Pitch Removal

[Scoony]

When you say washing soda, do you mean baking soda? I never heard of washing soda.

Washing Soda. It is available in the laundry detergent area. It is used as a laundry booster so it is multi-purpose. It can also be used to bring out the dark reds in mahogany. It will darken cherry as well, but it will bring out the browns instead of the reds.
https://www.amazon.com/Arm-Hammer-Super-...1587&psc=1

[daddo]

Borax will work if you don't have washing soda (soda ash). It's less alkaline than washing soda so it's less caustic.

[MidwestMan]

Wow ... lots of replies. Thanks all. Many items I have never heard about, too. Lestoil sounds like it would be a lot less toil.
I've never heard of lestoil. I went to the local store and they didn't have any washing soda or lestoil. I have some turpentine, so I'll give that a whirl. I never heard of TSP, sounds interesting. Now I just have to figure out what to use to soak the blade in. Maybe an old cookie sheet would do the trick, but I doubt it.

[Roly]

Wow ... lots of replies. Thanks all. Many items I have never heard about, too. Lestoil sounds like it would be a lot less toil.  
 I've never heard of lestoil. I went to the local store and they didn't have any washing soda or lestoil. I have some turpentine, so I'll give that a whirl. I never heard of TSP, sounds interesting. Now I just have to figure out what to use to soak the blade in. Maybe an old cookie sheet would do the trick, but I doubt it.

Try just hot tap water, let soak a few minutes and use a plain household scrub brush on it.   I use a slop sink but a 5 gallon bucket will work also.   After cleaning wipe dry andI spray with WD 40 and use a air hose to blow it into any laser cuts, wipe dry again.   I do this when I notice any build up on the blade, normally when changing blades.   Roly

[fixtureman]

with the oven cleaner you just spray it on and wipe it off

[Bill Wilson]

I don't want to start a ruckus, but I recall that past discussions on this topic would raise some controversy over the use of certain cleaners/solvents.  Howard Acheson would cite specific warnings from Freud regarding the use of certain cleaners.  May want to take a look at this old thread, especially Howard's replies.

https://forums.woodnet.net/showthread.php?tid=7195545

[Derek Cohen]

Soak in Simple Green, scrub with an old tooth brush, then rinse off with Hot water. Dry with a hair dryer or hot air gun. Should take 5 minutes.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[rwe2156]

KRUD KUTTER works very well!!!

[Admiral]

Wow ... lots of replies. Thanks all. Many items I have never heard about, too. Lestoil sounds like it would be a lot less toil.  
 I've never heard of lestoil. I went to the local store and they didn't have any washing soda or lestoil. I have some turpentine, so I'll give that a whirl. I never heard of TSP, sounds interesting. Now I just have to figure out what to use to soak the blade in. Maybe an old cookie sheet would do the trick, but I doubt it.

Chicagoland Home depot(s) have Lestoil for $6 and change, (told you it was cheap):

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Lestoil-48-o.../100254559

And yes, cookie sheet works.

[wood-chips]

I read about this cleaning method on another forum some time ago.

Mix together 1/2 water and 1/2 liquid laundry detergent. Pour it on the blade and scrub with a bristle brush. When you pour it on it immediately goes to work, you can see all the crud coming off. You'll not have to scrub very hard at all and be done in a couple minutes and it will be squeaky clean.

As for simple green... Once upon a time I left a grungy saw blade soak in simple green and water overnight. Next morning ALL the painted writing on the blade was gone 
 Well at least the crud was gone too