14 Attachment(s)
Guide of how to clean your old dirty oil stones with car brake cleaner
Hello,
I have been using this method to clean all the oil stones that I buy, it is very effictive for removing all the accumilated dirt and soaked oil, and since i use all of my stones with water only removing seaked oil is very importanet. I find this method very cheap, effictive and safe for the stone, however if the stone is fixed to a wooden base\ box and you are planning to keep that wood remove it first.
Safety First!
You will need eye protection, dust mask, gloves and well-ventilated area that is safe from an ignition source.
If you do not think that safety is manly, try describing an accident while cleaning a stone in the ER !!!
You will need:
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Brakes Cleaner cost 4$
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Tray or a container with air tight lid if you are planning to soak the stone (this can't be used again for food)
Here is our lovely CF that we are going to clean
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Place the stone in the tray/ container and start to spray the cleaner on the stone, if you want to remove a glued wooden base just try to aim the cleaner between the stone and the base using the spray nozzle, this will directs the solvent to the glue.
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( to show how effective this stuff is, this is after 10 seconds of spraying only I haven’t touched the stone yet )
Now check if your stone is released from the base or not, if not leave it for few minutes and check again, mine came out instantly
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After brushing if you find that there is still lots of oil soaked in the stone or a difficult to brush dirt, just spray more until you cover half of the stone then close the lid of your container and let it soak for a day and remember to flip the stone after 4hrs or so to enable the solvent to penetrate all the stone.
the stone here is a denes CF it was smothered in oil but it didn't has any soaked oil inside it, so after little brushing I washed the stone with clear water and lapped the 4 sides flat, all of this toke 30mins most of the time is lapping with the diamond plate.
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Now that the stone is clean and flat, wash it with dishes soap to remove any lift residue, then we need to smooth the stone and prepare it for honing razor.
I usually do so by rubbing the stone with a slurry stone cut from the stone itself (tomonagura), I find that a tomonagura can smooth the stone to it optimum level IMO, but not everybody has rocks saw at home neither everybody is willing to cut their stones too. So I experimented with Coticulte and Tenjou along with the tomonagura :) the Tenjou worked well, but the Coticule did not although it was a really hard one, however the black unusable slate of the Coticlue worked, nonetheless the results may vary from stone to another, if I am not cutting the stone to make tomonagura, I will use a translucent Arkansas to smooth the surface of almost any stone. Also you can use a hard steel blade to smooth any stone by simply sharpening it with a bit pressure.
The goal is to have a very smooth reflective surface on the stone; this will make your stone perform the best especially if it is a finisher.
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( the scratches are from rocking the slurry stone, those are very dull and shallow and will not affect the honing or the blade )
The finished stone
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one side wet
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other side dry
This method is applicable for almost all the stones, you can soak the stone in rubbing alcohol if you can manage to find the right quantity, rubbing alcohol is inherently safer and can be used indoors, but it is much slower than the strong formula of a brake cleaner.
Sorry for not photographing the whole process I didn't have someone around to help also i am using my phone to take pictures. I hope this helps someone... let me know if you have any questions.
Happy Honing