Hacksaw/bandsaw clamp painting

[Mike P]

Hi All,

I'm taking apart and cleaning/painting my Marvel 2B power hacksaw. I've got the clamp assembly all taken apart and cleaned, but can only see a small section of paint remaining on the castings. What's the convention on painting something like the moving/sliding surfaces? It has a ratchet rack that allows quick placement of the clamp.

They're not sliding/lubricated high precision surfaces, so do I paint the "ways" and ratchet rack, or leave them bare and lube them?? What about the actual clamp faces, the surfaces that'll grab the raw stock. Leave those bare, or paint them, too??

Realize, this is just the clamp mechanism, and it's not a museum restoration, I use this saw.

[SGW]

Any surface that has movement relative to another, that is, slides on another, I wouldn't bother to paint. The paint will just wear off anyway, and I think it will move better if it's metal-to-metal contact.