I have a small variety of stones for sharpening blades, but the one I seem to use the most, a hard Arkansas stone, seems to be all 'clogged up,' if you know what I mean. The surface is all grey from accumulated oil and metal. Is there some way to renew the surface?

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

don't know if its right or not, but I used detergent and a stiff brush! :-/

[AlArchie]

WD-40 sprayed on and allowed to stand for a while works, followed up with HiHo's detergent, or what I use, Simple green.

Al

Well that's easy enough. I was thinking I'd have to remove the surface layer with a diamond stone or something similar. Thanks!

[lorax]

My grandfather swears by lighter fluid as the cleaner of choice. I swear by ceramic and diamond stones that don't clog up in the first place.

I agree with Al about the WD-40. I sprayed some on to use as a lubricant and it cleaned the spot I sprayed, so now that's what I use. :

Chris.

[AlArchie]

If worse comes to worse, and your stone is worn, along with being clogged, it can be trued up by placing a piece of silicone carbide wet ot dry abrasive cloth or paper, face up on your table saw bed, and rubbing the stone till it's flat. There are plate glass flats and special abrasives for this, but I've found that my TS works just fine!

Al

[Nancy_G]

OK, stupid question time........can a diamond stone wear out?
My heavy, little 2' x 6' diamond stone stopped performing like I thought :P it should so I bought a new one. It works fine and I use the old one for cleaning wood burning tips.
Is there something I could/should have done to the stone? It wasn't 'that' old.

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

I think whatever is used as a matrix in those stones wears out and the diamonds on the surface go with the matrix, and would also think that a less expensive stone would not have diamonds very deep on surface...where some others might go all the way through! Just guessing here! ???

Try scrubbing it with liquid detergent and water (use a stiff brush). If that don't work, it's worn.