Ruined sharpening stone?

[bcarvings]

Hi,
I sharpened 3 blades razor sharp using a coarse, and a soft arkanasas stones. Then a strop. However now the stones won't sharpen as good as they used to. So to prove the fact that they weren't working I put them to the test by re-sharpening a already sharp blade. When I did that the knife got a lot duller. My stones can't sharpen like they used to. Is it just me or did I ruin the stones? I oil them every time I use them then I wash them with water and a cloth when I'm done. The one arkansas that was white when brand new now has a large shade of black in te middle of the stone where I sharpen the knife. Should I return the stone to woodcraft? What am I doing wrong? Thank you

[Gun]

It is just loaded up with metal from all your sharping. I know you need to clean it but i am not sure how to clean it right. Sand it?

You can try WD-40 to clean them, you can also resurface them with a medium-fine diamond stone.

[FK]

The stone is not ruined, the 'glazed surface' is common if you do not used enough oil when sharpening. I like common baby oil (mineral oil) from the grocery store. Some consider this oil too heavy for oil stones,,,,it will help eliminate the glazing or loading and does not smell like kerosene or other petroleum products.

The surface reconditioning is easy with a diamond stone, if you do not have one,,,,try SiC wet / dry paper on a flat base (glass) and thin oil for lubricant.

Regards,
Fred Krow

[AlArchie]

Once those knives are 'razor sharp', they shouldn't see another stone, either Arkansas or coarse, for a LONG time. An occasional stropping will keep that razor edge going and there really isn't any need (shouldn't be anyway) to use the stone that often.

Even if the stones are loaded up, they won't make your blades dull. They will sharpen less rapidly, but not dull the blades. My bet would be you are turning the blades into the stone at too gread an angle, probably out of frustration that they are not sharpening as fast as before.

Rick and Fred gave good advice.....spray that stone down with WD-40 (after it dries from the water treatment) and scrub it with an old toothbrush. Finish up with soap or detergent and water, then rinse. That should get most of the deposits out. You can also recondition that stone (both coarse and Arkansas) by laying a sheet of 220 grit emery cloth or wet/dry abrasive paper on a table saw table top, or even a flat table top, and rubbing the sharpening stone in circular strokes on it till it is once again flat and clean.
( Get the former at the local hardware and if they don't cary the wet/dry paper, try the Auto Supply)

Make sure you maintain that same angle you used to get those knives sharp the last time you did it right. Don't overcompensate by pushing hard on the blade if the stone gets clogged. That will almost surely force you to put that steep angle on the blade and make it seem 'dull' again.

Hope this helps.

Al

[carver6]

When sharpening a knife, many people have a tendency to roll the knife edge up to almost a 90 degree angle before lifting the blade off the stone at the end of the sharpening stroke. One of the members in our carving club was having that problem and couldn't understand why he couldn't get a sharp edge on his knife. Started lifting straight up at the end of the stroke and solved most of his sharpening problem. :

[bcarvings]

Hi,
Thanks for all the info. I tried using W-D40 and it didn't work. I tried using an electric planer which made the coarse stone perfectly smooth making it completely useless. I guess I will recondition it using one of your methods such as using the 220 grit emery cloth. Once I try that I will let you know if it worked or not. Also I have been using a LOT of oil on my stones, but by the time I get them to the sink to clean them with water the stones are completely dry so there isn't any oil to clean off but I wipe the stone with a wet rag anyway. Then I dry it. Did I do anything wrong to have made my stone usless? Also I have no problems actually sharpening the knife because I have made 3 razor sharp blades already. It is definatley the stones. Oh one last think if I had a diamond stone wouldn't that be a better stone to sharpen with anyway? Thanks for all your help!

[Gun]

The metal you take off of your tools can load up a diamond stone as well.

Usually a good scrubbing with warm water, Joy dish soap and a Scotchbite pad will clean oil and ceramic stones ???

[AlArchie]

I hope you meant an electric sander.......planer blades would be absolutely wrecked trying to true up any kind of stone. If that was a planer, you probably laid enough steel debris in that stone to at least temporarily halt it's effectiveness.

Try the emery / wet/dry paper routine and see if that will work. I have several carborundum stones that have sharpened literally thousands of knives and I have NEVER cleaned them. The steel debris makes them not as agressive but lets them act as a harder, finer grain stone. My diamond stones need to be cleaned after use...just washed with soap and water, rinsed and dried. The diamond stones will last a long time, but can't be rehabilitated.....when they finally wear out, they are junk.

If that 'polished' coarse stone of yours is fairly smooth, just use it as a fine stone. I have several coarse stones, also, and they only get used if there is some serious damage to a blade that needs to be corrected. In fact if you have a badly damaged (nicked, chipped, etc) it's best to first grind the edge perfectly flat so you have an undamaged point to start re-establishing the bevel (s).

Please don't try this unless you have a damaged blade...no sense wrecking a good one to try the technique!

This is just my personal preference, so it's not gospel, but I ONLY use a fine diamond stone....it cuts plenty fast enough to work a new edge to my liking and still leaves a fairly fine finish, needing only slight stropping. Don't even remember the last time I needed to use a coarse stone...maybe to true up that axe in the garage...hmmmmm.

Al