Lye and carbide

Possibly it will attack the brazing or cement used to attach the carbide teeth.

Pete C.

Titanium, magnesium, and aluminum, being close "chemical cousins", are similar in their chemical behavior - Something that eats aluminum will very likely eat titanium just as well, and will probably also eat (or maybe even cause it to burst into flames...) magnesium.

It's the brazing it atacks. ...lew...

"Titanium, magnesium, and aluminum, being close "chemical cousins", are similar in their chemical behavior - Something that eats aluminum will very likely eat titanium just as well, and will probably also eat (or maybe even cause it to burst into flames...) magnesium. "

As a "thumbnail" generalization the above is a fair assumption.

You ought to be aware, though, that Titanium tubing is used extensively as sea water condenser tubes; ie. Ti is very corrosion resistant in ocean water. You wouldn't want to try that with Al or Mg, what???

Further, Ti is also MUCH more heat resistant than the other two: Ti is used for the skin panels of the SR 71 Blackbird SST, where, at cruising speed the skin gets so hot that Al would turn to the consistency of putty.

Yet, in thin ribbon form Ti will burn just as Mg does.....so be careful with the turning swarf!

Wolfgang

As long as you keep the exposure short enought to dissolve the pitch and gum and then give the blades a good rinse you will probably encounter no real difficulties.

Lye will leach binder from the carbide and zinc from the silver braze that holds the teeth on as well as get under and peel sections of the anti friction coatings from the plate.

Don't soak them for long periods. Ammonia also works, so does powder dishwasher soap which is mostly washing soda. Castrol super clean works, so does the cleaner Hef-T-Blue.

For my blades..I simply give em a spritz with a can of oven cleaner from the 99cent store, let sit for a few moments, then wash clean.

Been doing it for years, works great for getting rid of pitch buildup.

Gunner

"A prudent man foresees the difficulties ahead and prepares for them; the simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences."

- Proverbs 22:3

On Sun, 26 Feb 2006 13:35:38 GMT, with neither quill nor qualm, "Pete C." quickly quoth:

Right. One of the guys on the Wreck years ago posted something along that line. The potential result is enough to keep from using oven cleaner for pitch removal.

(Try Simple Green, Mark. It works great!)

- Woodworkers of the world, Repent! Repeat after me: "Forgive Me Father, For I Have Stained and Polyed."

-

The reason titanium is corrosion resistant is because it is so active. A new surface immediately oxidizes to form an adherent coating that protects id from additional corrosion

The story about strong caustic comes from a corruption of our US patent

In this process you use a strong, hot caustic soda solution and eclectic current to clean and roughen tungsten carbide so it brazes well. You have to use electric current to separate the tungsten carbide from the cobalt binder. The caustic soda cleans off all oils, creases etc. It also serves as the medium to transfer the electric current from the electrodes to the carbide.

Caustic dip tanks are very common in good saw shops as a means to clean saw blades as the original poster is doing.

The CRC Handbook of Physics and Chemistry lists Tungten carbide and cobalt as only being soluble in acids.

If Freud is using anywhere near the standard braze alloys and the standard carbide then a caustic solution will not attack them.

The strong caustic will remove paint and ink for directions and warning labels.

tom

Thanks for the info.

So where do you get "eclectic" current? The only kind I can get around here is plain old current.

Do those creases come from people not being careful when they press the carbide powder? It seems like I always get the creases wrong when I iron my own shirts. Would caustic soda work to take the creases out of my shirts faster than steam?

Thanks for the good info Tom. Cheers, Eric R Snow