Cleaning sharpening stone?

I use Ajax or Comet powder cleaner and a blue Scotchbrite pad. It works great on regular Arkansas stones, but my ceramic is still grey, no matter how much scrubbing is done.
 
Just used the ajax and it worked great. I also have breakfree so I'll give that a shot too. Thanks, vcb
 
I use a form of comet on steroids. It is called Bar Keeper's Friend. It has oxalic acid in the powder, which eats away at the metal particles freeing them from the stones, so the abrasive can dislodge the rest loose. It works great on ceramics, I do not use oil on my stones. It should work fine too for oil stones. Do not fling that stuff in your eyes while scrubbing. You can smell the reaction of metal and acid. Mild enough to be safe. Give it a try. It is less than $3 a can. You may not believe it, but it is handy to clean the sink too!!!
 
For your ceramic stone, Bar Keeper's Friend works great. It's a powder, somewhat like Ajax or Comet, however it uses oxalic acid as a cleaning agent. It reacts chemically with the metal on the stone to remove it. Sprinkle some into a small glass dish, add a little water and apply it to the stone & scrub with a toothbrush or Scotchbrite pad or sponge (wear rubber gloves), then rinse it off. I've been using it to clean my Spyderco Double Stuff ceramic stone and for my fine & ultrafine Lansky & GATCO ceramic stones. It cleans them to looking nearly as new again.

Just be careful with it. Read the cautions & directions on the container, there are some materials which could be damaged by the oxalic acid in the cleaner. Here's a link to some 'Cleaning Tips' on the BKF site:

http://www.barkeepersfriend.com/cleaning.html
 
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sweet_hitch-hiker said:
how do you clean your diamond stones
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Here's a link to another recent discussion, regarding cleaning diamond stones, in the Maintenance & Tinkering sub-forum:

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=737622

I use Lansky & GATCO diamond hones and, in my experience, they clean up VERY easily. More often than not, I just rinse them in water & perhaps scrub a little with a toothbrush. But, if you think you need more, there are several suggestions floated in the above-referenced discussion (Gojo, Comet, Ajax, Breakfree, etc.).
 
I'm new to this forum as well as to sharpening my own knives and I just started using a Schrade ceramic fixed-blade sharpening system myself. I've been getting really nice results on my Pumas and Bucks but I'm surprised by how much time I spend cleaning the hones. I expected to have to clean after the session was over. I didn't realize that scrubbing the hones was a more-or-less constant process after every 6-10 strokes.

I found that it works fairly well to lightly scrub two wet hones against each other to release the scarf but I'm sure that's just wearing down the hones more than necessary. I'll have to try Bar Keepers Friend, but it seems like that will add more mess and complication to the existing setup, especially if one has to wear gloves.

I can't help but wonder if I'm doing something wrong that the hones get clogged up so fast.
 
although you see the gray fairly quickly on ceramics the tool is still sharpening. you should get several minutes of use from your ceramics before cleaning is needed.
dennis
 
Get a plastic, shoe storage box (one pair size). Put some U.S.P. mineral oil in the bottom (about an inch deep). Get an auto parts cleaning brush (about 3/4" round with bristles tapering toward the tip). Get a rubber kitchen spatula with a 2"X 3 1/2" blade. Now hold your stones over the tub and brush the surfaces with oil to loosen the swarf. Then squeegee the excess oil back into the box/tub with the spatula. If the parts are still a little wet, either wipe them with a rag or stand them on end in something like coffee can to finish dripping.
 
Soap and Scotchbrite for ceramics, soap and a toothbrush for coarse aluminum oxide stones.
All under hot running water.
 
I know this thread is old, but I haven't seen this method mentioned for ceramic stones yet. You can use a regular rubber eraser, like on a pencil. This method will actually restore the stone to it's original white.
 
RevDevil said:
Does that work on ceramic too?
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Bar keeper friend on ceramic . In my expierencd it's the only thing to clean them ,Ajax does next to nothing on mine ,but BKF and a steel or copper brush from a Gunn cleaning kit get them good to go
 
I use Barkeepers Friend ,or my ultrasonic cleaner. Not sure if the ultrasonic cleaner is safe on all stones.
 
Another method I've tried recently on diamond stones is to rub them with a rubber crepe block to loosen the swarf ( commonly used to clean sanding belts.) I then rinsed my DMT's with soapy water and they looked very clean afterwards.

On my older post where I recommended Gojo hand cleaner , it worked excellent on my spyderco ceramics as well.
 
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