Thread: Honing and the temperature of a stone

well, there just might be some effect, the viscosity of water lowers with temperature so there will be less of a lubricating effect from the water film..., and if you get the water boiling you will get this two phase turbulent film in between your stone and razor I'll bet it will cary away the removed metal instantly

I only once removed a stone from a box but it was already broken beforehand so I did not put much thought in it I think I did use hot water eventually but that was more to remove the dirt on it

If you want to find some reading to put yourself to sleep use this as your search phrase.

Coefficients of Linear Thermal Expansion garnets

Rocks are not as much brutes as you may think. Most are chock full of internal flaws and cracks of all sizes and shapes. Temperature change and extremes are the main way nature splits rock apart.

I wouldn't be heating or freezing any rock I cared about.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

Rocks are not as much brutes as you may think. Most are chock full of internal flaws and cracks of all sizes and shapes. Temperature change and extremes are the main way nature splits rock apart.

I wouldn't be heating or freezing any rock I cared about.

This was my initial thought. A cold stone is going to be a brittle stone. If it's cold enough water will freeze and more or less prevent any honing action at all. Or worse, water in the pores will freeze, swell, and cause the stone to split.

Heat tends to cause things to expand, so in a sense that seems counterproductive since we typically want smaller particles not larger. Something like a coticule made of garnets as our cutting material and who knows what as a binder could have differing rates of expansion between the materials contained in the stone. This is likely to cause it to split. Even on the off chance that all materials contained in the stone expanded at the same rate, the stone will heat from outside inward. Unless it's heated slow and even, the exterior may expand differently to the interior or not be able to handle how much the interior swells, and you can see where my mind is wandering here.

Not to mention that water will inevitably evaporate faster at higher temperatures. Taking into account that people do live in differing climates, one also has to remember that most folks hone inside where there is some level of climate control as opposed to outside at the mercy of the elements. I think the worst case scenario would be folks in a desert/tropical area living without AC, so maybe 20 to 40 degrees fahrenheit hotter than your living room (for those used to Celsius 11 to 22 degrees hotter than your living room). In all honesty I don't think that's hot enough to make a large difference in performance.

Has any one here tried vinegar to remove glue?

Actually the best way to remove glue or any really sticky substance is with some cooking oil. Whether you want oil on your hone is another issue.

I store my hones in the garage and it's 115° out there right now and often gets hotter. I think that most adhesives will loosen enough at around 150° to do what you need to do (as long as it's not epoxy or CA).

Originally Posted by 32t

If you want to find some reading to put yourself to sleep use this as your search phrase.

Coefficients of Linear Thermal Expansion garnets

I'm familiar with thermal expansion, many classes in my studies required their use. I'll probably read abunch during my next poop lol.

As far as thermal shock, anything can shatter depending on the thermal gradient. That's not really part of the scope of my question.

My thought is that, with heat, a binder may expand at a larger rate than the abrasive. Freezing a stone would have to be done dry, obviously.

Heat worked great in removing the stone. I heated the oven to cook a pizza and then left it open until it was near or at a car in the sun temp. Did 1 cycle of 5 minutes then 2 cycles at 10 minutes. I forced the stone too much and some bbw stayed stuck to the bottom of the box. Will lap the glue off and post pictures.

I think it would be interesting to take that extra chunk of bbw and put it in a glass of vinegar to see how it reacted. Wood working sites say to use the vinegar to loosen joints. My concern would be how the acid would affect the stone.

The worst that would happen is that you would have a bunch of garnets rolling around the bottom of the glass!

I thought plaster was often used to hold those old stones in wooden boxes. I'm reading that solutions on the basic end of the PH scale dissolve plaster. Such as warm water with lots of baking soda. You could check if it's plaster holding it in there and search how to dissolve it.