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Simple. Ya try it out.
If ya find a potential piece of sandstone, try rubbing it against another rock and see how quickly it breaks down. It doesn't need to be very coarse or hard to remove rust.
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Excellent advice for surface work on old axe heads (I think!)
- Thread starter jblyttle
- Start date
Simple. Ya try it out.
If ya find a potential piece of sandstone, try rubbing it against another rock and see how quickly it breaks down. It doesn't need to be very coarse or hard to remove rust.
Yeah, when wire wheels disintegrate, they FLING their pieces out. I prefer the twisted wire wheels (a lot more durable and less "flingy"), and I always wear a full-face shield when using them.
Square_peg
Gold Member
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Bearing down hard on a wire wheel or cup will cause it to throw wires. Crimped steel wires are the worst. The break off very easily if you bear down hard. Brass wires almost never fly off with normal use. Knotted steel cup brushes rarely toss a wire with normal use. I use steel and brass cups frequently and seldom have a wire come of. I wear safety glasses that fit very close to my cheeks and I feel that is sufficient. If you're the least bit unsure how your wire wheel or cup brush will behave then you'd better be wearing goggles.
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If I was only working on axes I'd use knotted cups for sure. With scythe blades I need the thin edge of a crimped wheel to get into all the nooks and crannies. A light touch tends to work best to extend the life of the wheels but there's only so much that can be done. 
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I sometimes use a wire wheel on my grinder, and it always throws pieces off. Randomness being what it is, if you do this long term- wire wheels, smashing rocks, using a maul etc., it is simply a matter of time before something aims at your eye. I always wear goggles.
"A PROPER axe restorer always wears eye protection." Haha.
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- Jul 8, 2014
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You don't want that. Back in the day (1977) when I was a sheet metal apprentice, I was notching a piece of 26 gauge galvanized, when a little notch hit me right in the eyeball the tip broke off and stuck. It stayed there for about 25 years. Every two years after, when I got my eyes checked, the optometrist would say, "Yup, still there." About 5 years ago, I had to get an MRI, which required an xray of the eyeball to ensure the magnets in the MRI wouldn't suck it out, I discovered it was gone. My body had finally absorbed it. Takes that long. Wear safety glasses, boys!
I use one of those flip-down full face shields when I use my angle grinder/knotted steel brush. In fact I use it whenever I use my angle grinder for anything. I've had those wires embed themselves in my arm and also catch me through my shirt into my rib section. I can't imagine what would happen if one hit my eye.
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So after some use, I can say that this stone has value and I recommend buying one. I got a Lansky on eBay for $9 shipped. It is NOT my favorite tool for what I tried it for, although it does work. I find that it's great for heavy removal and I still will use it at the sink as opposed to the motorized wheel to eliminate rust clouds, but I think that a hand held wire brush, steel wool and light use of fine sandpaper work better for light removal if you want to maintain as much patina as possible.
Where I really like this Lansky scythe stone is for edge work, as it is a medium grit and I like the was that it fits my hand. It does what the puck does but i prefer the shape as you can keep your fingers much further away from the edge and I like the grip better. For $9, give it a try.
Where I really like this Lansky scythe stone is for edge work, as it is a medium grit and I like the was that it fits my hand. It does what the puck does but i prefer the shape as you can keep your fingers much further away from the edge and I like the grip better. For $9, give it a try.
Great stone; the Norton on amazon is even coarser and softer. I really like the Rozsutec stone for hard/fine work, although now that Baryonyx has such a wide assortment I may find ones I like even better, and it is too fine for my hardened scythes in the field. Here's the Lansky, Rozsutec, and a grey Bregenzer which is great for touching up knives quickly even though the shape requires a different technique.
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My personal favorites are the Falci "Enzian" and "Original Carborundum" stones, though the Electrite Carborundum is close behind. The Smeriglio stone is a nice one for when you want a very toothy edge such as when cutting clumpy knotted grasses and plants like thistles and asters. The first three I mentioned are all hard slow-wearing stones, while the Smeriglio is a soft stone that will wear itself out of shape if you use hard pressure, so a light touch is needed. The Lansky is just a little slower wearing, but still "muds up" pretty quickly compared to the Enzian and both Carborundum variants. Angelo B. swapped things around on me unexpectedly and their "Milano" stone, which was once a very thick red stone of a fast-cutting medium-coarse grit is now a standard sized orange stone that looks to be the same composition as Norton India stones.