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Do you let the hone (referring to water hones) dry off before you put it away again.
I took out my Norton 4000/8000 the other day after a few weeks of storage following my lapping it, and there was a little bit of mold in the container. Would this be because I didn't let it dry out first?
How long do you leave you hone before putting it away in it's container/box?
It takes a few days for a Norton to fully dry. Some people drill holes in their storage cases to allow the stone to continue to dry while still protecting it.
Whenever I finish using my nortons I just towel dry them and put them back into their blue cases. I haven't had a problem with mold. I'm sure you could always scrub the mold off, and I don't see it having any adverse results on the hone. I've read of several users here using oven cleaner to clean hones, but I doubt that the mold would be so bad to warrant the use of that!
Don't forget they can freeze and crack if they are wet.
I store my norton in water to keep it soaked.
Steven
The mold won't hurt the stone however it will smell bad and the mold can grow into the stone making it ugly. Then you have to scrub it clean or use bleach or something to clean so its really easier to just leave it out to dry a couple of days or just leave it in water all the time. If you do that put a few drops of bleach in and the mold won't grow.