Sell me on the SS jointer

[adrianpglover]

Then there is "Penetrol"

IIWM I would definitely try it.

I saw this mentioned today on one of the my growth rings channel on YT, where he told the story of having poly coated cast iron surfaces (after having first cut the poly to 50%) to fill the pores to keep from having surface rust. I'm curious, is this something that is more commonly done on cast iron surfaces? This jointer is my first cast iron SS tool, as my planer is one of the newer variety with an aluminum table with a piece of sheet steel epoxied to it to give that smooth surface. My table saw is a Grizly cast iron beast, and at my last house my "shop" was one car of a 2 car garage, with the TS under the door. Took the blanket off the saw to use it one day to find that the door had been wet earlier in the week, dripped on the blanket, and the blanket held the water on the surface. After that it became a double cover of moving blanket and tarp, but that changed after moving here. In any case, if there's something more that just putting slip-it or paste wax on my bare metal surfaces that would help protect from rust but also not mess with the performance/life of the tool, then I'm all for it. I'd just like to get some user recommendations before I just go at it.

[RFGuy]

Adrian,

So, there has been some discussion on surface protection/rust prevention in the past on the forum. I am going to refer you to a couple of past threads because there is no definitive agreement from forum members here on what is the best product or prevention method. So, best to read and make up your own mind. There have been several YT woodworkers who have advocated coating their cast iron machine surfaces with a thin coat of polyurethane. To me, honestly this seems like the best long term solution, but of course you must get the surface clean of all rust before applying. Several forum members rave about Penetrol and I keep meaning to try it so I defer to them for now. Perhaps it is on par with coating with polyurethane or at least a close 2nd behind it. Some other products are mentioned in these threads so there may be another one you might prefer. Ignore the recommendations from paid sponsorships on some YT woodworker channels. I have seen a few promoting Carbon Method surface protectant and also a few promoting T-9 Boeshield. I have also seen dissenting voices of YT woodworkers (ones who were NOT under a paid sponsorship) that have complained about both products and even did real world tests with multiple competing products to show Boeshield and Carbon were not the best. Caveat Emptor.

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[adrianpglover]

Thanks for the links and description. So there's no "active" rust on anything, but I do have some darker spots on my TS where some of the past rust was at. I forget what I did to remove it. I don't think it was the scotchbrite method, but it wasn't sandpaper either. Pretty sure I used some steel wool (either 0 or 0000 as those are the only two grades I've purchased in the last decade) and elbow grease. I used to use slipit on the TS, but that was until I got the MK7 and had my own tub of SC Johnson paste wax, which I now use on it and other surfaces.

The nice thing, so far, is that I haven't yet seen any oxidization of the bright aluminum on tables and parts of the SS or it's accessories yet. Only starting to get some surface rust on the black oxide parts. Which reminds me, I was in Lowes this morning for some hardware to replace a few minor items I'm missing on the jointer (the hinged flap on the back side of the fence, the coupler guard, and the stop stud for the featherboard guard), and forgot to go back and look at either Penetrol (for the cast iron) or some bluing liquid (for the black oxide parts). I may just stick with oil based poly thinned with mineral spirits, as I believe I have an old can that's almost gone and already thinned to 10% for spray application. I think that can is the Helmsman branded stuff. I also have some water based poly, but that's the GF HP gallon and I'd rather keep that for the wood and not for tools.

[RFGuy]

Thanks for the links and description. So there's no "active" rust on anything, but I do have some darker spots on my TS where some of the past rust was at. I forget what I did to remove it. I don't think it was the scotchbrite method, but it wasn't sandpaper either. Pretty sure I used some steel wool (either 0 or 0000 as those are the only two grades I've purchased in the last decade) and elbow grease. I used to use slipit on the TS, but that was until I got the MK7 and had my own tub of SC Johnson paste wax, which I now use on it and other surfaces.

The nice thing, so far, is that I haven't yet seen any oxidization of the bright aluminum on tables and parts of the SS or it's accessories yet. Only starting to get some surface rust on the black oxide parts. Which reminds me, I was in Lowes this morning for some hardware to replace a few minor items I'm missing on the jointer (the hinged flap on the back side of the fence, the coupler guard, and the stop stud for the featherboard guard), and forgot to go back and look at either Penetrol (for the cast iron) or some bluing liquid (for the black oxide parts). I may just stick with oil based poly thinned with mineral spirits, as I believe I have an old can that's almost gone and already thinned to 10% for spray application. I think that can is the Helmsman branded stuff. I also have some water based poly, but that's the GF HP gallon and I'd rather keep that for the wood and not for tools.

Adrian,

Maybe you are an expert on bluing and if so, please ignore this. IF it is just a few black oxide bolt heads that are rusting you may be better off either replacing them (cheap enough), or wire brush them and oil/penetrol them or etc. Admittedly I am a complete newbie on bluing and I have a post on it (linked below) where I compare the two main bluing agents on the market (Brownells is better than Beechwood). Others on the forum have much better experience than I at bluing. My point is unless you have other Shopsmith hardware that you need to blue, it may not be worth your time and you could be better off buying black oxide bolts off the market for replacement (time/effort versus money calculation). Don't forget to quickly dry and oil anything blued or it will immediately rust again (both the bluing agent is water based and you must water rinse after application). DaOldGuy has some great bluing tips at the 2nd thread linked below. Like surface prep makes a big difference in the blued coating and adhesion.

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