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I bought a washita! I spent more than I should have, but it's just impossible to go around to flea markets and thrift stores these days. It will need a good lapping, and there's some gunk on there that I'll need to clean off. And before I can do that I'll need to figure out how to get it out of the box (preferably in a way that preserves the box as well, it's a nice one). But I'm pretty excited about this stone!
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Congrats. Did it come with a lid for the box?
yes, it did! Sorry for the bad lighting, it's starting to get dark.
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I remember reading about how to get a stone out of a box without damaging them, but I can稚 seem to find anything now. If anyone has any suggestions, I知 all ears!
Just take a small hammer and tap on the box, lite taps. Do not hit the stone. You will hear a different sound when the stone breaks loose. Then tap the other side. And it will pop out without damage.
You might spray it down with oven cleaner first to remove any swarf on the surface of the stone and box.
Chances are the bottom is pristine, Lap the good side with 60 grit , Silicon Carbide from Got Grit.com and a steel cookie sheet from the dollar store. $15 will get you all the grits from 60-500.
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Very nice. That's a nice size stone and I really like the box. You're going to have a good bit of work to get that flat but just be patient. It will be worth it. Congratulations, I think you'll really like that stone. Let us know how your progress goes.
Nice find.!
A very versatile hone you have there. I have two of them, love them both. A well burnished hone can be capable of a 8k finish by playing with different lubricants.
My butterscotch Washita is very burnished, and capable of a 5k finish with just water. My favorite for after a bevel set, it really tightens up that 1k finish.
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The white Washita ( Pike ) I use mainly for knives .
Thanks! I'll try with my peening hammer.Quote:
Originally Posted by Euclid440
We don't usually have oven cleaner in the house (we use a baking soda paste & vinegar), any other suggestions for gunk removal that won't damage the box? I know simple green and other degreasers are good for the stone, but will they damage the box?
I buy dollar store oven cleaner for cleaning stones, it will save you a lot of time and quickly remove thick crud.
For cleaning boxes, I spray down with WD40, it is a good crud cutting solvent. Scrub with a stiff brush and wipe with paper towels until the residue does not come off, then rinse with mineral spirits.
I then paint on a 50/50 mineral spirits and Linseed oil and let it soak in if it gets sticky paint on another coat and wipe off. Then lightly brush on a pure linseed finish and wipe off after a few minutes. If really dry add another coat the next day. Linseed applied regularly can heel a lot of sins for neglected wood. The smell goes away after a few days.
You can get a box wet if you wipe dry and set in the sun to dry. If a box is moldy and smells, after WD40 I wash with a good degreaser, lately I have used Dawn Degreaser and set in the sun to dry. Spraying or wiping with vinegar will kill mold on stubborn smelly boxes.
Rehydrate with thinned Linseed and full strength. For final finish I use Bee’s wax finish, Howard’s Feed &Wax. The wax will provide some protection and a bit of shine.
I restore a lot of antique tools, so always cleaning moldy boxes, wood is not as delicate as people think, Wooden boats?
It was used for strength in fiberglass boats, for many years. Now its all composite, so nothing can rott.
Its why they cost so much now, the hulls will practically last forever, just like a good 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.
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The underside also had a few inclusions:
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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.
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Looks to be there's still a bunch of gunk in it still
I had to soak mine for weeks.
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Ok! I値l soak it some more.
Would it hurt it to lap it before it was finished de-gunking?
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.Quote:
Originally Posted by joelkerr
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I would lap it before I went further.Quote:
Originally Posted by joelkerr
Why clean stuff that won't be there?
Exactly how I feel.Quote:
Originally Posted by 32t
Lap it, you will take off 1/8 to ｼ 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, ｽ 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.
yeah, it doesn't smell so nice.
I'll lap it and see how it goes!
Thanks for all the guidance, everybody! I can't wait to actually use this thing.
Oh , I think you'll love that stone. I love the feel of the blade sweeping over an ark, moreso than any other stone. It has a great feel and sound to it especially on the old dense ones. I'm really excited for you man! Can't wait to hear more about your results.
I lapped one side flat last night, it took almost two hours. I知 not sure I値l get around to flattening the other side, we値l see.
Question: how high up the grits should I go with this stone? With my surgical black I did 600 on one side and 1000 on the other. But I doubt I need to go so high for the washita, since I知 planning on using it more like a coarse or midrange stone.
Try it, once it is flat at 60 grit.
Once flat you can quickly run up the grits up to 500, but if you want aggression 60 might do it for you.
Sharpen a couple kitchen knives and see what you get.
Each stone is a little different but I have a couple that I treat sort of differently. One I lap it on SIC, I think what I have is about 60 or 80, I don't remember but it's fairly low, and the other side I took to the wet and dry up to I think 320. Once it gets burnished some I'll run it back over the wet and dry so I've done it a couple of different ways. The other I went to the wet/dry on both sides, one I think up to maybe 800. That way I have a range where I can get from bevel set up through the mid-range by flipping the stone over and adjusting the amount of pressure on the blade then do the same on the next stone up. You just have to play around with it and see what it will do. The one I left rougher has a rougher nature to it than the one I took up the grits more. After you've used it some it won't take very long to figure out what the stone is and what it will do.
I just lapped the stone to 90x, to see what it would be like. I found a neglected knife at my parent's place (a Henckels stainless steel santoku), and tried it out on the washita. The knife was extremely dull, with no remaining bevel, and some rust along the edge. After a few minutes on the stone, just using water, there was some swarf beginning to build up. I checked the edge, and a new bevel was beginning to form, but I could tell it would take way too long to correct the edge just with the washita. Anyways, the edge was nice and polished looking, so I got the impression that it would be a very nice mid-range razor stone, and/or a good knife finisher.
I took the knife home with me, and a couple days later I corrected the edge on my DMT 325 and sharpened it first on my 400 then my 1000 grit Naniwas so that it was cutting nicely. I used for a day to make sure the edge was ok (there were a couple of deep chips that will come out in one or two more sharpenings, but it cut well still). The next day I used the washita to finish the edge. The result was very nice, a very mirror-like bevel, and the knife cut very well.
I'll sharpen a couple more kitchen knives on the washita in order to burnish it some more, but I already like this stone a lot. I will eventually flatten the other side and soak it to get rid of more oil buildup, but it's useable as is.
