Thread: Getting oil out of a waterstone?

I used carburator starter fluid which took most of the oil out of my one stone then used hot water, grease cutting dishwashing liquid, annd a toothbrush and scrubbed it

I like the oven cleaner and carb starter ideas. I would probably try something like mineral spirits or naphtha first then move on to caustic cleaners like oven cleaner or TSP. If the stone is soft enough I would lap on coarse sandpaper till the damage is gone. Then go on to normal lapping.

I also lapped my Chinese 12k on coarse paper initially.

Here are some pics of a stone I bought recently, and cleaned up. I just knew I bought a big coticule but it ended up being some sort of sedimentary stone after I got the crud off. Still a good stone but......

Charlie

Nice lookin stone!

Any guess on the grit level?

Originally Posted by Russel Baldridge

Any guess on the grit level?

It is not a polishing stone. I shaved off of it but would no do it again, my guess is somewhere between 4K and 8K.


Charlie

From the pattern and layers it looks like sandstone. Could also be shale. But thats just by looks which means nothing.

+1 on the oven cleaner idea. It has worked for me in the past.

John P.

I regularly restore vintage stones and I've tried a lot of methods. What works for me is Easy Off Fume Free. It's designed to clean cooked in grease from stoves. It's in a blue can and smells a lot less than the traditional Easy Off in the yellow can. It's cheaper at Lowe's than it is at WalMart. I put the stone in the sink, spray it so it's covered with EasyOff and let it sit for 15 minutes. Then I scrub it off with a plastic dishwashing brush. Repeat if necessary. There was a period of time many years ago when oil was recommended for belgian stones but it is no longer recommended.

I've cleaned a lot of really nasty stones with Easy Off.

Originally Posted by JimmyH-AD

The alcohol acts as a solvent and a vehicle for the oil to free up and the salt leeches it out and absorbs it.

WHy would salt want to absorb oil? I can see salt atractiving water based liquids but I don't see why it would attract the oil.

I would say a good soak in alcohol is what I would try. Gasoline or Kerosene might work well too.

I soak Arkansas hones in a cooking pan filled with water and add some bicarbonate of soda and heat the water to just below boiling point. Works a treat.

Yesterday I received a natural coticule BBW combo that had been used with oil: I lapped it and gone was the oil as well. It was a vintage one and much smoother than my new kosher coticule from Ardennes coticule.

Originally Posted by PonderingTurtle

WHy would salt want to absorb oil? I can see salt atractiving water based liquids but I don't see why it would attract the oil.

I would say a good soak in alcohol is what I would try. Gasoline or Kerosene might work well too.

Kerosene has oil in it. I would stick with something that is not petrolium based. I won a Llyn Melynllyn in an ebay deal and will let you know what works...wish me luck! It was a oil stone for many years I guess...it is a salmen