Refurbishing / maintaining Lansky stones

[RangerMuc]

Hey guys,

I've used the Lansky Deluxe 5-Stone System to sharpen several knives. (https://www.lansky.com/deluxe-5-stone-system.html)

Am happy with it, but each stone has gotten gunked up with a mixture of metal shavings and sharpening oil.
Wasn't aware I'm only supposed to use the oil for cleaning. Had been keeping them oiled while sharpening with these standard Alumina Oxide stones.

I bought the Lansky Eraser Block for cleaning, I think that only made it worse.
I've now started to clean them with hot water and a toothbrush. That didn't work too well, the shavings/oil/eraser mixture is kinda stuck in the pores.
I've progressed to using sandpaper on a flat surface. That works, as expected.
I can continue using sandpaper until I've taken off enough material to hit "virgin ground" on each stone.

Here are my questions:

A) If I continue with sandpaper, I'll be going through quite a bit of it. Would you recommend I just get myself a diamond file?
If I get a file: would you treat each of the stones with the same file? The stones have different grits (Extra Coarse is 70 / 120 / 280 / 600 / Ultra Fine is 1,000).
I might be overthinking this, but I'm wondering if I need to use files that match the grit of each stone.
Using a 300 grit diamond file on the 1000-grit Ultra Fine ceramic stone doesn't make sense to me, for example. Just a gut feeling.

B) Do you clean your Lansky stones after each sharpening? If yes: just using the Lansky Honing Oil and a paper towel? Is that enough to keep the pores clean?

If you'd recommend I use a different method to clean the stones now, please let me know. I'm all ears.

Thanks in advance, hope things are good in your neck of the woods.

Greetings from Germany

 

[Papilio]

I would not use sandpaper on the UF 1.000 grit stone because it's sintered ceramic. All you would do is glaze the stone.
You could try rubbing two pairs of the stones together: XC and C, M and F. They are aluminum oxide, this should work. Sandpaper on a flat tile or SiC powder on a granite tile or glass plate are well known methods to flatten or resurface your stones.
A 300 grit diamond stone on the 1.000 grit ceramic ist not that odd. It is much better to use a coarse diamond on sintered ceramics because a fine(r) diamond plate will make the stone much finer (and therefore slower) than it was originally. You would change the surface finish a lot.

Coarse sandpaper would be sufficient for all the four aluminum oxide stones. You want them to spread fresh abrasive particles. For the XC stone take extra coarse sandpaper. But all others would be fine with coarse sandpaper. I don't think that you need different grits matching the grits of each stone.

Same thoughts about diamond plates. Many guys use an Atoma 400 vor DMT 325 to flatten or refresh stones. You would need sth. coarser for the very low (coarse) grits. But you don't have to buy diamond plates with different grits for each stone.

Greeting to Germany.

 

[RangerMuc]

I would not use sandpaper on the UF 1.000 grit stone because it's sintered ceramic. All you would do is glaze the stone.
You could try rubbing two pairs of the stones together: XC and C, M and F. They are aluminum oxide, this should work. Sandpaper on a flat tile or SiC powder on a granite tile or glass plate are well known methods to flatten or resurface your stones.
A 300 grit diamond stone on the 1.000 grit ceramic ist not that odd. It is much better to use a coarse diamond on sintered ceramics because a fine(r) diamond plate will make the stone much finer (and therefore slower) than it was originally. You would change the surface finish a lot.

Coarse sandpaper would be sufficient for all the four aluminum oxide stones. You want them to spread fresh abrasive particles. For the XC stone take extra coarse sandpaper. But all others would be fine with coarse sandpaper. I don't think that you need different grits matching the grits of each stone.

Same thoughts about diamond plates. Many guys use an Atoma 400 vor DMT 325 to flatten or refresh stones. You would need sth. coarser for the very low (coarse) grits. But you don't have to buy diamond plates with different grits for each stone.

Greeting to Germany.

Thanks for your feedback, I appreciate it.
I'm familiar with the grits, but not with the "extra coarse" and "coarse" categories.
Would you call grits between 40 and 60 "coarse", and anything below that "extra coarse"?

 

[Papilio]

Well, the answer is not a simple one.
You know that several grit ratings exists?

It also makes a difference if the abrasive is coated or bonded.

As a rule of thumb I would say everything below 220 JIS is extra coarse.

 

[RangerMuc]

I wasn't aware of different grit ratings.
Had a quick look, will have to get familiar with it.
Thanks for giving me the 220 JIS rule of thumb, I can work with that.

 

[Papilio]

Lansky will rate it's stones in ANSI.
It is often confusing.
Be aware that even stones rated with the same grit can leave a different scratch pattern.

 

[TheOne45]

Oil stones are nothing new so I suppose there must be a tutorial or instructions (Google, Youtube) how to clean oil stones.

If you are going to buy diamond plates just to clean your oil stones I think it's better to just buy replacement Lansky diamond hones but they are about $30 a piece.

There is also a simple and cheap DIY option if you know how to use your hands and have basic tools.

 

[Papilio]

I forgot to mention: The ceramic UF 1000 hone is easy to clean with a pencil eraser or a scouring agent (like Ata, what should be availabe in Germany easily) and a Scotch-Brite pad. You would refresh the surface if the stone does not cut any longer but not for regular maintenance.