whetstone refurbishment

Re: whetstone refurbishment

Alan Hamilton

>Adam,

I assume these are oil stones. If they aren't, don't do the following:

I have a couple "razor stones" that I rescued from an estate sale. They too were all gummed up when I got them. On the advice of a friend I soaked them in kerosene. As the gunk began to loosen up I scrubbed them a little with a kitchen brush and put them in a clean kerosene bath. Depending on how gunky they were, it took a soak of a couple days to a week or ten days to get them de-gunked. It worked perfectly; no more gunk!

In retrospect I think it would have been easier, and saved some kerosene, if I had put them in their bath and left them for ten days or so. Surely the kerosene wasn't going to transport the gunk deeper into the stones.

As added benefit was the stones became saturated with kerosene. I was told (by the same friend) that ultra-fine razor stones should be used with a very thin lubricant--like kerosene.

Another added benefit was that I had a gallon of kerosene around the place. I soon discovered that it does a great job cleaning tools; and perhaps best of all, kerosene leaves a very thin, oily film on my tools that is a great rust inhibitor.

My wood working "mentor" made boxes for his stones out of cedar. His boxes were made so the stone sat down in the bottom part about 2/3 of its thickness; the lid covered up the top 1/3. He used a Forstner bit to remove as much wood as possible, and then cleaned everything up with a chisel. It took him about a half hour--or less--to make both the bottom and the lid.

Alan

Re: whetstone refurbishment

Todd Hughes

>I have had very good luck cleaning old stones with the Auto Engine Cleaning stuff called "Gunk". Spray it on and let set a bit, scrub with an old tooth brush and then wash off. Works really great. Also good for oily greasy tools as well.

I sort of have an interest in old whet stone cases, could easly become a collector of them but have remained strong ...mostly.[Have about 6 nice ones]. Think it is pretty straight forward how most were made. Auger used to drill out the wast,[most show marks from center augers] and then finish to suit.........Todd

Re: whetstone refurbishment

Steve Kubien

>Like Alan, it is my understanding that cedar makes a good material for boxes. It is not harmed by exposure to oils like kerosene and 'sharpening oil'. As for flattening them, how about a cinder block? I have use them for water stones with good success. After flattening, go over the stone with a sheet of 220 grit sandpaper firmly attached to a flat surface (a block of MDF works nicely). Give the stone a light go before each sharpening and you are away to the races.

There are probably people with more sharpening experience than me with other ideas. I just thought I'd try to help a friend who has helped me so many times. Good luck Adam.

Steve Kubien

Ajax, Ontario

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Re: whetstone refurbishment

Jim in Burlington Ontario

>I soaked 2 old ones I had in Mineral oil left them in a zip lock bag submerged and used carbide lapping powder and a piece of glass. I wonder if the english stones came from India?

Re: whetstone refurbishment

John Aniano in NJ

>Hi Adam,

I've had good results cleaning India stones and other oil stones by first scrubbing them with dish detergent and hot running water. Afterwards, and don't tell your significant other, pop them in the upper rack of your dishwasher and let them go through a few loads of dishes. This seems to get them really clean.

To get them flat, I know that some-time-poster to this forum, Stephen Thomas, has used a surface grinder to get old stones really flat. Might be something to try if you know someone with a machine shop. He may have used a diamond wheel in the grinder, but I'm not positive on that point.

Hope this helps,

John

Re: whetstone refurbishment

Bruce, a MN galoot

>A bunch of years ago, I used a truly POS, soft, useless, crappy, etc., carborundum stone to flatten a number of better stones, including a good India and the big Norton multi-stone contraption. It worked very well for that, the only thing for which it was well suited.

Bruce

Re: whetstone refurbishment

paul womack

>One is light green with black veins.

Charnley Forest, I think. Slow cutting, but leaves a good edge.

Very soft - easy to flatten on 60 grit Al203 paper.

BugBear

Re: case design

paul womack

>This is the tradional oilstone case design.

The lower piece is a simply a rectangle, with a hole escavated for the stone. Note that if the stone is really old, only the upper face will be flattened - you must "french fit" the hole in the base to suit the irregular lower surface. Plaster of paris was then used to bed the stone in with good support, to stop the stone snapping.

The exacvating was done (as Todd said) with centre bits, followed by gouges, chisels and OWT routers.

The lid is made from much thicker stock. A recesss is escavated - since the upper surface of the stone is flat, this recess is rectilinear.

The upper surface of the lid is then worked like a panel (or house roof) all the way to an apex.

A bead is always worked around the lower edge of the lid.

The box pieces are made from solid, since old glues couldn't tolerate the oil.

Good cases were normally mahogany.

BugBear

Re: case design

John, NY

>I think I know what you mean but do ya have any photos or sketches??

Thanks

John

Re: case design

paul womack

>Not easily available.

I searched the obvious dealer sites, but couldn't find any examples.

BugBear

Re: case design *LINK*

Alice Frampton, UK

>A bit fancy, but the gist is what BB was describing I think.

Cheers, Alf


Oilstone in carved holder

Re: whetstone hollows

Adam Cherubini, NJ

>Thanks for all the responses thus far.

Does anybody leave a hollow in their stones? Todd? I have never seen a flat whetstone, which initially turned me off on using them. Can they be used dished? Is there an advantage in doing so? Does it result in rounded plane irons and chisels?

Thanks again everyone.

Adam

Re: whetstone hollows

David Miller from Iowa

>My Dad, who can still outsharpen me, uses only oilstones and holds the cutters by hand. And all of his stones are seriously dished. The trick, for him at least, is that they are only dished in one dimension, and when he holds the cutter it doesn't "see" the dish as it is perpendicular. Now, I'm sure he doesn't perfectly change his hand angle as he goes and certainly get some rounding. He just takes that off with the secondary bevels.

Re: case design

paul womack

>Digicam to the rescue! My cheapy case is in pine.

BugBear

Re: whetstone hollows

paul womack

>I have never seen a flat whetstone, which initially turned me off on using them.

For man who claimes to be keen to learn from the wisdom of the past, I find this attitiude surprising.

The revered "old guys" could clearly sharpen with these stones, otherwise they'd have flattened them.

A clue is contained in this quote by Walter Rose in "The Village Carpenter"

"It is easier to sharpen a true edge on a wide tool with a narrow stone than with a wide one".

Applying a little thought to this cryptic comment, his stone is certainly hollowed in length, but not in width.

A little care and skill does the rest.

Luke 10:37

BugBear

Re: case design

Todd O. Cronkhite Native of Maine

>Nice case Bug, did you make it or is it vintage? If vintage do you have any idea of its age, or about its history?

Todd O.

Re: case design

John, NY

>Thanks for taking the time to do that. Much appreciated.

I have the Woodcraft, fabricated cedar boxes. But when I have a spare moment i'd like to do something a little more sturdy since the cedar boxes have been repaired a couple of times...

Of course thats added to my list of extending my plane cabinet [I didn't know I needed all these planes when I built the original] and my chisel storage and then theres somewhere to put my saws. But right up at the front of the list is replacing my metal legged, 2 1/4" thick plywood topped workbench with a nice maple one.

Re: bought it

paul womack

>

Re: whetstone hollows

Todd Hughes

>I have never had any problim in sharpening a plane blade or a chisel using a stone that wasn't perfectly flat.I think as long as the dip isn't really bad ,[say 1/2 in. below the surface] it doesn't make a difference at least in how I sharpen an edge using a modified figure 8 motion. I never could understand why the stone has got to be flat since the blade just rides over any slight dip.I have no trouble getting a shaving edge with a stone that isn't "flat" I think it is a modern obsesion to be so worried that your stone is flat.Like Adam i have seen many many old stones that were far from flat. I bought a beautiful pattern makers tool chest once and judging by the quality of the work that went into making the tool chest this guy wasn't some hack.Had a complete selection of tools just like he put them away and all were sharp sharp ready to work.Included were his sharpening "station",[couldn't help myself i always get a kick out of that term!] which consisted of a very unflat oil stone in a wood box, some worn slip stones and a hard translucient stone wraped in a rag.....Another time bought a big canvas roll of Addis chisels all have seen use but were sharp and clean.Unrolled them and saw what i thought was just rocks at first but looked at them close and it was a broken up sharpening stone that had grooves worn into it and pieces broken off to be used as slip stones...Kind of neat but i think most wood workers would consider it just gravel today....Todd