Rusty slab saw

Noel wrote re water and rust in a slab saw.

Well I guess it depends on how badly rusted the machinery is.

I would get the water out of it ,get rid of surface and flake rust as
much as possible and if everything works, moves and turns ok just top
her up with oil and go for it. You can leave the oil in for yonks,
probably do the thing a lot of good.

Noel, you didn’t say what you cut in the saw, if is hard agate type
material you definately need oil. Water is fine for jade but usually
used with a drop arm saw where the water is fed onto the blade and
then drains away as there is no reservoir. You can of course still
saw jade with oil as your lubricant/coolant but it is not the choice
of professionals and most amateurs in New Zealand.

Happy sawing Noel, just realise that with every slice you take off
you are seeing something that no other person in the history of the
human race has ever seen before.

Keith Torckler, Cornwallis, New Zealand

 Water is fine for jade but usually used with a drop arm saw where
the water is fed onto the blade and then drains away as there is no
reservoir. 

G’day; I use a (home made of course) drop arm saw, and saw mostly
jade using water as coolant and lubricant. I use a simple little DC
low voltage total immersion fountain pump to squirt water onto both
sides of the saw. The pump sits in the bottom of a tank under the saw,
and the water flows back into the tank (well: most of it, though the
floor does get a bit wet, but concrete doesn’t care) However, as
soon as I have finished with the slabbing saw I dry it with an old
towel, then cover it completely in a film of high viscosity mineral
oil, particularly the edge of the blade where the little diamonds are
embedded. I also use a (home made of course) trim saw and that runs
with the blade half immersed in a very small tank under the saw,
held hard under the saw table. I used to use Shell Transformer Oil -
which I bought 18 years ago, but changed to water - I didn’t like the
oily mist which went over my face and everywhere else, despite the
Perspex guard enveloping the entire exposed part of the saw except for
about 1cm to allow the slab to be cut. Again, I take great care to
dry and oil the trim saw on completion. And yes, I do occasionally
cut agates with both saws. Quite happily, though these take twice the
time that jade does. Cheers, – John Burgess; @John_Burgess2 of
Mapua Nelson NZ