Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire How do you clean a Whetstone?

How do you clean a very good Whetstone. The stone has the metal particles embedded in the stone from much use and we would like to clean it.
Thanks for your recommendations
Phil

Water. Soap won't hurt it either.

+1

I 'inherited" an old Norton oilstone that was clogged up. I used kerosene and a wire brush to get the worst crud off, then used Dawn dishwashing soap and an old fingernail brush to get the rest off. Let it dry, re-oil with mineral oil, and go back to work...

Ed

Soap, water, and a brush. Mineral oil it up and simply wipe with a paper towel or two after each use.

All of the above,....if still dissatisfied,....BEAD BLAST it with Aerospace Grade Finish grit.

Any good Harley Engine shop will do this for a six-pack.

GTC

A flat steel table top and a handful of media blast/sand.
Work the stone in a circular motion against the flat of the table.Any piece of flat steel big enough, will work.
It will take off all the embedded chit and flatten it out if you work it enough.
Clean with mineral sprits.
dave

Cinder block + pail of water:

Dunk the whetstone in a pail of water. Rub the stone on the wet cinder block, using a figure-eight motion. Dunk the whetstone in the water, frequently. This will clean and flatten the surface of your whetstone.

use water on a new stone and don't ever put oil on it. Unless you try to sharpen something such as aluminum it should never become clogged up.
Only way I konw that will remove the oil is to burn it out and there is a good chance doing that will break the stone.
Build a fire with the stone in it from the beginning, and hope for the best.
Boiling in a large pan might work.

i boil mine in a large pan, in the kitchen, with water and liquid soap the wife uses. i usually boil them for a couple hours. seems to get em' quite clean. then i use a cinder block to give each that "flat" surface, rinse with water, let dry for a few days, and oil em' up again for a couple years. ymmv.

Some stones like water only,

some DEMAND oil, some viscosity specific, to boot

"Whetstone" is a pretty generic term.

I've owned and run em' both,......and gotta say that the modern "Sintered" stones have got a clear edge over the old tech quarried variety,...that edge being Homogeneity , and really uniform structure.

ANY,....repeat ANY of them will respond to most all of the excellent advice given here today.

"Figure 8 lapping" will cure damn near any mechanical mis-alignment known to man.

GTC

Just one of them Green acrylic square scrubbing pads (sometimes old tooth brushes also help) with water and a basic can powder detergent - like Ajax or Comet has worked wonders for me.

Especially so, to restore clogged 'crock' sharpening sticks.

If, I was dealing with "oil" stone ... I think I'd try the same thing (as above) but use "DAWN" liquid soap - which really cuts oil & grease effectively.

Like one of the previous post's said ... "Rinse with Water."

make a paste with "Barkeepers Friend", and rub it into the stone until it washes clean.

Folks Thank you for all of the tips. I will put them to good use this weekend
Phil

I use Dawn liquid soap as honing oil on my oil stones and then rinse the stone off after use with an occasional scrub with a toothbrush. Keeps it clean as you go.

S R
Neat idea we will try it going forward

I've gone to using soap as well on SiC stones. I don't know if they are oil or water stones, but it doesn't seem to matter and as you said, clean-up is easy.

If you normally use your stone with oil immersing in kerosene to saturation then wrapping it in an old towel and baking it at about 250 degrees for a couple of hours will raise embedded steel from the pores. As stated by others soap and water works to finish up and on a mildly embedded stone is probably all you may need.

Try using Simple Green instead of oil or water, doesn't matter what type of stone. It works better and you won't have to worry about getting it clean.

One of the lectures I attended at the Hammer in in August recommended using Windex as a honing lubricant. I haven't tried it yet but it sounds pretty smart.