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Anyone experimented with a good way to remove oil from a barber hone? I have a beautiful 3 line Swaty here that must have been used with oil. Water beads up and there is a slight amount of metal residue in the stone.
I've got a few others similar to this. Soaking in a solvent maybe?
Thanks,
Tony
I would try scrubbing with good dish detergent, and that would be all...
Maybe you don't want to mess with kerozine and stuff like that, it might melt the hone??
Or, you can simply continue using very light (mineral, sewing machine?) oil...
cheers,
Nenad
dish soap and hot water......
Maybe Acetone or Avio gasoline, or trieline.
Since those are ceramic hones, i dont think that organic solvents ruine them
cheers
The problem is those hones are porous so it will have absorbed the oil and all the scrubbing in the world will not remove it. You need to soak it in some kind of solvent maybe a long time, like days and there is still no guarantee you'll get it all off. I think ideally a steam treatment might do it but you'd need a machine to do it.
I'm new to most of this, but I know there was a recent post (in the last month) where a similar topic was discussed...it seemed like there was a consensus that once oil is used, you have to stick with using oil b/c it's almost impossible to get out...probably b/c it is so porous.
Hopefully you can find a way to get what you want...sorry, no ideas from me!
Probably no help but...I have removed oil stains on the concrete driveway with engine degreaser, it worked very well.
The Orange / Citrus based cleaners work great with oil /grease, that may work for you. Works wonders on my Bar-bQ :)
Strangely enough, using a shaving lather and honing a razor with it does a surprisingly good job of getting the crud out, the vacuum behind the bevel as the blade passes over tends to make the lather really foam up at the surface of the hone, and this seems to lift the oil and metal and any other accumulated crud off the hone. When I've done this on old barber hones (even ones that didn't use oil) I've been amazed at how gray the lather gets after a few minutes; these old hones tend to have a *lot* of crud embedded in them.
I recently had the same problem with an Austrian Apart hone (which I think is very similar to a Swaty).
I just used mild dish soap and a nail brush (anything that can give you a bit of a scrubbing action but won't affect the finish of the surface should work) and scrubbed for several minutes. Its not perfect, but it made a big difference.
I don't think you can get all the oil out of a hone unless you use a solvent - possibly under pressure (a steam cleaner might work - if you have one). But you can clean off most of the oil residue to the point where the hone will work with water/lather.
You might want to clean it and then let it sit for a couple of days to see if any more oil leaches to the top of the stone - and repeat the cleaning process until the leaching stops - just a thought - I only had to clean my hone once.
Yep,Quote:
Originally Posted by Razorburne
I think I posted that too <g>. It is beyond the scrubbing with dishwasher stuff and it soaked well into the hone. I have a lesser hone here I'll put in a degreeser solution for a few days and see what happens.
I wanted this for quick swipes mid -shave and the oil is an issue. I've got nearly 30 hones here but wanted to think down the a few of the best and this would be one of them.
Tony
Tony,
I'd go for a degreaser. For example - the one for performance road bikes from your LBS (Local Bike Store - not Walmart). I am just blabbing here, because I have never done it - but since you cannot use it as is for your intended purpose it's either take the risk or just give up on your intended use. I'm sure you can also sell this Swaty and get another one...
Your post intrigued me though - Swaty swipes (what a nice phrase, I like the way it sounds, almost like "whippersnapper") while shaving! Wow - you mist have tough beard. Many people, including yours truly, seem to think that fresh off the hones razors are a bit harsher the first shave... Are you saying that linen and leather stropping is not enough for you mid-shave? I sometimes might strop between face sides - but just leather, have not had to do even linen...
Cheers
Ivo
Hi I would like to put my 2cents worth in you could try soaking it in lighter fluid (like in the old Zippo style lighters) it should not harm the stone and should break up the oil but remember it is highly combustible and will evaporate quite quickly as well
Ivo,
I had read that Joe Lerch used to do this and was curious. Mainly I was thinning out some of my stuff but did want to keep some of the best hones... a Swaty being a keeper.
Tony
Sure, Tony - I meant get another unoiled Swaty.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tony Miller
I wasn't aware Joe does it in mid-shave, I only read he maintained his razors with just few swipes for over 1 yr without other honing...
Cheers
Ivo
Michael brought up steam cleaning, I have a small $50.00 steam cleaning machine, a Scuncii. It took the oil out of an old knife hone I have like nobody's business. I don't know how a swati would react to it.
Glen F
Tony,
I restore a couple of stones every week and I use Easy Off Fume Free which you can get at Wal Mart or other store. It's designed to degrease baked on oven grease and float the swarf to the surface. It's in a blue can. The traditional Easy Off is in a yellow can and really stinks the house up.
well....there ya' go!
..Cool...that sounds like the best idea yet:tu
(...self cleaning Swatys....h-m-m-m-m...think there's a market???...)
-whatever
-Lou
Howard,
Thanks. I'll try that and maybe tackle the oven too while I'm at it !
Tony
Never thought of just boiling it for a while in water? This I epect would heat the oil in the stone enough for it to come out then rise to the surface of the water. Regular descumbing of the surface water would keep the process clean. Just a thought.
Ivo, Joe was not the man that kept a razor sharp for a year by stropping alone, it was Honedright. I was in the running but I use pasted strops so I fell at the 4 furlong hurdle :)
PuFF
Of course Joe's not here to speak for himself, but as I recall he would give his razors 3 or 4 swipes on the swaty ever couple of weeks, and that had kept them running without a trip to the norton for over a year. I think he mentioned that he did this as soon as he noticed any drop in sharpness, and that this could involve a mid-shave refresh.Quote:
Originally Posted by izlat
Not that I have any experiance degreasing hones, but I use Simple Green for almost everything, and it works great. Removing oil stains from concrete, degreasing an engine- even diluted washing windows.
I started useing it when a gunsmith tipped me off- it works great for getting off old gun oil and powder residue.... it's also non toxic. Real stubborn stuff has needed a soak for a while, but never more than 20 minutes or so at maximum. I think the orange box store sells it, as well as walmarx.
Puff,Quote:
Originally Posted by PuFFaH
I meant that I know Joe used only Swaty to refresh for a long time, but did not remember him doing this mid-shave (as Tony mentioned) - Michael just clarified this.
I know verry well that Scott is the person who goes so long with only a strop - this is my next objective: to develop a similar skill
Cheers
Ivo
I believe all swaty stones are being recalled. They should be mailed to my address asap :D
Sorry Tony, no more Swaty for jU! ;).
+1Quote:
Originally Posted by Howard
Tony I have used oven cleaner with good results on one of my hones.
John P.