Shopsmith Forums

I came to be the owner of a bandsaw with the cast iron table. I cleaned the table up and waxed it - - it looked great. A little while later (a month maybe) the rust was back. So I cleaned and waxed it again. Again, before long the rust was back. What's up with this recurring rust? I would expect the wax to protect it longer than a month or two. The environment is slightly humid (basement) but not terribly so.

There may be some residual rust in the cast iron. Cast iron is notoriously porous and can retain moisture for a long time. Try baking it with a heat lamp for a while to drive out the moisture and then re-wax.
Bill V
This assumes that you are not rubbing the wax off with the work you are doing

Cast tron is porous and will soak up the wax and solvent with a single application.

I would warm it up to drive any moisture out as suggested above, then wax it profusely while warm and DO NOT buff. Whit a day and reapply wax. DO NOT buff until the solvent evaporates(over night will do).

See if that helps longevity.

Also I would wax/buff lightly after each use session.

You ARE using 'Original Johnson's Paste Floor wax'?

Realize buffing is removing wax.

I purchased my cast iron table bandsaw in 1981. It was stored in my garage in NC about 2 miles from the Atlantic ocean. I move to Florida where I had no garage. I kept all my woodworking tools in a metal storage building and worked outside about 300 yards from the Gulf of Mexico. Humid all the time. I moved again. Tallahassee FL was the next stop. It lives in the garage here. Humidity is worse than in the other two places. We start at 99% most mornings and rarely go below 50%. I don't have rust on my bandsaw table and never have. All I do is blow the dust off and wipe it down with Johnsons Paste Wax when I am done. I do the same for my other cast iron tables.

Also NC here. Shopsmith in humid garage. Agreed paste wax helps, but after a few months cast iron tables and steel way tubes would have early oxidation. My solution? Dehumidifier set to 55%. That along with JPW totally stopped the issue.

If you live in a humid climate, rust is part of the game. If you live in a dry climate, you likely won't have to deal with rust on a Shopsmith as long as you keep it indoors.
Avoiding rust in a humid climate near any big body of water is like avoiding snow in the north. You aren't going to win that battle.