Using Norton coarse and fine india oil stone with water(need advice)

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lonestar1979

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Mar 2, 2014
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I have used an old Norton oil stone with water lately and had good results with it, but someone else before was using oil(bought it on garage sale).After sharpening many knives the stone is clogged now and doesn't grind metal.How can I clean the stone?I was planning to buy the same stone but brand new and use it with water , should I boil the stone before use?Is there some inexpensive stone that can sharpen and reprofile harder super steels except diamond?
 
Get an old stainless steel or aluminum cake pan or deep skillet. Soak the stone in hot soapy water. Change the water every few hours for a day or so. This will get a lot of oil out and make the next step less obnoxious.

Step 2 - wait until your wife is out of town. Open the windows. Fill the pan with soapy water, submerge the stone and put it in the oven. Turn the oven on to 250 degrees. "Cook" the stone in the water (it will get hot and slowly boil off). Keep adding water to keep the water deeper than the stone. Add some soap once in a while. Do this for several hours. Turn the oven off. Let the stone and soapy water cool. Take the stone out. When the house stops smelling close the windows. Take your wife out to dinner.

Step 2 can be done outdoors on a Coleman Stove or a gas grill but do not let the pan boil dry or you might crack your stone! Indoors is safer, especially if you are single.

Boiling on the stove top will work but you need to watch carefully and not boil the pan dry.
 
I cleaned my stone by simply boiling it for 3 minutes in a pan with a drop or two of dish soap on top of the stove. Once removed I had some paint thinner and wire brush ready on the porch. While still hot apply some and scrub with the wire brush. You'll be surprised how clean it comes out. DM
 
lonestar1979 said:
I have used an old Norton oil stone with water lately and had good results with it, but someone else before was using oil(bought it on garage sale).After sharpening many knives the stone is clogged now and doesn't grind metal.How can I clean the stone?I was planning to buy the same stone but brand new and use it with water , should I boil the stone before use?Is there some inexpensive stone that can sharpen and reprofile harder super steels except diamond?
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Do as per David Martin as he knows this stone well. If it's really hammered it can become necessary to lap it down to a new surface using a loose abrasive ( a sidewalk and lots of water, I swear by using SiC lapping grit and another stone with a load of dishsoap).

It may very well not have clogged because of previous use with oil but due to using it with water. Water can help keep swarf from embedding into the stone, but it doesn't suspend it like oil can, oil also seems to work a lot better at preventing the stone from glazing. Many opinions on this, mine is that if you use it with oil you'll never have to worry about this again.

Is sometimes possible to restore a plugged stone by simply putting a thick film of oil on the surface, let it sit, and then rub it with a fingertip, lifting out a lot of the debris.

A new stone can be boiled free of its preloaded oil as described above. If using with water, some dishsoap added will help keep it clean better than plain water.
 
For breaking up a clogged stone, I've always had pretty good success by flooding the surface with naptha (lighter fluid) and scrubbing with a stiff plastic bristled brush. WD40 works too, but not quite as well in my experience. Follow up by scrubbing with water and a mild abrasive such as comet or ajax, then scrub again with water and dishsoap. It's always worked for me, it may be worth a try for you too.
 
After you clean it up you may want to try adding some dish soap to the water like heavyhanded recommended. I do that and my stones are going strong after a lot of use. Simple way to go about it is use some type of container to hold the water and make up the water/soap solution. I used to use a old hand sanitizer 8oz bottle that was empty and lying around but that broke so now I just use a water bottle with a hole punched in the lid.
 
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