sap on the Silky

[Mike Barcaskey]

spending a few hours this am working over the gear.
how do you guys get pine sap off your Silky blades?
I've tried Goo Gone and paint thinner with very little success.
Want something that doesn't require much rubbing near the teeth!

 

[Husky288XP]

Brake parts cleaner.

 

[Tom Dunlap]

Soak with some veggie oil or peanut butter to loosen things up. A brass brush will keep you away from the teeth.

 

[Tree Machine]

solvents

Acetone will work. I would be willing to give ether a try (starting fluid), it's a pretty versatile solvent, though I've never used it for such. It evaporates quickly.

Wiping with straight unleaded gas, a definite solution, easy to come by and quick-acting. Pennies worth will do. Doesn't evaporate as fast as the acetone or ether.

 

[Tree Machine]

Peanut butter?








Tom????

 

[Tree Machine]

You make me giggle. I'm willing to give this a listen, go ahead.......

 

[Tom Dunlap]

Any veggie oil acts to break down the sap. I can't remember the chemistry but many soaps are veggie based. Think of peanut butter as paint remover instead of paint thinner.

When you'r done cleaning the sap, use the saw to spread the PB onto a slab of wheat bread and you're half way to lunch

 

[Mike Barcaskey]

peanut butter will loosen bubble gum from a Kkid's hair

GoJo and an old toothbrush worked, I'll give the others a try next time
thanks

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

I would be willing to give ether a try (starting fluid), it's a pretty versatile solvent, though I've never used it for such. It evaporates quickly.

Too quickly, TM. And it's not all that effective, really. I've tried. It's just gone too fast.

Acetone and gas will work, but you are playing with fire using either one. Dangerous stuff, and not necessary.

Tom is right - veggie oil. Straight salad or cooking oil. Less cleanup than with peanut butter. Follow it up with some liquid dish soap if needed. Straight. No water. Get the sap off, then rinse.

Follow up with a light coating of the same veggie oil to prevent rust.

Remember this next time you get your hands in a greasy saw. Oil first, dish soap, then water to take it all off. Don't start with the water! It sort of seals the grease into your skin.

Or use motor oil, if you think that's more manly.


Any waterless hand cleaner will work pretty well, too.

 

[Tree Machine]

OK then. I adopt the practice of coating my Silky blades with veggie. I had not really ever thought of that. You guys are friggin geniusez.

Peanut butter's active ingredient, I would have to presume, would be peanut oil. Peanut oil is veggie oil. Peanutless peanut butter. Peanut butter as a de-gunker and preservative.

Things like learning that I can use peanut butter to clean and extend the life of my Silky blade is why I come to arboristsite and spend so much time. My wife does not understand this, but I think you do.

 

[ROLLACOSTA]

give viniger ago

 

[Tom Dunlap]

Things like learning that I can use peanut butter to clean and extend the life of my Silky blade is why I come to arboristsite and spend so much time. My wife does not understand this, but I think you do.

After the Exxon Valdez leak the biologists used Dawn dish soap to clean the animals and birds. I've seen Dawn at other de-oiling sites too. I get the big bottles from Costco and cut it by a third and it still works fantastic.

Think of how much more you can learn by spending time following a thread like this:

http://tinyurl.com/d3sq8

A suggested slogan for TB is

Tr**buzz...my Other Wife

 

[Stumper]

Just another .02 dollars. The vegie oil IS the way to go. I never bother with dish soap and water to get the disolved sapand oil off. Annoint with oil and then cut something-TahDah!

 

[Mike Barcaskey]

that should be easy as I run my 200 and back-up 191 on veggie oil, always have it with me

 

[kf_tree]

Brake parts cleaner.

that is some nasty stuff.....have you ever read the can? it doesn't say can cause cancer, it says will cause cancer. i used way too much of that stuff in my days of spinning a wrench for a living. i worked with a guy who sprayed down his hands with that stuff every day.

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

I have a mechanic friend who ends each day with a handwashing of new engine oil. Why mess with that stuff when veggie oil is so cheap and effective?

 

[Tree Machine]

It's not really cheap. It's about exactly the same price, more or less, as engine oil, about 5 bucks a gallon (4 L). Cheap when you consider how much work you can pull down by the time you go through a jug of it.

 

[Tree Machine]

I wonder what Silky in Japan would have to say. Dunlap may get the Nobel prize for Silky Saw care, 2005.

I'll drop a line to Mr Nakanishi, and pass along this thread address. I mean, why not?

 

[Tree Machine]

Hi Jim,
I am sorry to lean that you were involved in an accident but do hope you will recover soon.

The disccusion about the ways to clean a Silky saw is very interesting to me. Cleaning a blade is always
troublesome and we do not have a right answer that works perfectly but personally I agree with what Tom
Dunlop said. It appears to me that using peanut butter to clean a blade is reasonable although I have
never tried or never thought of it. I don't have much knowledge about chemistry, however, think that the
reason why peanut butter may remove sap from a blade is not because of veggie oil but because it contains
"SURFACTANT" (surface active agent), I believe. The surfactant is versatile and is widely used for a
soap and any other products even for food as an additive. Maybe mayonnaise, margarine or chocolate
contains the surfactant. I am not sure though. Does anyone know more about it ?

We produce a blade cleaner that is based on surfactant, solvent etc. An advantage of the cleaner is that
fluid is foam to allow the foam to stay on a blade longer before a solvent evaporate. It works well but
unfortunately we cannot ship to any overseas countries because it is a aerozol type contaning LPG and a
shelf-life is very short. We sell only in Japan. Forgive me that I talked about what we can not sell in
USA.

I always enjoy reading threads in Arboristsite.com and am aware of your many threads there. Maybe I will
post a thread when my English becomes good enough..

Best regards,
Hiroshi Nakanishi

 

[Tree Machine]

There you have it. Tom Dunlap gets approval from the Japanese. It's like a big international high-five to Dunlap, who some laughed at for his suggestion to use peanut butter on a Silky Saw, and now he's getting international acclaim.

Thank you, Hiroshi, for taking the time to contribute. By the way, I think your English is better than most Americans'.




The surfactant that Hiroshi references is a common food ingredient called lecithin. It's actually an emulsifier that has surfactant properties. Keeps foods from seperating, like water does not mix with oil and if they're put together they will, over time seperate. If you mix in an emulsifier, it is miscible with both the water AND the oil and when whipped together you get a stable mixture of things that don't normally mix. This, science students, is an emulsion. Mayonaise is an emulsion of fat and water. Salad dressings. Peanut butter has lecithin to keep the peanut oil from seperating out of your Peter Pan.

There we have it, Tom Dunlap is backed up by good facts, sound science and food chemistry. Choosy arborists choose Jif.