Bitumen on saw blade

dND

I've just been cutting some bitumen roofing sheets and the jigsaw blade is now coated with bitumen. Help please, how can I get this off?

Many thanks

Andy_L

petrol, white spirit, pop down wickes & get a new blade

Stephen_Leak

It might be an idea to warm the blade to soften the bitumen and try and physically remove as much of it as possible first. Obviously, don't get it red hot and then drop it into petrol or white spirit!

robnye

i had the same problem but with a manual saw..

what i did was, scrape of excess with palette knife or paint scraper.... then ran the blade through some wood.........

dND

Cheers Andy L & Stephen Leak

Will give it a try. Will give the Wickes option a miss though as the nearest one has got to be about 500 miles away from me :rotfl:

Thanks again

maninthestreet

petrol is always dangerous to use. If white spirit doesnt shift it, by some tar remover (as used to remove tars spots from cat paintwork, as sold by Halfrauds.

djohn2002uk

maninthestreet wrote: »

petrol is always dangerous to use. If white spirit doesnt shift it, by some tar remover (as used to remove tars spots from cat paintwork, as sold by Halfrauds.

Bet that would make his fur stand on end...:rotfl:

dND

Thanks to all.

Sod's law stepped in and I had no petrol and no white spirit and no car - being repaired - to get any more. However it gave me time for a bit of experimenting and remembered a tip about removing tar from clothing. So I can now answer my own question with another way to remove bitumen.

I soaked the blade in a little vegetable oil. It took an hour or so to soften, but then I was able to remove about half of the gunk quite easily. Put it back into soak and by the morning I only had to dislodge a couple of tiny pieces from between the teeth. Not quite so flammable - so the cats were safe too!

CLIVELESTER

How did you manage to get bitumen between your teeth ?

dND

CLIVELESTER How did you manage to get bitumen between your teeth ?

:rotfl:

well you know how it goes - you always need more hands than you've got to hold things