Thread: How do you (safely) remove stains to keep your Norton waterstone beautiful?

It arrived just a couple days ago, looked so pretty I just wanted to look at it, but the two razors which so badly needed an edge have made the white look worse than anything from the creek bottom. Is it safe or practical to remove nasty slurry stains, and how do you do that without scary chemical reactions with this synthetic stone?

Originally Posted by bluroot

It arrived just a couple days ago, looked so pretty I just wanted to look at it, but the two razors which so badly needed an edge have made the white look worse than anything from the creek bottom. Is it safe or practical to remove nasty slurry stains, and how do you do that without scary chemical reactions with this synthetic stone?

I try to ignore it and/or hone in the dark.

I suppose you could remove that mechanically (i.e. by lapping the stone). I tend to give mine a quick once-over with a DMT to give it a cleaning and to keep it flat before each use. That tends to clean it up pretty nicely. You could use whatever method you used to lap the stone prior to use whether that was a DMT or sandpaper on a flat surface, or whatever.

comet cleanser and a wash rag

Whoa !!!!!!


Ok first off I am going to assume you are asking this seriously, and this is not a weak attempt at humor or trolling..

There are a multitude of threads, this one in particular that address the Norton

http://straightrazorpalace.com/honin...on-2012-a.html


You should have lapped the hone before you started honing, this process used lighly cleans and dresses the hone and gets it ready for the next session..
As stated by Cangooner some of us simply clean the hones right before we use them to get them ready


DO NOT use harsh chemiclal or soaps on the hones you might not like the reaction on many of them the Norton is pretty tuff but I would not risk it..


Wet-r-Dry Sandpaper or a 3m Scotchbrite pad can be used but the risk of contamination is very high so if you use either makes SURE you rinse the hones very well

Soak the stones, give it 5 or 6 circles or up and down strokes with whatever you lap with before each use. Then rinse it well when you're done, and let it air dry. That's all I do to mine. Also, if you have blades being or just finished being restored clean them with denatured alcohol first; any gunk on the steel is gunk that will be ground off and trapped in the pores of the stones too.

The appearance of stones is most often raised about high value Jnats and EU stones where labels/stamps are important to validate their true identity and maintain their resale or collector value.

I refresh my lapped synthetic water stones with a DMT before every use to refresh and clean their surface and keep them flat. That pristine look of new stones, like the look of most working hand tools, does not survive its 1st use.

New stones are not really as good as they appear because most NIB stones are not truely flat and their surfaces are not ready for honing razors. A freshly lapped ready-for-use surface on a stone which has performed well on my razors looks good to me.

After use, I clean my stones under running water, and may hit the surface with a nagura stone or DMT to clean up stains before final rinsing. After cleaning, I let them air dry in a safe place before putting them away.

Mildew will form on stones put damp into cardboard boxes. However, residual dampness is more of an issue for low grit porous course stones than high grit finishing stones which do not absorb or retain much water.

HTH

Not trolling, and not a machinist either, so some of the terms here have slid over my head.

I did do some reading on honing technique and japanese water stones, and all I saw on care and feeding of these stones is to soak them prior to use. About 20 minutes should have done it for a 4000/8000.

My wacky sense of humor does tend to pervade nearly everything I say, but I am really quite serious because I want to keep this expensive tool in good condition. I had read advice on protecting water stones from algae, and when I saw the results of the slurry soaked in, I wondered how I would be able to tell this from algae.

Originally Posted by gssixgun

Whoa !!!!!!

Ok first off I am going to assume you are asking this seriously, and this is not a weak attempt at humor or trolling..

There are a multitude of threads, this one in particular that address the Norton

http://straightrazorpalace.com/honin...on-2012-a.html

You should have lapped the hone before you started honing, this process used lighly cleans and dresses the hone and gets it ready for the next session..
As stated by Cangooner some of us simply clean the hones right before we use them to get them ready

I find this a little overwhelming! Lapping - how do humans, as opposed to dogs do that (sorry, that was a joke, I can't help myself)? Ok, call me stupid, but in all seriousness (having looked up the process) I never would have guessed that sandpaper garnet (or whatever) is harder than an 80-dollar man-made rock, or that one which you pay that much for doesn't ship flat. Anyway, I hadn't heard of such a process nor the need for it, but now I know, and if it will level a hone it should clean the surface too, so thanks for that info.

The thought did cross my mind that rubbing a blade accross a hone may put a depression in it, but this shouldn't be true when it is harder than your blade metal. It coundn't sharpen your blade otherwise, therefore I presumed that the white-grey slurry which was forming had to be only blade metal. What part of this am I wrong on?

Originally Posted by gssixgun

DO NOT use harsh chemiclal or soaps on the hones you might not like the reaction on many of them the Norton is pretty tuff but I would not risk it..

Wet-r-Dry Sandpaper or a 3m Scotchbrite pad can be used but the risk of contamination is very high so if you use either makes SURE you rinse the hones very well

Glen is an advocate of a little Bleach in his soak sink,granted very little.I do not have a dedicated sink so for several years I scrub all my stones with comet Gel cleanser which contains bleach,rinse very well and let dry.I have never seen algea growth or any effects on the stone from doing so.
When you hone, some stones generate slurry,thats part of the stone itself,thus they need to be lapped on occasion

Originally Posted by Cangooner

I try to ignore it and/or hone in the dark.

I suppose you could remove that mechanically (i.e. by lapping the stone). I tend to give mine a quick once-over with a DMT to give it a cleaning and to keep it flat before each use. That tends to clean it up pretty nicely. You could use whatever method you used to lap the stone prior to use whether that was a DMT or sandpaper on a flat surface, or whatever.

DMT - isn't that another type of hone (diamond machine type)? Being altogether newbie with the machining world, I'm a little confused by the idea of getting another hone to clean a hone - do you mean something other than that?

Most everything you are asking is covered in the JaNorton thread..

Also search Hone lapping there are even a few Vids on it..

The Norton 4k is notorious for needing extensive lapping compared to most other hones, the 8k is normally much less... But that ain't no rule..

The Nortons will develop slurry as they work, this is made up of Steel and Hone, that is the way a watersone works, it is constantly releasing grit..
The need for lapping and for dressing is determined by your use pattern, there is no set rule, as mentioned above many of us refresh the face of the hones as we switch razors or start honing, which eliminates the need for most all maintenance...

How you do so is a choice you need to decide or to learn as you progress.. Most all of us chose a DMT 325 or the like to work the hones/stones as they do so very effectively..