Professional Soldiers ® - View Single Post

**Bill Harsey** · 03-07-2006, 10:01

Reaper,
Yes, Simple Green works good here.

I don't know how it works on oil and grit loaded stones because I try to keep mine clean enough to work or they go away.

A down and dirty trick to get oil and grit out of a sharpening stone is to "power wash" the stone with WD-40 using the small diameter red tube the goes in the spray nozzle. Do this outdoors away from open flame.

WD-40 works for sharpening stones too but when used at the bench there is always overspray on something and then the knife has to be cleaned off with a cleaner when your done.

The purpose of liquids on the surface of a sharpening stone is to keep the removed steel particles from imbedding in the stones surface that in turn keeps the stone from cutting steel like we want it to.

***edited to add*** I don't use any liquid on the diamond stones because, I think, there is more space between the points on the surface and they don't plug up like other stones. diamond doesn't care if there is a lubricating oil on the surface or not for hand held stone uses.

Lubricating/cooling oils are critical for making diamond grinding wheels last when production grinding of carbide tooling.
I do wash off my fine diamond stones after hard use with the WD-40 spray method. Soap and water would float the grit out to.

03-07-2006, 10:01	#3
Bill Harsey Bladesmith to the Quiet Professionals Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Oregon, Land of the Silver Grey Sunsets Posts: 3,886	Reaper, Yes, Simple Green works good here. I don't know how it works on oil and grit loaded stones because I try to keep mine clean enough to work or they go away. A down and dirty trick to get oil and grit out of a sharpening stone is to "power wash" the stone with WD-40 using the small diameter red tube the goes in the spray nozzle. Do this outdoors away from open flame. WD-40 works for sharpening stones too but when used at the bench there is always overspray on something and then the knife has to be cleaned off with a cleaner when your done. The purpose of liquids on the surface of a sharpening stone is to keep the removed steel particles from imbedding in the stones surface that in turn keeps the stone from cutting steel like we want it to. *edited to add* I don't use any liquid on the diamond stones because, I think, there is more space between the points on the surface and they don't plug up like other stones. diamond doesn't care if there is a lubricating oil on the surface or not for hand held stone uses. Lubricating/cooling oils are critical for making diamond grinding wheels last when production grinding of carbide tooling. I do wash off my fine diamond stones after hard use with the WD-40 spray method. Soap and water would float the grit out to. Last edited by Bill Harsey; 03-07-2006 at 10:14.
Bill Harsey is offline