Archived from the Tools In Action forum (Power Tools). This thread is read-only.
Hello All!
I recently did my first big DIY project renovating/remodeling our upstairs apartment. I bought quite a few new saw blades for my various tools. Now that all of that work is over. I want to clean the blades and store them properly so I can keep them lasting/performing as long as possible.
Any advice on a good cleaner to use, how to use it and ways to store the blades would be much appreciated.
I provided pictures of the blades I am talking about.
Really not much you have to do. If you want you can wipe them off but just make sure you store them in a dry place where the humidity is really low. If you have a very expensive blade you really want to protect, you can grab a rag and wipe a little oil over the blade to give more protection.
Most blades now a days have a protective layer. So the only areas you would have a problem with is where the blade cuts and the protective layer came off.
I have blades in my garage. It gets extremely hot in the summer and super cold in the winter. I have had blades sitting for years and they are still fine
You don’t really have to do anything with them as they are much different today then they use to be. If you do have a very cheap blade, it might rust or have issues but again, if it’s cheap, you can always buy a new one.
Thanks. Follow Up Question Though. If I have a 12″ blade that is my go-to on my push miter. and the 5.5″ blade that I often use on the circular saw shown above. Once, I’m done cleaning them can I just store those blades back on those saws? So when I need them they are just ready to go in my shed.
Yes, you can keep the on the saw. I have a Bosch MIter saw in my garage and the blade is about 8 years old. I never cleaned it and it has stayed on my saw. I only use it a couple of times a year so it’s still sharp. The saw doesn’t have any rust and is in great condition. I also have a Milwaukee circular saw and it’s hanging on my wall in the garage and same thing. I use it more, but not a ton and I leave it and it’s fine. I have a Makita Tracksaw. That is stored in a box but I don’t clean it and it has been fine in my garage.
My garage is probably one of the worst places to keep tools. In the summer it gets over 100 degrees and in the winter, it gets below zero. Then to make matters even worse, in the winter I run a heater sometimes when I am working out their and it creates moister and you can see the water dripping down the tools. When I am done, I just turn off the heater and I am sure everything freezes. Not the best way to treat the tools and everything has been fine, including the blades.
Oh wow thanks for all that info. Since you mentioned all that I have to ask. I’d have to imagine if you have any batteries for your power tools you take them out of the garage during the months where it hits freezing or no?
I live in Souther California for the past decade, so freezing temperatures killing on my Lithium power tool batteries was never a worry. But now here in PA, my resin shed will def drop below freezing some months.
I have the chargers and batteries for many different brands: Dewalt, Ryobi, Milwaukee, Black & Decker, Warrior
I use to take them out of the garage during winter and put them in my basement. Then for a couple of year I forgot or just became lazy. I bring them in now.
I never had a problem when I moved them n the house. The only problem I ever had was if I left my paslode nailer in the truck, it wouldn’t work the next day until the battery warmed up, which took about an hour, so that was a pain.
I would suggest moving the batteries into the house. One winter I left all the batteries in the garage and in spring, they were all fine so I figure no big deal for the next year. Well, the next year I wasn’t so luck. I had one die in the spring when i went to use and another wore out prematurely the same summer.
Next year, I forgot to bring them in again and had another fail. So now I bring them in the house.
There are dedicated blade cleaning devices for circular blades. There is also blade cleaning solutions you can buy to wipe the blades with or pour into the cleaning tool. I got a cleaning solution from CMT but other brands make them too. You can even use it to clean off router bits.
Thank you both of you!
Jronman wrote:
On 11/22/2024 at 6:22 PM, Jronman said:There are dedicated blade cleaning devices for circular blades. There is also blade cleaning solutions you can buy to wipe the blades with or pour into the cleaning tool. I got a cleaning solution from CMT but other brands make them too. You can even use it to clean off router bits.
There is a British brand called “Trend” and they have a few products for cleaning blades and bits, but normally these products are used for expensive router bits and saw blades. I have never seen any brand mentioning anything about cleaning jigsaw blades or multi tool blades.
1) I would not remove the blades from circular saws and grinders at all, unless I need to replace them with a new one and the reason is each time you want to put the blade back you might not tighten it fully and it can come out while using it and cause injuries. Jigsaw blades and multi tool blades can be removed from the tool to reduce the size of the tool for easy storing.
2) DeWALT has a good little compact jigsaw blade storage but you have to buy a set to get it, they also have a good little case for multi tool blades and you can buy it as empty.
