Using White Lithium Grease

My wife and I are preparing to clean and oil our recently purchased C&P. She went to the store for me to pick up supplies and came home with turpentine and white lithium grease. Are these two products safe for our press?

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Never mind your press, turpentine is very bad for you. Google “turpentine MSDS” and you can see for yourself. In case you don’t work in an industrial plant, MSDS stands for Material Safety Data Sheet.

As far as white lithium grease goes, that is a very good grease, but your press was not designed to be greased. It was designed to be oiled. The grease won’t flow down into the oil holes where it is needed. I would use a medium weight of machine oil, like medium weight gear oil or #30 motor oil. Also, the function of oil is to not only flow INTO and coat the bearing surfaces, but also for the excess oil to flow OUT OF the bearings to flush out contaminants and wear products.

I know your wife had good intentions, but I would think of a nice way to ask her to return what she bought and start over.

As far as cleaning goes, I haven’t cleaned a “new” press in a long time, but there have been a lot of posts here on that topic, which you should be able to look up, or I’m sure others will post their best solutions.

Hope this helps…

Geoffrey,
That definitely helps! My wife and I were just sitting here commenting on how nice the Pure Gum Spirits Turpentine smells as I began to read your post! I believe I will take that down to the garage right now. I better take some responsibility in case my wife reads this, however. I did send her off to the hardware store without any instruction, so that is my fault. I did browse through a couple of the threads on cleaning presses earlier. That was what prompted the questions on our selected products. Everyone seems to have their own method. It sounds like you have some experience, any suggestions you want to throw out there? By the way, our press is only new to us, it was originally built in 1929.

Thanks……

What kind and size of press is it and do you intend to repaint it?

use evaporust, scoring pads, steel wool

Sorry for the delayed response, I caught a season changing cold. (Every major change in the weather, which is only about twice here in Vegas, I get a cold) Our press is a 12 X 18. We haven’t discussed repainting it. I think we just want to knock off some of the old dust and oil. It sat in a garage for over 30 years being used VERY little. But, before we loaded it up for the 13 hour journey home, he fired it up for us and it still ran smooth as silk! Keeganneegan…… thanks for the tips!

My preference is not to use steel wool because it will be hard if not impossible to keep little shreds out of the bearing areas, and if it gets in those places it could accelerate wear. Also, steel wool is most likely harder than the paint, so it will wear the paint.

If you just want to take off dust and oil, perhaps you could find a heavy duty spray-on, grease cutting cleaner that you don’t have to rinse off with water. Spray some on, brush it with a plastic bristle brush, and wipe it off with an old cloth. Do a little of the press at a time and don’t put on too much to keep from making a mess. You probably won’t even have to brush it hard. Be sure to wear goggles and gloves because brushing could spatter the cleaner and get it into your eyes if you don’t. Also, wear clothing which will protect your skin. And, of course, follow the instructions on the container which the cleaner comes in.

If you can get any of the dust and oil off before you start with the cleaner, so much the better. Otherwise, you might have to give it 2 treatments.