Sharpening Stone Question

mogmz

mogmz

Joined
Sep 1, 2002
Messages
977
I have an older sharpening stone and it seems to be almost glazed over on the surface. It is somewhat darkened and it just doesnt bite into the edge of the knife at all. Almost like trying to sharpen your knife on a glass like surface. Ive seen other old stones like this before and never bothered to get them because of this problem.

Could this be an issue of being used with the wrong oil on the stone or some other reason? Any suggestions of how to turn these into useable stones would be great.
 
If Thom's suggestion doesn't work, here's a couple more:

Soak it for a couple days in Scrub Free (soap scum remover and bath cleaner.) A large zip-lock bag works well. Rinse, then soak it for a couple days in clean water ... you'll probably find orange scum in the water after a while, which is oxidized steel and old oil/gunk coming out. Change rinse water and repeat. This is my favorite method anymore, works very well.

If it's still glazed, or you don't want to do that, try resurfacing the stone with a coarse SiC or diamond stone, or just using sand on the sidewalk.

An extreme measure that some recommend is baking or burning the old oil and gunk out.

After it's clean, always use it with water or oil as a lubricant to keep it from loading up again.
 
Another method that works really well for me, is use your finger & Rub it with some Wd40, (somehow it pulls the crud out of the pores), and then wash it with dish soap.

Also, you may want to consider not using oil / water as an experiment just to see if it makes any difference.

I used to always use Water / Oil, but find that sharpening with out it, yields the same (If not better) results for me, and it makes it much easier to maintain your sharpening stones / ceramics etc.

I'm a little obsessive about the stones, but once you get them clean, you might want to start cleaning after every couple of good sharpening sessions, as it helps keep it in good shape.

Be Well,

sp
 
Another way would be an old glass plate (window glass) and some carborundum powder. The powder is pretty affordable, leevalley.com sells some for example.
 
WD-40 works for me.

I always have a problem with Micarta dust and all kinds of crap that lands on my India stone.

I just wash it with WD-40 and it more of less comes clean.

If that does not work, then the problem might just be a very dirty oil slick that down into the stone. In that case, I would try a cleaner meant to fight oil and grease...like a "choke" cleaner....
 
All that stuff works, but sometimes stones can be clogged well below the surface. Other things to try are:

1) simmer the stone in water spiked with phosphate ( the kind sold for cleaning walls before painting plus Dawn)

2) Run the stone through an automatic diswasher.

3) Soak for days or weeks in a strong ammonia cleaner solution or acetone. If you use acetone, you will have to find a way to prevent it from evaporating.

I have a really good, old Arkansas stone, probably a "soft" one on which I have used almost all of the methods outlined by everyone. It still isn't completely cleaned, but it is much, much better than it was. It gets relatively clean on one surface and then more grease and gunk leeches up from the middle, then I do it again etc.

Good luck. Many people think that these older stones are superior to most new ones.

Don
 
My three methods of attack:
1. boiling stone in water
2. scrubbing with detergent and hot water
3. impregnating and cleaning with lighter fluid

Last time I tried this on a 20+ year stone India stone it improved but wasn't like new and I think that I got the most dramtic results with the lighter fluid.
 
A cheap ultrasonic cleaner will remove everything that is going to come out.
Plus, you can clean jewelry and knives with it.
Bill
 
Yesterday I used Dawn dishwashing liquid soap (cuts oil and grease - it's what the eviro-types use to clean oil spill off of ducks, etc.) and SOS pads. The surface glaze is gone and much of the 30-years' worth of stain, too. I thought about the dishwasher, but decided not to do that to protect the dishwasher. When the stone was new, I soaked it in an oil bath, and most of that's still in there.

Edited to note that I moved the pad in all directions, including cross-ways to the direction I sharpen.

Walker
 
Thanks for all the good tips.

Boiling in TSP or dishwashing detergent has worked well for me.

But cleaning the stone well after every use, and keeping the stone boxed/covered while not in use are also key.

John
 
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