Tweegs

Most of the stones I have are hand-me-downs. Some oil, some water, most are still in decent shape.

The question came up the other day about how to clean and care for one.

For my oil stones WD-40 or straight kerosene and a toothbrush seemed to do a good job, for the water stones I've been using laundry soap, can't say I'm overly pleased with the results there.

Another question was how to true up the surface. The only answer I had was to use one side, flip it over and use up the other side, then replace it. Seems like a waste really and I thought a good topic for here.

With proper maintenance, a good stone should serve you well for years, so how do you do it?

Daren

I only have a couple oil stones, but literally 100's of waterstones. (really) The best thing for wet stones is to lap them together to flatten and clean them. It should be done often to keep them flat. It's as simple as get them wet and rub them together. You will know when they are flat because the slurry will be evenly distributed on the surface of the stone.
When I sharpen with the wet stones (frequently, I do run a sharpening business after all-plus I personally need to sharpen chisel/plane irons...) I have usually 3 in my "water well" (a cookie sheet ) of different grits. Working my way down to the finest. Then after and sometime during sharpening I rub the next courser stone to the one near it. Rinse it well and move on. I never put my stones away "unlapped". I store my stones dry, others store them in water (tupperware container) I don't see the point in that.

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breakfastchef

There are tons of online resources abour stones. I use waterstones. After a 20-30 minute soak in water, I will flatten them on a piece of 320+ wet/dry sandpaper attached to a plate of glass. I have heard that flattening can also be accomplished as Daren points out above or by doing figure eights on a cinder block. Whatever works. Use an accurate square to check for level. Also, check the web for several videos about using waterstones. There is a lot of great info out there.

Tweegs

Geez Daren, I thought 10 was overkill
I've only bought 3 on my own, the rest were given to me.

I had heard of using a slab of granite or a chunk of glass and sandpaper for sharpening, but not for flattening a stone. First I've heard of rubbing two stones together....but the light went on, makes perfect sense. I'd be a bit reluctant to use a cinder block though, something just seems wrong with that. Not saying it wouldn't work, I just get an uneasy feeling even thinking about it.

Thanks for the input guys. Noted and filed for future reference.

horseleft

Must agree with Breakfastchef. I find a sheet of wet & dry works
really well on a piece of glass or I supose anything dead flat.
Have used 80 grade on badly worn stone rinsing the wet & dry fairly
often.Have tried a ceramic flattening, about as much use as a chocolate fireguard. All the best

mmtools

I have some Japanese waterstones that I keep in a small tub always under water. I have heard it isn't a good practice to wet them, let them dry, and re-wet them. (breaks them down). Your opinions, please...

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Daren

Like I said I store mine dry (and clean) I can't imagine wetting/drying breaking them down...but if you take them out of the water and store them some place where they can freeze, they are toast. Make sure they are thoroughly dry. A couple problems with wet storage is algae in the water (a couple drops of bleach should fix that) and if the stone is not washed well and stored in fresh water the iron in the pours can oxidize (rust) and break down the surface some. That can be cleaned up with a quick lapping, no major damage.

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Kenbo

I like to keep my water stones in the water. One argument here is that if you don't have good water in your area, when the stone dries, it can leave mineral deposits on your stone. Just a thought.
Ken

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kickarse

I suppose one thing an oil stone doesn't have much to worry about being stored in oil :D

MuseumWood

Just to give a nod to the other stones. I use oil stones. I try to work the corners evenly and the centers seem to take care of themselves. We have a couple of black Arkansas stones in the Museum collection that are approaching "U". Tough to get a good edge! I have no idea how they got that way.

I use Ballistol on the stone and then carefully wipe it when I am done. I store my stones covered to keep dust and grit off them. I wipe the tool down with a clean rag before going to the next finest grade. To sharpen a new tool I go through up to 5 grades and a 1900's razor hone. For touch up honing one or two grades. But they must be protected from courser grit!

Colt W. Knight

It is common practice to flatten water stones with a piece of sandpaper and glass or any flat surface. The glass, unlike your table saw, wont rust while keeping the sandpaper wet. This just prevents clogging and tearing of the sand paper. It is also common practice, and recommended to keep whetstones submerged, unless there is a possibillity of the water freezing. This will definetly break up the stone. Technically, wetting and drying a lot will degrade whetstones. Its basically a form of water errosion, but keep in mind this is such a subtle process that it probably wont effect the life of your stones if used occassionally.

I finally broke down and bought some DMT 8'' x 3'' Diasharp steel sharpeners in extra coarse, coarse, fine, and extra fine. These stone have a lot of advantages like, they never cup, they can sharpen higher grades of steel with ease, the corners dont round, and they are amazing at sharpening wide things like plane and chisel blades. They also have some disadvantages like being expensive as hell, heavy(not an issue for bench use, but wears your wrist out sharpening a pocket knife), and they are very thin. You need to set them up on something to use them on a bench.

jlhaslip

I have a piece of stone from a flooring job that I rub the water stones on after using them. The stone has been ground flat at the factory and does an excellent job at truing my water stones. Talk to your favourite flooring dude.

Colt W. Knight

A trick I learned from a guitar builder in Australia

You can take the glass panel out of your entertainment center or other such furniture, and use it as a flat surface for just about anything you need a dead flat surface for. Another guy I met who builds guitars has scrap granite from countertops.