How often do you clean the stones in your Sharpmaker?

C

CHP5

Joined
May 9, 2001
Messages
256
How often do you clean the stones in your Sharpmaker? After every use, 2 uses, 15 uses?

It seems that the white stones fill up fast. The darker stones are more course, so I bet they fill up faster, but you can't see it as easily.
 
I clean mine after every use but I take care of all my tools that way.
 
I clean mine after every use also. You can feel the difference between a clean stone and one that is loaded up.

Bruceter
 
Depends on how long its taking to sharpen the knife, sometimes I will clean them several times while sharpening one knife.
 
At least every other time I use them, especially the whites, probably because I can see the build up. They do bite better when clean.
 
When I feel the blade slipping over the stone instead of being ground. It's really noticeable if you go in at say, a 5* or a 10* angle instead of perpendicular (won't change the blade angle). Gives me an idea of how loaded it is.
 
I don't have a sharp maker but i clean ceramic stones after about 12 strokes with a pencil eraser.
 
Roger999 said:
I don't have a sharp maker but i clean ceramic stones after about 12 strokes with a pencil eraser.
Click to expand...

Interesting - I've never heard of that method. I use Comet or something similar. Does it work well?
 
After each use. It bugs me to see the gray marks left on the white stones.
 
I clean the fine ones after any dark (as opposed to faint) areas develop. I just clean them by rubbing them with my thumb under running water and then wiping them off. It works well enough.
 
CHP5 said:
Interesting - I've never heard of that method. I use Comet or something similar. Does it work well?
Click to expand...
It works really well, takes 5secs to scrub and it leaves white stones with very very faint marks but still sharpens like new.
 
i also use an eraser, sometimes i use soap and water though, i probably dont clean them often enough, i gen'ly use them till they start not working as well, then clean 'em, works out to cleaning after every 4 or 5 "touchups".

i rarely clean the coarse rods it doesnt seem to matter as much with them.
 
I just got the Sharpmaker a few days ago. I got about 4 knives sharp before it became to dirty and the knife just started gliding over it instead of removing metal.

I plan to clean it regurlarly after 1 or 2 uses.
 
I clean the stones when I think they're getting loaded up. I don't have a set schedule.
 
I use simple green with a fine scotch-brite pad to clean my sharpmaker after every use. really works great for me.
-Eric
 
If you don't clean the stones, will it actually affect how well you can sharpen a knife? Just wondering...

-KL
 
KershawLover said:
If you don't clean the stones, will it actually affect how well you can sharpen a knife?
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The metal that accumulates makes it makes it harder to do as good of a job. The stones can't cut properly with crap between them and the blade.
 
he who say said:
after every use, or they become more like a steel. ive also heard steeling may weaken an edge.
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Steeling just straightens up a turned (bent) edge. The edge is already damaged. Steeling doesn't do any further damage. It temporarily makes the knife cut better until it can be properly sharpened.

Using a loaded ceramic rod will not harm a knife; it just won't sharpen very well.
 
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