating oil manufactured by the WD-40 Company based in San Diego, California.[1] The formula for WD-40 was invented for the Rocket Chemical Company as early as 1953 before it evolved into the WD-40 Company. WD-40 became available as a commercial product in 1961.[2] It acts as a lubricant, rust preventative, penetrant and moisture displacer. There are specialized products that perform better than WD-40 in each of these uses, but WD-40's flexibility has given it fame as a jack of all trades.[3] WD-40 stands for Water Displacement, 40th formul
'

WD4.jpg

[Cherryville Chuck]

I still would never consider putting it in a bearing, or bushing. Either a grease specific for that job or white lithium (Lubriplate). The lubriplate works well on things like fan shaft bushings (bathroom vent fan, wood heater fans, etc.) I've also used it to wipe down cylinders, prelube crank journals, wrist pins, etc on engine rebuilds. WD will do most of what they said but like you said, there are better specific products. It does clean up pitch, goo, etc about as well as anything else I've used including Goo Gone.

And that brings me back to what this thread was about, namely cleaning saw blades. It was never a thread about using WD40 to lube bearings, make windows slide easier, or to blow up vacuum cleaners. Someone might have liked to discuss that but probably not anymore.

[Stick486]

It was never a thread about using WD40

it turned into an FYI on it'd merits and demerits w/ examples..
no more,,, no less...

[Cherryville Chuck]

It wasn't about those. it was about cleaning saw blades. The title of the thread was "Cleaning Saw Blades".

[Stick486]

It wasn't about those. it was about cleaning saw blades. The title of the thread was "Cleaning Saw Blades".

W/ WD as a cleaning agent...