Cleaning Sharpening Stones

T

That_Knife_Guy

Joined
May 30, 2017
Messages
88
I have the guided sharpening system from Work Sharp. It is an amazing system but I don't know if there is a correct way to clean the stones after a few uses. I had soaked them in WD-40 because of the mineral spirits that's in it then wiping them off and cleaning them with dish soap and water. Am I doing anything wrong?
 
Hi,
mineral spirits aren't really needed ,
unless you rubbed wax/sap into your diamonds,
they don't get you anything

for cleaning diamond plates/stones, dry cleaning,
- use a pencil eraser, the metal dust mostly sticks to the eraser shavings,
- or a soft brush like a toothbrush outdoors , metal dust can float do do it outdoors :)
- you can also use a dry towel , the metal dust that comes off the stone mostly sticks to the towel fibers, towel fibers might stick to hone, brush them off :D

for cleaning diamond plates/stones, wet cleaning,
- soap and water and scrub with toothbrush, rinse
- wipe with damp cloth (towel, sock ...), dampened with water, soapy water, isopropyl...
- when finished pat dry and leave to DRY before putting away/reassembling
 
Wicked Edge actually did a study on cleaning diamond stones a while back... where they tried various products including: Simple Green, Barkeeper's Friend, rubbing alcohol, Windex, white vinegar, and a few other things... then looked at the results under a 2000x microscope. They found that white vinegar, Windex, and the rubbing alcohol did equally well, and was the best at cleaning off the metal debris on the diamond stones.
 
Jason B. said:
Barkeepersfriend
Click to expand...

A HIGH FIVE and a SLAM DUNK with "Jason B's" recommendation of Bar Keeper's Friend cleanser. Now I won't say that BKF is the answer to every problem with cleaning sharpening stones because that would cover an extremely huge sector of cleaning problems. Albeit about 95% of all the cleaning problems I've had with a wide range of sharpening stones I've found BKF to be a great remedy.

Especially Spyderco's ceramic stones which I personally use for most of my sharpening chores I find Bar Keeper's Friend to be heaven sent. Recently I've also found that the newer DAWN dishwashing liquid soaps have been a big help. I'm specifically speaking of the newer Platinum Dawn and/or Overnite Dawn. I find that soaking them for at least two hours before attempting to use BKF really helps expediate the process. Great thread!
 
JD Spydo said:
A HIGH FIVE and a SLAM DUNK with "Jason B's" recommendation of Bar Keeper's Friend cleanser. Now I won't say that BKF is the answer to every problem with cleaning sharpening stones because that would cover an extremely huge sector of cleaning problems. Albeit about 95% of all the cleaning problems I've had with a wide range of sharpening stones I've found BKF to be a great remedy.

Especially Spyderco's ceramic stones which I personally use for most of my sharpening chores I find Bar Keeper's Friend to be heaven sent. Recently I've also found that the newer DAWN dishwashing liquid soaps have been a big help. I'm specifically speaking of the newer Platinum Dawn and/or Overnite Dawn. I find that soaking them for at least two hours before attempting to use BKF really helps expediate the process. Great thread!
Click to expand...

Yeah, I would have thought BKF too... was kinda surprised. It's what I use too. But I do recall that, BKF was originally recommended for ceramics (which WE didn't test in this round), and does a great job on it.

Have to look at the "new" Dawn... though even the regular stuff works pretty well.
 
cbwx34 said:
Wicked Edge actually did a study on cleaning diamond stones a while back... where they tried various products including: Simple Green, Barkeeper's Friend, rubbing alcohol, Windex, white vinegar, and a few other things... then looked at the results under a 2000x microscope. They found that white vinegar, Windex, and the rubbing alcohol did equally well, and was the best at cleaning off the metal debris on the diamond stones.
Click to expand...

More often than not, Windex is what I use on diamond hones. That started mainly as a convenience on the fly, just because it's so easy to spritz the hone and wipe it off with a microfiber towel (which gets my vote as the 2nd most effective part of the cleaning process). But I've found it works great overall, in releasing the swarf clinging to the hone, after which it's easy to wipe away.

Alternatively, when I've done a lot of grinding on diamond hones, I'll also sometimes use dish soap + water and an old toothbrush for the final cleaning, which is equally effective.

BKF should work great as well. But I've seldom, if ever, felt the need to go that far with a diamond hone. They're considerably easier to clean than ceramics, into which swarf gets more tenaciously embedded. If I had acquired a well-used diamond hone with old, rusty swarf clearly visible on the surface, the BKF would handle that the best, as it actually will dissolve & remove the rust. But, I don't let my hones go that long in accumulating or holding that much old swarf in the first place. They're always squeaky-clean when I put them away.

Bottom line, diamond hones are probably the easiest to clean anyway, especially if it's done after each use.


David
 
Soap and water on diamond hones, BKF and water on ceramic (Sharpmaker rods), fingertips and honing oil on oil stones, blot dry with paper towel.

On water stones, NOTHING other than water, a nagura, or a diamond flattening plate.
 
For stubborn ground in swarf on oil stones I have used lacquer thinner and a wire brush. Which is very effective. Most of the time kerosene and
a wire brush will clean the stones surface. DM
 
David Martin said:
For stubborn ground in swarf on oil stones I have used lacquer thinner and a wire brush. Which is very effective. Most of the time kerosene and
a wire brush will clean the stones surface. DM
Click to expand...

Laquer Thinner and Acetone both are excellent solvents for extremely hard to clean items. But do use protective gloves when using either one of those solvents>> or even mineral spirits too for that matter. You don't want to use any petroleum distillates or any other powerful solvents with your bare hands. I even protect my hands even when using Bar Keeper's Friend and I use it for just about everything anymore.

When it comes to Arkansas stones (novaculite) and/or ceramic stones I usually soak them for a few hours or even overnight for that matter. There really is a science to cleaning and I'm always willing to experiment with cleaning sharpening stones because I find them to be some of the most difficult cleaning jobs.
 
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