Cleaning Saw Blades

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I read in a recent Woodsmith article about using baking soda and water (1 Tablespoon baking soda to 1 cup of water) to clean the pitch off of sawblades and router bits.

Before this I had tried pine sol and 409 on router bits. The Pine Sol disolved the slick coating on router bits, and the 409 didn’t seem to work at all.

Today I tried the baking soda / water solution on a couple of saw blades. I put a rubber washer in the center of an old 12″ pizza pan, added 2 cups of the solution and let the blade soak for two hours. This was sufficient for the newer blade. After that time I scrubbed off the pitch using an old toothbrush. The older blade with more pitch required 4 hours. I scrubbed the teeth with the toothbrush after 2 hours, and again after 4. I was quite pleased on how the blades turned out.

SawBladeCleaning

Router Bits are much harder to remove pitch from than saw blades. I suppose this is due to the higher temperatures generated due to the much greater rotational velocity.

I tried the baking soda solution with limited success, even after letting the bit soak overnight. I eventually used a diamond hone to remove the build up on the cutting faces of the bit.

CleaningRouterBit

Here you can see the straight bit immersed in the cleaning solution while still installed in the router (half-way through a project – I didn’t want to change the plunge settings).

Kitchen Cubboard Pull Outs

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The first pullouts I made were for the kitchen island. I purchased 22 inch full extension slides from Woodworkers hardware (KVTT100 B22). They are quite reasonably priced. The rear of the island is made of 1/4 inch plywood. I jointed 2x stock smooth and attached it to the rear wall with 2 part marine epoxy. There was plenty of surface area to give me a sturdy bond to the plywood. This gave me a place to anchor the rear of the slides to. The front of the slides were screwed to the oak face frame. The slides themselves were made from 1/2 inch birch plywood with 3/4 inch popular glued to the end grain.

The first pullouts I made were for the kitchen island. I purchased 22 inch full extension slides from Woodworkers hardware (KVTT100 B22). They are quite reasonably priced.
The rear of the island is made of 1/4 inch plywood. I jointed 2x stock smooth and attached it to the rear wall with 2 part marine epoxy. There was plenty of surface area to give me a sturdy bond to the plywood. This gave me a place to anchor the rear of the slides to. The front of the slides were screwed to the oak face frame.
The slides themselves were made from 1/2 inch birch plywood with 3/4 inch popular glued to the end grain.

The same construction technique was used on the narrower cupboards next to the stove. Bit of a puzzle figuring were to stow stuff, but it is easier to retrieve.

The same construction technique was used on the narrower cupboards next to the stove. Bit of a puzzle figuring were to stow stuff, but it is easier to retrieve.