Thread: cleaning surface plates and gauge blocks

Hi Mark,

At the October scraping course in Melbourne we used kero and clean lint free wipes to clean a granite plate. I noticed on one of the Suburban Tools videos the recommendation was household ammonia, so it seems that any non abrasive solvent appropriate for the contaminant would be OK.

Can't comment on gauge blocks - mine are still in the original wrapping.

Cheers,
Bill

I use metho and sometimes a small amount of acetone...

Storing gauge blocks I put lanolin spray on them..

For my surface plates I use pretty much anything. I figure is the granite has been there for the past billion years, what I use on it now is unlikely to do much harm Basically just the same precautions as any granite surface top in the kitchen ie no acids etc, all just common sense stuff I guess. What I ultimately use depends on what I'm trying to clean off, ie whether it's blue or oil/grease etc.

I protect my gauge blocks With Vaseline. I use mine reasonably often, and the vaso is a bit of a pain I guess, but no biggie, and they need something. I wipe them down after selecting the combo and then just smear some more on as I'm replacing them. I wipe it off with a clean blue workshop towel, then follow with thin oil (normally spindle oil). I don't use any solvents, not because I think the world will stop turning if I do, just that they don't need them. If I did I'd probably use either kero or turps. Once clean I have the towel with a squirt of oil on it laying flat, and rub each face on the oily patch to clean them again and give a light coating of oil, then just slide them over to a non-oily part if the towel and continue to rub slightly. They wring easier with a tad of oil on them, and that leaves just a nice amount.