Benchstone Refurbishment - How To?

joe90

joe90

Joined
Aug 17, 2001
Messages
346
Not sure if this is the right place to post this....

Anyway, whilst out this morning at a local car boot sale I came across a used benchstone in a box. Looks fairly old, but who knows. :rolleyes: Only cost me a few $'s. :eek:

The benchstone is 2"x8"x1" and looks like a combination medium/fine one though the markings on the side tell me diddly:

12A 1502 08V LSLD SL/224-3720
12A 2808 09V LSLS 0.0.11. 1-91

:confused:

Thing is, its covered in oil and I'd like to remove the oil, clean up the faces a bit... and start trying it out.

Why remove the oil? I find oil too messy by far... and I know that there is (has been and will continue to be) a lot of discussion as to the reasons for sharpening dry or with water or with oil.

[Will be spending some time cleaning the box as well. :)]

Anyone know how to do this? or has personally done it before and can give me some help? :D

Thanks very much.

Joe
 
Well....its an oil stone so your gonna have to use oil. Without it, the stone will clog with steel filings right away and you'll be dressing it every time you want to use it.
I've heard of folks using water, but it really would have to be used under running water to do much good for an oil stone. Its not like a water stone where its saturated with water before you start, water on an oil stone will just roll off and not do any good. The stone has to be wet.

As far as cleaning it up now, start off trying to degrease it with something like acetone and get all the oil residue off of it. Then using a good flat hard surface for backing, lap the stone flat using wet dry sandpaper. If you've got a lot to remove to get it flat, start with something coarse like 120 grit paper, but you should finish with something pretty fine.
 
I refurbished one that had oil that had oxidized to a varnish. I boiled it in a solution of trisodiumphosphate.It turned out to be in much better shape than I thought.
 
mete said:
I refurbished one that had oil that had oxidized to a varnish. I boiled it in a solution of trisodiumphosphate.It turned out to be in much better shape than I thought.
Click to expand...

TPS should work
but the boiling is the key I think it will soften the oil and oil floats in water..
storing in kerosene could be good too.
if it's an oil stone I'd use it as one..

if anyone is interested,, I ran across a bunch of new fine and course combo stones yesterday
$3.00 each, if they have any left I can get some for you.. :)
 
Excellent! :D

Thanks for all the advice guys ... I'll try 'em all and see how it goes. :thumbup:

Joe
 
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