Topic: Cleaning rods before lube?

[porkozone]

I just bought some silicone lubricant from this site, and am going to be cleaning up the table in our work break room. The rods are starting to jitter and have a lot of black grime visible on them. The table is less than a month old but has seen quite a bit of play.

Most everything I've read just says to wipe the rods with a  dry rag, and then apply lube. I haven't tried this yet, but I don't see the black gunk coming off with a dry rag. Can I use alcohol to clean off the rods before lubing them, or would that cause problems?

[jinhopark]

The "black gunk" is more than likely in the bearings...for a more productive and thorough cleaning you will probably need to take the bearings apart and clean them first, then wipe the rods and then apply the lube.

[alaskan thunder]

Alcohol is fine but I usually make sure to follow with a wet rag. Then make sure that you totally dry the rod before applying lube. Also sounds like cleaning the bearings would be a good idea.