Getting the Oil OUT of a Silicon Carbide Stone.......

B

blades4brains

Joined
Nov 7, 2011
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I have 2 silicon carbide sharpening stones. My great grandpa used one of them back in the day and used oil. My dad used the other one with oil as well. I prefer using water instead of oil so I needed a way to remove the oil from the stones. Prior to removing the oil, the stone would not absorb water, it would bead up on the top of the stone.

I did some scouring on the internet and read somewhere that by boiling the sharpening stones in a pot of water, the oil gets purged out of the stone.

So I got to work and got a pot out, filled it with water, put it on the stove, and placed my sharpening stone in.

It took a while for the water to boil but once it got going you could see bubbles rising out of the stone. I let it boil for about 10 minuets and I took it out. This time the stone soaked up water like a sponge when I wet it... The boiling worked.

I looked at the water in the pot later and saw a beautiful layer of oil on the top of the water.... pretty cool.


This is great because once you use oil on a stone you cannot just switch between oil and water every so often, its one or the other.

*another thing this is great for is cleaning your stone... the one I boiled looked brand-new when I was done with it.


-b4b
 
I've heard you need to place a pair of crossed forks or something on the bottom of the pot to keep the stone off the bottom.
 
I've done this to an old norton combo that was used with oil for many years. I wanted to switch completely to water from now on. I boiled my stone like you did and also added a dose of dish soap. It got most of the oil out , but not all. Probably too embedded after all those years.

Now it works well wiping with just plain water ( also with a bit of dish soap added) and the whole affair is generally a lot cleaner in regular use.
 
I want to thank you also for that great tip. I gave up on using oil many years ago because of the messy clean up involved. Water sharpening on stones or sandpaper is so much easier to clean afterwards.
 
You can soak a stone in mineral spirits to pre-clean it.
Then, boiling it with water, dish detergent, and ammonia will remove residual oil.
 
I always liked Grandpa's method; put the stone on the edge of a new campfire, moving it deeper into the fire after an hour or so, eventually having the stone sitting in the glowing coals for the rest of the night. By morning, all the oil will have been vaporized. Just wash the ash of the stone and you are good to go!


Stitchawl
 
I soak mine in simple green for a while. Read in Wayne Goddards book that it beels out the oil and it does.
 
I boiled mine for 3-5 mins., removed wiped off excess and while still warm cleaned with Lacquer thinner and a metal bristle brush. This worked very well. DM
 
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