Hell they are hardened ways, if scotch pads are going to hurt it there's something bad wrong. I've been cleaning mine that way for years. Great info. I'll round up them tail stocks and email some pictures.

Thanks for this...got a grimy mini lathe to clean up.

Old guy here, scotch brite was developed for woman to clean pans. Us guys in the machine shop loved it also.

I work at a machine shop. We still use elbow grease for everything and I personally LOVE using these exact pads for cleaning. Great for getting cosmoline off with some wd40 too. I also use it on some of my rusty tools when I feel like showing them some love

That's a fairly nice lathe. Looks like it cleaned up nice!!

Wire wheels are fine, they wouldn't be as hard on it as a scotchbrite i think. Always ensure to wipe them away from the crosslide and off the ends making sure that no grit or dust is left.

Instead of brakleen, use kerosene. Gives you way more working time and has time to really soak into the grit.

I use oven cleaner for my machines, works great

Awesome info

I think that scotch Brite "grit" equivalent is sort of standardized, there is green light grey, blue, and rusty red. I can't remember which is course and which is fine grit, hah.

How would you restore the chuck?

Brake cleaner and a paper towl should be a better option. But each to their own.

SCOTCHBRITE GRIT CHART 7445 - White pad, called Light Duty Cleansing - (1000) 7448 - Light Grey, called Ultra Fine Hand - (600-800) 6448 - Green, called Light Duty Hand Pad - (600) 7447 - Maroon pad, called General Purpose Hand - (320-400) 6444 - Brown pad, called Extra Duty Hand - (280-320) 7446 - Dark Grey pad, called Blending Pad (180-220) 7440 - Tan pad, called Heavy Duty Hand Pad - (120-150)