Thread: Soaked Naniwa too long. Any recovery?

Hello Wise Gents,

I am almost ashamed to admit this but it happened. I was honing two razors and left my 5000 and 8000 Naniwa stones soaking for about 12 hours. The good news is that during that 12 hours I took my almost 5 year old son fishing. My neighbor stopped by with his six year old daughter and asked if we wanted to go fishing, so of course we did. I did put the razors back in their safe location, but in the rush to get out of the house I left the stones in about 1/8" of water. When we got home I realised what I had done and took the stones out and laid the on the flattest surface I could find to dry. They have dried for a few days and I can tell there is very slight warpage from end to end (especially on the 8000).
I have looked through the forum to see about bringing them back and I have found a few ideas, but would like any input.

My fault entirely, They are great stones but I can tell a little difference in their characteristics since the long bath, any help here would be great!

Thanks

I would just lap them flat and learn for next time. Is the base itself warped? Are they the old SS in the plastic base or the thicker Chosera?

Mistrakes harpen. Errors and accidents often lead to deeper knowledge. The lapping advice should help. Do you use an Atoma or a lap with a DMT?

Wouldn't have thought 12 hours in water would affect them that much unless they got too hot while drying. Being synthetic, they should be reasonably easy to lap flat again. I would pick fishing over honing any day of the week too, hope you caught something.

Originally Posted by scag315

I would just lap them flat and learn for next time. Is the base itself warped? Are they the old SS in the plastic base or the thicker Chosera?

They are the SS stones, I have improvised the holder. Lap with a DMT?

Originally Posted by Razorfeld

Mistrakes harpen. Errors and accidents often lead to deeper knowledge. The lapping advice should help. Do you use an Atoma or a lap with a DMT?

DMT it is then. I am fortunate to have some great guys in the area that can show me the path to stone maintenance glory. Right when I think I am getting good I get humbled and have another chance to learn. At least this isn't that expensive.

Originally Posted by Grazor

Wouldn't have thought 12 hours in water would affect them that much unless they got too hot while drying. Being synthetic, they should be reasonably easy to lap flat again. I would pick fishing over honing any day of the week too, hope you caught something.

It is slight, but the stones don't have the same feel or sound the same. We did catch a few fish but they just happened to bite. It was a great fishing day with the youngsters, I spent more time untangling fishing line and baiting hooks, would gladly trade two ss stones for that time

Originally Posted by jwy77

It is slight, but the stones don't have the same feel or sound the same. We did catch a few fish but they just happened to bite. It was a great fishing day with the youngsters, I spent more time untangling fishing line and baiting hooks, would gladly trade two ss stones for that time

In 20 years time you will gladly trade every hone and stone you have to get that moment back with your children. Don't sweat the small stuff.

Synthetic stones do not stay flat no matter what you do, at least mine don’t. Every time I grit lap them, which is not often they are not perfectly flat. I lap all my synthetic to clean, before I put them up to dry and before each use after a quick dunk and they are never the same flatness. You can see a color difference.

But it really does not matter, a stone does not have to be perfectly flat to hone a flat edge, it will just ride on the high spots, not as efficient but will work just fine.

Many of the old school Japanese knife honers, do not lap their stones flat, it wastes too much stone. They just work on the high spots to wear the stone evenly.

The Super Stones are really more of a splash and go stone, a quick dunk and lap and they are ready to go. I use a squirt bottle and a plastic tray to catch the water and swarf and keep a film of water on the face of the stone. Works much better than a spray bottle.

Super Stones also load up faster and need more lapping to remove the swarf, so a quick lap with a 325 or 400 diamond plate keeps them reasonably flat.

Originally Posted by Euclid440

Synthetic stones do not stay flat no matter what you do, at least mine don’t. Every time I grit lap them, which is not often they are not perfectly flat. I lap all my synthetic to clean, before I put them up to dry and before each use after a quick dunk and they are never the same flatness. You can see a color difference.

But it really does not matter, a stone does not have to be perfectly flat to hone a flat edge, it will just ride on the high spots, not as efficient but will work just fine.

Many of the old school Japanese knife honers, do not lap their stones flat, it wastes too much stone. They just work on the high spots to wear the stone evenly.

The Super Stones are really more of a splash and go stone, a quick dunk and lap and they are ready to go. I use a squirt bottle and a plastic tray to catch the water and swarf and keep a film of water on the face of the stone. Works much better than a spray bottle.

Super Stones also load up faster and need more lapping to remove the swarf, so a quick lap with a 325 or 400 diamond plate keeps them reasonably flat.

+1 to all of the above, with special emphasis on the bolded text. There was a thread on here years ago with an interview with a very experienced aged Japanese honer. His method was exactly as stated above. No lapping, just work the high spots as you went to gain flatness.

I've also said many times, no old barber whose brains I used to pick relentlessly back in the 1980s ever mentioned flattening their hones. OTOH, I flatten mine but as stated above, none stay flat with one exception. My Norton 4 & 8 single grit only need flattening from use. The environment does not affect them. Must be the binder, they apparently are not polymer. As far as the leaving the superstones soaking .......... Any day of fishing is better than a good day of work.