Removing a waterstone from its base???

Jason B.

Jason B.

Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Jun 13, 2007
Messages
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I have a water stone on a wooden base I would like to remove from its base, any tips?
 
did the same thing. bought one pre-mounted (mistake on my end). slowly heat up the stone in the oven. check the stone every 50deg. or so and gently pry up on the stone. hopefully the glue will release. dont pry to soon or to hard or the stone will snap. and yes i have broken a waterstone or two doing this. i purchased pre mounted ones because they were more "affordable" than the plain grit stones but soon found out that leveling them was a p.i.t.a.
 
i removed the plastic base from my 3k naniwa with a dremel, it was a mess until the heat generated loosened the epoxy, that's actually your best bet as stated.

one thing to keep in mind, as the stone get thinner it may become problematic. i removed the plastic base on my naniwa because they are plain crap but a solid wooden base wouldn't bother me. my 3k is now way less than 1cm thick and it's very fragile and unstable, sometimes depending on how it dries etc the stone is slightly "bent".
 
It's my Kitayama stone and though the wooden base looks good with the stone all my other ones are baseless and it's bugging me. I'm not sure about the oven trick, may hold that as a last resort. I tried dental floss but the glue seems to be a softer epoxy so it got stuck instantly. I was thinking I might see if I can find one of those cheap survival saws found in the end of a Rambo knife, there is a small gap between the stone and the base so hopefully that will work to my advantage.



pwet, CKTG has 2cm Naniwa's baseless ;) There more but that's the way I'm going for the 12k.
 
the 3k was 2cm.

and my 5 and 10k are 2cm baseless so was my long dead 1k. the 5 and 10k have a lot of life still but as soon as they go below 1cm i'm going to glue them to a piece of hardwood to prevent what happens to my 3k.
 
Do they really wear that fast? or do you sharpen like a mad man too? :)
 
I would like to find a place to buy a couple more plastic bases. I removed my naniwa SS 1k from its base because it ran thin, and I wanted to put the new one back on... naniwa SS stones seem to warp when they dry out while they are thin, I think thats why Naniwa used to put them on bases in the first place... I also have a couple high grit stones that are very fragile... but you can't find them anywhere!
 
I would get some plate glass cut to size and glue the stones to it.
 
If the dental floss wasn't strong enough you could try some thin steel wire such as an electric guitar string.
 
They use serious epoxy on stones. Dental floss will not work and neither will a steel wire.

Heating the stone in the oven can loosen the glue, I have never tried it though.

The Plastic Naniwa Bases I have ground off with a belt sander but overall I've found that stones are better with the base, so I leave it alone these days.

I never took the base off my Kitayama, I sold it because I have a love hate relationship with the Kitayama stone. I'll probably buy a new one in the next few months, that will make the 3rd time I've purchased the stone and hopefully I can keep myself from selling it again.
 
Jason B. said:
They use serious epoxy on stones. Dental floss will not work and neither will a steel wire.

Heating the stone in the oven can loosen the glue, I have never tried it though.

The Plastic Naniwa Bases I have ground off with a belt sander but overall I've found that stones are better with the base, so I leave it alone these days.

I never took the base off my Kitayama, I sold it because I have a love hate relationship with the Kitayama stone. I'll probably buy a new one in the next few months, that will make the 3rd time I've purchased the stone and hopefully I can keep myself from selling it again.
Click to expand...

Ditto that. I have a 'cheap' tri-hone setup with one synthetic and two Arkansas stones, bought many years ago (20-25+). The stones are mounted on a triangular wooden block (actually looks like Cocobolo) which sits on a wooden base. I'd hoped to remove the finishing stone (translucent Arkansas) to use independent of the others, but gave up on it. I'd tried soaking the (assumed) epoxy by pouring acetone in the joint; didn't faze it at all. Also tried prying it off (before, during and after the acetone), but ended up chipping the lower edge of the stone instead, and it still wouldn't budge. There's a visible hairline fissure running the full width and thickness of the stone, so I'd likely eventually break it in half, in trying to pry any harder. I finally decided to leave it be. One day, I might try boiling it; but I'd rather not ruin the block or the rest of the setup in doing so. Don't think it'll be very good for the wood, and I worry the heat might further crack the stone as well, with the fissure running through it.


David
 
Do you know of a good site for that? I've looked around for glass shops in my area for lapping in the passed and there doens't seem to be any.
 
Probably the safest way would be running it across a table saw or doing it with a hand saw. Do it just as you would hog out a larger depression from a block of wood, a series of close parallel cuts down into the wood stopping just short of the stone. Crack the pieces off and take it down the rest of the way with a rasp and then sandpaper once you expose the stone from the downside. I'd be terrified of snapping the stone the whole time and it would take a few to accomplish but anything else removes a bunch of good material.

If you don't mind losing a fat 1/16" you could get a diamond sawsall blade and simply cut it off.
 
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