I soaked it in warm water and carefully removed the labels which are now dry and flat.
I replaced the warm water with boiling water and after a few minutes of soaking to get good and hot, I took it out of the water and gave it a good coating of oven cleaner.
I waited 15 minutes then scrubbed it with my toothbrush, which tasted horrible when I brushed my teeth a bit later.
After a good scrub I soaked it in 50% Simple Green & 50% water overnight.
I hosed it off and dried it.
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Attachment 324010
One side is rough and the other is smooth but neither is ready to go because I can feel that both sides are uneven so i will have to lap them both. Any ideas what grit I should lap each side to? I want a rough bevel set side and a smooth to take it to the point that a trans rough side will be able to take over.
I have noticed that there is an unimportant black spot on the left of the smooth side but a small hole on the rough side, it is visible on the right end in the photo.
Can I live with it after the stone is lapped because I imagine it will be hard to lap it out and I am not keen on losing that much stone anyway.
I didn't notice the hole before I cleaned the stone.