Cleaning clogged oilstones

P

PB Wilson

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Jul 17, 2006
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I inherited several oilstones from my grandfather and after years and years of use, a few are pretty well clogged with steel filings. I've got to flatten some of them because of severe dishing, but others just need to be cleaned off to hopefully give me a generation of use.

My question is: what's the easiest or best way to clean off these stones? Household products that work? More caustic cleaners from the hardware store? What worked for you? Thanks.
 
Someone in another such thread suggested a product called 'Barkeeper's Friend', or 'Barkeeper's Helper' or something like that. I'm at work and it is at home under my sink. It did a great job on my 6" carborundorum stone and on the 8" natural stone I use. It works great on Crock Sticks too. I found it in the grocery store near the Comet or Ajax or Bon Ami...
 
For oil stones that have had oil used as a lube your best bet for cleaning will be a petro based solvent, brake cleaner or something similar. The simplest way will be to let those stones soak in the cleaner for several hours and scrub with a toothbrush or some other type of brush to remove alot of the surface trash.
Ajax, BarKeepers Friend are ok for cleaning diamond stones but I would not use it on oil stones.
You will be able to get a lot of the trash out of those stones by just letting them soak for a while and then brush them down good then let them soak some more. After you are done with them pull them out of the solvent and let them dry out on some newspaper.
 
I've boiled them for about 10 minutes followed up with an abrasive cleaner. Worked great.
 
Once you flatten them they will be clean as a whistle. In between flattenings you can
remove as previously recommended.
 
I would recommend naptha as a solvent. Soak the stone repeatedly until the soak solution is clean. Once clean, let dry thoroughly.
 
You'll have to do it in 2-3 stages. Remove the old oil, then remove the metal filings.

1. Soak in VM&P Naphtha (Home Depot) or Zippo lighter fluid.
This will loosen and dissolve all the old oil and gum.

2. If this leaves the stone oil and gum free (after drying) then go to #3, otherwise, spray/soak in Carburator cleaner. This has acetone, MEK and other more agressive solvents. Neither of these will hurt the stone.

3. Dump a lot of Barkeeper's Friend or Cameo Stainless cleaner in a little water, stir it up well, and soak the stone in it. These have oxalic or sulfamic acids which will attack the metal filings so you'll be able to loosen and scrub them out with a toothbrush. These 2 cleaners also have a polishing grit in them but don't scrub the stone with them. You'll wind up clogging the stone with grit. Just use the dissolved acids from them to soak the stone to loosen the metal bits.

Rinse well with water, dry and you're good to go.
 
flashlife said:
You'll have to do it in 2-3 stages. Remove the old oil, then remove the metal filings.

1. Soak in VM&P Naphtha (Home Depot) or Zippo lighter fluid.
This will loosen and dissolve all the old oil and gum.

2. If this leaves the stone oil and gum free (after drying) then go to #3, otherwise, spray/soak in Carburator cleaner. This has acetone, MEK and other more agressive solvents. Neither of these will hurt the stone.

3. Dump a lot of Barkeeper's Friend or Cameo Stainless cleaner in a little water, stir it up well, and soak the stone in it. These have oxalic or sulfamic acids which will attack the metal filings so you'll be able to loosen and scrub them out with a toothbrush. These 2 cleaners also have a polishing grit in them but don't scrub the stone with them. You'll wind up clogging the stone with grit. Just use the dissolved acids from them to soak the stone to loosen the metal bits.

Rinse well with water, dry and you're good to go.
Click to expand...

Can you use the stone with water after doing this? I have a couple old oil soaked carborundum stones I'd maybe even use if I could lube with water or cleaner or anything but oil. It doesn't work for me to mostly use waterstones and sometimes use oil stones.
 
Broos said:
Can you use the stone with water after doing this? I have a couple old oil soaked carborundum stones I'd maybe even use if I could lube with water or cleaner or anything but oil. It doesn't work for me to mostly use waterstones and sometimes use oil stones.
Click to expand...

Wouldn't hurt to try.
Basically, you can "degrease" the stone by soaking in naphtha (removes oil), then carb cleaner if necessary(removes oil & gum), then drying. If water drops bead up on the stone, rather than wetting it or soaking in, then try the naphtha & carb-cleaner soak again, and dry thoroughly (overnite, at least, sitting on paper towels to wick away the solvent).

After this process, I'd wet the stone with H2O + a few drops of dishwashing liquid detergent. It may never "wet" as well as a stone that's never been oiled, but with a bit of dishwash detergent in the water, it should wet OK, not just bead up and run off.
 
What I always used to clean oil stones was oil and a wire brush. Much of what gums up an oil stone is thickened oil and decomposed abrasive. Much less of the problem tends to be metal if the hone was consistently used with oil. The common problem is when you start out using oil (which softens the hone surface) and you don't apply oil when you use it later. The surface is soft and there is a gummy residue of old oil on the surface. When you hone the surface immediately becomes a mess of pasty stone residue bound in waxy oil residue plastered into the pores of the hone.

You can remove the residue with 3-in-1 Oil, or other oil-like petroleum products and a wire brush. Kerosene or paint thinner have worked for me pretty well.

Subsequently you need to use fresh oil when you hone.

If you want to get away from using oil you will need to clean the surface with heavy detergent cleanser and hot water or a light petroleum solvent. After that you need to do something like run it through a dishwasher. You may need to do another couple rounds of honing a heavy blade with the stone wet with water, wire brushing, and running through a dishwasher. You have to get rid of both the oil residue and the weakened abrasive. You may find that the hone does not work optimally when you use it dry or with water. It may be manufactured to work with oil.
 
I think I'll give it a shot, too. I guess I can always put some more oil on it if it doesn't work. Thanks, guys!
 
One other thing:

My Lansky hones are also clogged. Will any of these products damage the plastic handle or the glue holding the stone to the plastic?
 
PB,
If you use Carb cleaner, acetone, brake cleaner, there's a chance they'll hurt the plastic or loosen the glue. These solvents are more agressive than plain naphtha (Zippo lighter fluid) or alcohol.
If you use any of these agressive solvents, keep them off the handle and glue joint.
 
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