A few months back I picked up Rockler's Pitch & Resin remover kit with the intention of getting to some seriously gunked up table saw blades. But as always, I'm the Master Procrastinator (for those of you that read my last post) and the kit sat on my shop shelf for that past 3 or 4 months. Man, what an idiot...in my defense, I grew up with the practice of cleaning blades with oven cleaner, a process I quickly learned to detest while in the family cabinet shop. I think the mental trauma I experienced during those cleaning sessions back in the day kept me from really digging into the Rockler kit.
So it was with a bit of trepidation that I finally dug into the kit. I was honestly surprised to find the chemical that they provide is green and did not require the use of gloves, respirator etc. ..true the container suggested using gloves for sensitive skin, but that was pretty much it on the warnings. I have to admit that I didn't follow the dilution instructions and used the chemical strait and even in that state I didn't use gloves. The chemical honestly smells and has a similar viscosity/look to several other green/citrus cleaners I've used in my past (especially within the cycling world).
The process was as simple as it gets...fill the giant blue container with the chemical, drop in a blade and let it sit.
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Blade soaking in the tub[/caption]
If you look closely in the pic you can see that the golden ring on the blade is actually the resin/pitch dissolving off of the teeth. I let each blade soak for 5 minutes before giving each side a light scrub with the included brass bristle brush. I then let it sit for another minute or two and lightly brushed the carbide teeth. Once that was done I spritzed both sides of the blade with a spray bottle of water and sat it in a few paper towel folds to dry.
Sooooo much better than the old days of using oven cleaner.
All in all I cleaned 4 well used saw blades (2-30 tooth and 2-40 tooth), each using the same process and the last one came out just as clean as the first.
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The blade before it got the dip[/caption]
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Dry, Clean and ready to get back to work[/caption]
All in all I would say at less than $30.00, the kit is an absolute steal! Now go pick one up because you're not going to find an easier or more convenient way to clean your blades and bits...