Woodworkers Journal 270 Q & A's

Removing Rust Rings from Cast Iron?

Could someone tell me how to clean rust and rings left by someone leaving glass on my table saw? It made a real mess and no one is admitting they did it. The rust is my fault. I look forward to your eZine. Lots of tips and just plain good old advice to us wood-be woodworkers. - Bob Bean

Tim Inman: There is a pleasure in having and using a perfect, bright, shiny table top on our tools. It is often, sadly, a short-lived one. Those stains can be very very difficult to remove. A simple sanding with very fine wet-or-dry sandpaper (400- or 600-grit) will remove the roughness. A good paste waxing rubbed in with #0000 steel wool will make it slick again. But the chances are that you'll always be able to see that visual blemish. That said, I have many antique tools in my shop that aren's so much "lookers" as they are great to use. My late 1800s Crescent brand jointer is one example. It was salvaged from the Beloit Wagon Works factory, in Beloit, Wisconsin in the early 1980s. It had been relegated to a leaky storeroom and was just one huge rust bucket when I found it. It is now polished, painted, and fully functional - but the top shows the rust stains to this day. It also shows the hand scraper marks where the original top had been HAND worked flat and true; something no new tool in a wood worker's shop would show today. I wouldn't trade it for a shiny brand-new one, ever.


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Anchoring a New Railing?

My son has a split-level home and the upper living room has a wrought iron railing along the stairs. I want to replace it with a walnut railing, but I’m not sure how best to anchor it so it will provide proper support and safety. Any suggestions? - John Blessing

Tim Inman: There are some very well designed commercial anchoring systems available. Rockler is one source I have used personally.You are right to want a well-anchored installation. The balustrade must be more than an ornament. It is a functional safety system which should be supported by the framing members (joists, headers, stringers, etc.) of the building whenever possible, not the facia or mop boards!


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How Thick Should a Butcher Block Countertop Be?

My son has asked me to build a butcher block countertop for the new kitchen in their newly remodeled home. Will build it out of soft or hard maple. It needs to be 50" x 90". Question: on a top that large, is it appropriate to build it in 12' - 13' sections that then are glued together for the final phase? Also, how thick does the butcher block top need to be? I've seen plans that look to be about 1" or 1-1/2' thick. It has been suggested that the top should be 2" thick because of the large size. Should that contribute to the thickness of the project?- Doug Selfe

Tim Inman: One man's butcher block is another man's (or woman's) idea of just another wooden workbench top. There are differences in definition. Traditionally, a "butcher block" was made so the end grain was the working surface. This involves gluing up thousands of little blocks to get the end product on a job like yours. Expansion and contraction is the enemy, and the "force majeure." The top made this way will be stable in the vertical dimension, but it will swell and shrink like crazy in the horizontal directions. A lot, and often.

Most often, the "butcher block" countertop is actually wood pieces laid up with quarter cut wood, so the swelling and shrinking is directed more to the vertical dimension, like an old-fashioned wooden porch floor, making the counter more dimensionally stable along the horizontal dimensions.

Either way you make it, dimensional stability is your goal, and your worry. Making small workspace-sized pieces that can insert into a visually pleasing frame system that will tolerate some movement is a great idea.Whatever you do, allow for wood movement so you won't be disappointed a year or two after the installation.