Have you ever cleaned band saw blades in your wife’s dishwasher?

[capncarl]

I have a stack of 5 band saw blades that I pulled off the saw to clean. I usually pop on a fresh blade and carry on with the project, and clean the blades later. Sometimes later takes longer and longer to get it done. I convinced my wife it was a good idea to wash the blades in her dishwasher so we put them on the top rack. All the blades had a layer of resin caked along both sides of the the teeth. The blades all came out spotless, a quick oiling and they are ready for use. Anyone ever tried this?

[LCHIEN]

Wow, does that mean resins are water soluble or is it the dishwashing detergent that dissolves it?
Might be useful information for cleaning table saw blades.

[capncarl]

I think it is a combination of the detergent, really hot water and the pressure washing effect of the dishwasher. You can’t wait long after the wash is done or rust will start forming.

[Jim Frye]

Nearly all of the dishwasher detergents contain a lye compound to dissolve the dried food gunk. I know it will darken aluminum and will trash wood and wood finishes. I made wooden trivets as Christmas gifts for relatives some years ago and one SIL ran them through their dishwasher. Eventually, all of the Danish oil finish was removed and the glue joining the pieces together (TBII) was dissolved also. I don't know if the detergent and heat will do anything to the metallurgy of the blades. I clean my blades by laying them on one half of a garbage bag, spraying them heavily with a cleaner like Simple Green, and folding the bag over onto the blade. Left overnight, the blades can be brushed clean and rinsed.

[Jim Frye]

SWMBO would have a coronary.

[dbhost]

I can attest to it NOT being water soluability...

[Slik Geek]

I would have never thought to put a bandsaw blade in the dishwasher, both because I didn't expect that the resin would be dissolved, and I've seen how quickly the blades can rust (especially in hot water!). What was it that made you think to try washing the bandsaw blades in the dishwasher??!!

The wonder of soaps and detergents is that they enable water to wash away things that won't dissolve in water alone. I've used ammonia water to clean up pine resin, so it may also be related to the pH of the dishwashing detergent (ammonia water and dishwashing detergent are alkaline).

I suspect it is a combination of the heat and the detergent that makes the dishwasher clean up the blades.

[capncarl]

I usually use 50% Totally Awsome in a spray bottle and rub against the teeth with a scotch brite pad, wipe clean and oil. Awsome is expensive! at $1 per bottle in grocery stores Dollar gen. It will clean anything. I just didn’t have time to mess with it and thought about the dishwasher.

[capncarl]

At my previous job they made a LOT of pretzels. Before a pretzel is baked it is run through a caustic bath (sodium hydroxide) then sprinkled with salt. The pretzels are transported through this part of the process on a stainless steel wire conveyor belt. This belt doesn’t last many months before it must be replaced because the caustic has caused the stainless wires to become brittle and will break. When the wires were new you could take them and tie them into a knot, but after being subject to the caustic the wire can be broken by hand like a toothpick. I do not believe that simply washing the bandsaw blade with a caustic cleaner a couple of times will shorten its life any more than me using it to cut small logs.