I am rebuilding an older Craftsman 12″ planer from the day when they made better tools. It is a real piece of work. I want to wax the feed table before reinstalling the cutter head.
I have heard different thoughts on surface waxes for the the machined feed table!
What does the forum recommend or disapprove of?
~ Rich
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An old boss man had me using hard bowling alley wax on his wood working machine tools to keep them slick and free of rust. A coat allowed to dry and buffed off once a week and a mid-week check for recoating on worn spots. Once a year we would wash off the wax with xylene (Major dain bramage.), this would be followed by a general examination for warping or cracks and a tune up, and do a recoat of everything. I must say that even though many of his tools dated back to the 30s none had any rust and the wood always slid without effort. It also helped made dealing with tar or sap much easier as it just wiped off the waxed surfaces.
wax is fine as long as its not automotive wax(contains silicone) use something like johnsons paste wax.
Im would think that it should be treated just like a cast iron table saw top. If you have existing rust some suggest wd-40 and scotchbrite to remove followed by a good wax, the more coats the better. As posted before avoid auto wax with silicone as it can cause staining/finishing problems. I use Butcher's Bowling Alley Wax which is available at True Value Hardware here. I prefer it because it smells good and not as strong smelling as good old Johnsons. Others like the Minwax product.
we use the butchers bowling alley wax too.. makes a hell of a differenceMike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore