How To: Brush Your Teeth

[mikeyswood]

Quick and simple way to improve your cuts: brush your teeth.

Even after as little as one cut in an oily wood the pitch will begin to adhere to the teeth causing poor cutting surfaces. This pitch continues to build up until the balance of the blade is affected. If you do not address it, you can have it bind, break blades, and even the saw itself.

A little maintenance goes a long way.

The trouble - pitch:

Don't see it? How about now:

To remove this just soak the blade in some cleaner and use an old toothbrush to wipe off each tooth:

When done the teeth should look new again:

Ta-da! Back to mirror-clean cuts. Ten minutes and done.

 

[Rickett Customs]

You're just so helpful Mikey.......... I give you a round of applause with my "hands" ..........

Gotta do this to a few of my own blades, they lookin' a bit dirty, or "ridin' dirty", If you will.

 

[mikeyswood]

Please wash those hands!

 

[Rickett Customs]

Purell be fine?

 

[Auzzie-Phoenix]

But which toothbrush is best for use with metal?

 

[ironrat]

But which toothbrush is best for use with metal?

soft, and please use floss. I prefer mint flavored.

 

[Dream Weaver]

Great tip. I do the same thing with my bandsaw blades.

I heard that the Sonicare brush is best for metal, but produces a horrible tone...

 

[rdrr]

But which toothbrush is best for use with metal?

I want to know which ones better for funk. Oh wait, nevermind.
...


Mikey, I imagine that this is probably applies to other tools such as band saws, router bits .... Anything that going through the wood, right? Well , I dont think it would help sand paper that much but ...

 

[KimblesNimble]

I believe this is how you brush your teeth:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hA0yON5bdAU

 

[mikeyswood]

Mikey, I imagine that this is probably applies to other tools such as band saws, router bits .... Anything that going through the wood, right? Well , I dont think it would help sand paper that much but ...

A carbide toothed bandsaw blade? Sure. All others go dull too quickly and are too cheap to service.

 

[HogieWan]

Well , I dont think it would help sand paper that much but ...

I have a toothbrush that I use for cleaning out the grit on sandpaper. It does clog up and loses effectiveness.

 

[Ruckus_Instrmts]

It should be said that some cleaners will leach the carbide out of your carbide tipped blades and bits. Original Simple Green is one of those cleaners.

 

[iamlowsound]

I keep a metal brush on hand to clean out the teeth on my files and rasps.

lowsound

 

[adam.beauchene]

Nice tutorial, and advice! I clean my router bits with a toothbrush after each use but I've never thought to do so with radial saw blades.

 

[Big B.]

Great post Mikey. Keeping bits and blades clean is one of the best ways to save expensive wood and fingers. One of the other things I run into with builders of all types, from luthiers to framing carpenters, are dull blades. Getting bits and blades sharpened by a professional will not only increase your work pleasure and safety but will increase the life of your bits and blades as well.

I think of it like fret dressing. The more damage to the frets, the more material that has to be removed to repair it. The more material removed, the fewer redresses can be done before a complete refret is in order. By keeping your frets in better shape you get better performance for longer. Same with bits and blades.

 

[Musiclogic]

Good post Mike, something most should pay attention to. I use Boeshield "Blade and Bit" personally. The CMT stuff works well also.