brown stones on sharpmaker

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gitarmac

Joined
Jan 20, 2001
Messages
401
It seems like my brown stones don't want to clean up like my white ones, no matter how much I clean and scrub I still see shine like a metallic glaze. They don't seem to remove metal from knives as well either. I've tried an eraser also and it didn't clean them up either. Has anyone else noticed this?
 
The brown stones can be worn out (I think because they're open pored?) Which also means they can be worn in. Rubbing the stones against each other will clean off the metallic residue and expose a more efficient cutting surface. Try to keep it even, though. A little goes a long way.

Edited to add- Mine also seemed to clean up easier after I gave them the rub down. Once was enough.
 
gitarmac,

How are you cleaning your stones? A green Scotch Brite pad and some scouring powder (or gel/liquid) usually does the trick for me. I have used Brillo/SOS pads before too a couple of times.

It might help people answer your question if you told us what method you use.
 
I've used the usual scotch bright pad with various brands of cleanser, comet, barkeepers friend, ect, and an eraser. I havn't tried giving them a "rub down" yet, I vaguely remember reading about that somewhere but couldn't remember weather it was a good thing or bad thing, I'll try that next.

They aren't worn down at all, it seems like they are just glazed over.

Could I use a different stone instead of each other? It seems like it might be easier rubbing them on a larger flat surface instead of each other.
 
Are you sure that your blades are clean before you sharpen them; oil, tape goo, etc. It all will transfer to the stones.
 
I always clean my knives first, and I've hardly used the brown stones, I keep my knives sharp by a few regular strokes on the whites. I was trying to restore an edge on a friends knife that had gotten too dull and had a hard time. I thought I was a great sharpening whizz because my knives are so sharp but I guess it's just cause I havn't let them get dull in a long time.

When I used the brown stones on that dull knife they didn't seem to work any better than the white ones, I wound up using alternative means and finished up with the whites on the sharpmaker. I keep my stones pretty clean, the brown ones just never seem to get that way.
 
I've noticed a similar situation with mine in the past. It reached a point where I used a metal/wire brush (usually used for removing paint) on them, then a brillo (metal) pad. That seemed to help quite a bit. An electric dishwasher trip also seemed to help.

Softscrub seems to work pretty well - I have my own bottle of it sitting on the workbench, so that it doesn't get used up doing other things, like - well - you know - cleaning a bathroom, or a frypan :D
 
gitarmac said:
I always clean my knives first, and I've hardly used the brown stones, I keep my knives sharp by a few regular strokes on the whites. I was trying to restore an edge on a friends knife that had gotten too dull and had a hard time. I thought I was a great sharpening whizz because my knives are so sharp but I guess it's just cause I havn't let them get dull in a long time.

When I used the brown stones on that dull knife they didn't seem to work any better than the white ones, I wound up using alternative means and finished up with the whites on the sharpmaker. I keep my stones pretty clean, the brown ones just never seem to get that way.
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Without the diamond rods (or earlier sleeves) the Sharpmakers is not fun for sharpening an extremely dull knife. You can do it with the ceramic rods, but it's going to take a while. For me it's more of an edge maintenance system, and on something really dull I pull out some sort of diamond or carborundum stone.

I've quite volunteering to sharpen my non-knife knut friends' knives, because most of them hand me something that is so incredibly dull and cheap that I want to hand it back to them and say "It's dead Jim!" One of my friends handed me a Buck that he had carried nearly everyday for at least 5 years, and I don't think that it had been sharpened once in that time. I'm really not even sure how he was still using it unless it was to spread peanut butter. I think that knife was the last time I volunteered a sharpening without looking at the knife first. It sounds selfish I guess, but if other people can't take reasonable care of their stuff then I'm not going to.

Try the Brillo pad cleaning. You might also test to see whether they are still working or not by doing the old magic marker trick. It could be more of an appearance issue like GarageBoy implied.
 
Paul Davidson said:
I've quite volunteering to sharpen my non-knife knut friends' knives, because most of them hand me something that is so incredibly dull and cheap that I want to hand it back to them and say "It's dead Jim!"
Click to expand...

When that happens to me, I just put the knife to my cardboard wheel and regrind an edge in about 1 minute. It ain't always the prettiest, but I agree with you, if they aren't going to take care of and appreciate a good edge, I'm not putting in a lot of time with the Edge Pro and/or Sharpmaker.

As we will be having a housefull for the Christmas holidays, Lord knows what knives all the women will be bringing me to "fix up".
 
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