Stone grime - leave it or clean it?

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TheMightyGoat

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The residue of oil and stone grit that builds up on a sharpening stone after a bit of use, should I leave that or clean it off? If I should clean it, should I just wipe it off, or is there some liquid I can use without damaging the stone?
 
Wipe it off with a clean paper towel, shop rag or the like. You can also then rinse the stone under water and then reapply a bit of oil to the surface of the stone.
 
I don´t know if I do right but for many years I have scrubed my hones with a cleaning pad and dishwasher detergent. I believe some people use Kerosene or Brake cleaning fluid. I have also boiled several stones in water and they came out fine.
 
Originally posted by Don Luis
I don´t know if I do right but for many years I have scrubed my hones with a cleaning pad and dishwasher detergent. I believe some people use Kerosene or Brake fluid. I have also boiled several stones in water and they came out fine.
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I'd be afraid to use soap... residue... knife... rust... :eek:
 
I always rinse hones well after cleaning and never had any problems, also, I mentioned Brake fluid, should have been Brake cleaning fluid.

I have also used cleansing powder, such as Ajax with good results (again rinse throughly), but I don´t find it so often at the supermarket any more.

Have been using hones since the early 60´s and still have and use a couple from those days.
 
A warm detergent bath in the sink cleans well (been using it for years). Anytime you leave the oil, and metal residue on your stone it hinders its ability to sharpen well.
 
anyone cleaned their ceramic hones?
mine will always have a few dots of metal inside the ceramic, and no amount of scrubbing will remove it, with oil or detergent :grumpy:
i don't think it affects the performance, but it gets to be an eyesore :)
 
If you don't use oil there is no oil residue in the stone. If you use oil it is a real problem to remove it all. I just clean an oil stone using a scrub brush with more oil, kerosene, or paint thinner. I only try and remove the oil if I've decided to switch to using the stone dry. In that case I use a lot of hot detergent solution and a scrub brush, then sink cleanser,and finally I run it through the dishwasher.
 
Originally posted by DEA
anyone cleaned their ceramic hones?
mine will always have a few dots of metal inside the ceramic, and no amount of scrubbing will remove it, with oil or detergent :grumpy:
i don't think it affects the performance, but it gets to be an eyesore :)
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Someone (Spyderco?) makes a hard, somewhat porous "eraser" that works real well on ceramic. I've had mine for about 15 years and used it on my Gatco crock sticks and more recently, my Spyderco 204 sticks.

T.
 
I have been using the same surgical black Arkansas stone since 1982 and have never done anything but wipe it off with a rag or paper towel. It still works as well as it did when new.
 
Definately clean them. They cut better when cleaned. I have heard of boiling them to clean them, but my wife would kill me if the caught me, since I threw away all our junk pans. I hadn't thought of using the dishwasher, I'll have to try that.
Paint thinner and a shop towel seems to work well on my ceramic stones.
 
Good Evening All-

Spyderco Sharpmaker seems to work better and more efficiently with freshly-scrubbed ceramics. YMMV.

~ Blue Jays ~
 
Just an FYI but I think the "hard eraser" that is being talked about isn't just an old pencil eraser that has gotten hard, but rather a metal eraser. Take a look here (go down to the third item) http://www.swordsdirect.com/sword_care.html . It's really good at getting rust spots off of blades. But be warned, it is not good at polishing. If you have a highly polished blade (a nice custom) it will turn the finish kind of cloudy and you would need to use some high grit paste and elbow grease to get it back. No problem with a sand blasted/stone washed/basic satin finish. That being said, it was really good at getting the "china" label off of the backside of my Kershaw Vapor. And it works great on the Spyderco ceramics too.
 
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