Thread: washita

Many times heat loosens adhesives. You might also try a decent amount of heat on the bottom of the box with a heat gun or hair dryer. Before tapping on it.

I soaked it in oven cleaner, which revealed that there was way more gunk than I thought. I managed to get most of it off, but removed the box varnish in the process. During the process it started to smell like mold. And then when I started tapping on the box to knock the stone loose, one end of the box turned out to be partially rotten.

I wasn't able to get the stone loose yet, but maybe I'll try the heat thing. I don't have a heat gun or hair dryer, but will try to figure out an alternative.

The stone will be fine, but I'm starting to think the box won't make it. We'll see.

I was pulling the stone out of the box, and one side and one end basically disintegrated. Definitely rotten. It's too bad, it was a nice box! Anyways, the stone was really stubborn coming out, and it turns out it was dished on the other side, as well! I'm guessing when it got too bad the owner pulled the stone out, and glued it in upside down instead of flattening it.



The underside also had a few inclusions:



This will take a lot of work to flatten, but when it's finished the stone should still be almost 3/4" thick, which is plenty.

All cleaned up!

I don't know if this is normal, or if it can be seen in this photo, but the stone is very purple.

Looks to be there's still a bunch of gunk in it still

I had to soak mine for weeks.

Ok! I’ll soak it some more.

Would it hurt it to lap it before it was finished de-gunking?

Originally Posted by joelkerr

All cleaned up!

I don't know if this is normal, or if it can be seen in this photo, but the stone is very purple.

Stone should be definitely be lighter in color. I soaked mine in Simple Green (the purple heavy duty) for about a month. I lapped mine but don't go crazy trying to get out all the little black dots of swarf, Washita has a quite porous microtexture so you'll never get an old one looking brand new imo.

Originally Posted by joelkerr

Ok! I’ll soak it some more.

Would it hurt it to lap it before it was finished de-gunking?

I would lap it before I went further.

Why clean stuff that won't be there?

Originally Posted by 32t

I would lap it before I went further.

Why clean stuff that won't be there?

Exactly how I feel.

Lap it, you will take off 1/8 to ¼ inch depending on which side is the good side.

60 grit and steel cookie sheet on the floor with your body weight over the stone, add grit as it feels like it is not cutting, ½ teaspoon at a time. Rinse off grit and swarf in your lawn or planters not down the sink.

It will go quickly, seems like a lot of stone to remove, but at the ends it is just a small amount until you get to the middle.

It was probably use on tools with pressure, clearly it was a cutter.

If it smells then soak it in any good degreaser, I still have a couple Lilly White stones soaking, it has bee over a year, but are still releasing oil. I change the solution every 3-4 weeks. They are almost white now.

It does not matter if it has oil in it, it is the smell that bothers me.