General discussion > Gun Building
re-surfacing a hard arkansas stone
Kentucky Jeff:
I flatten a lot of Japanese Waterstones (mostly synthetic stones) with a DMT XX Coarse diamond plate. These are about $69 in most places. Roughly 120 grit. But they flatten a stone in no time flat and you can use them for some coarse re-shaping of chipped or damaged blades as well. I use it on all my waterstones from 400 grit all the way to 10,000 grit polishing stones.
Another technique to flatten a stone is to simply take some silica sand and spread it on a very flat piece of concrete in your driveway and go to town rubbing the stone around in the sand with some water.
Still another technique I have used is to take a hard flat surface like a supported piece of glass or ever some marble countertop. Get some 600 grit Wet/Dry paper and soak the whole thing and work the stone on the sandpaper laid over the flat surface.
Any of those techniques will work and I've done them all. But the best way IMO is with the DMT stone--its the fastest and easiest way.
I'm a huge believer in flattening and maintaining your sharpening stones. The key to a good edge on any knife is the ability to maintain a consistent angle on the stone. If your stone is cupped you are doing two things. One is your angle always changes as you move the blade across the stone. Two is you are wearing out you stone at an accelerated rate because the knife edge actually begins to dig into the stone at each end of the stroke. Thereby accelerating wear on the stone and causing you to learn more edge sharpening the knife than is necessary.
Flatten your stones on a regular basis. You might be surprised how much it helps your ability to sharpen your tools!
bluenoser:
I resurfaced my washita stone on my 3x21 belt sander last week. The stone was badly swaybacked and somewhat grooved. As I recall, I used a 120 grit belt and it took less than 5 minutes. I was surprised how easily the belt cut the stone and how nice the finished surface was. I haven't had to do my hard arkansas yet, but suspect the procedure would also work on it. Wear a dust mask.
While on the subject of stones, try using WD40 as a lubricant some time. I tried it quite a few years ago and found it far superior to anything else I had used. I haven't used anything else since.
California Kid:
Marvel Mystery oil works very well for lubricating Arkansas stones. I got this from Gary Brumfield, who I believe got it from Roger Needham, who sells the stones at Friendship, or used to anyway.
FL-Flintlock:
Mike R is correct on getting the stone clean before you do anything else. The stone cuts the metal and when the surface gets loaded-up, the cut will not be even with the result being uneven wear on the face of the stone. The same will happen with any abrasive material which is why just using a cleaning stick as needed will extend the life of coated abrasives like sanding belts by 5-10 times for wood applications. For metal applications the cleaning stick is combined with a lubricant stick to obtain the same results.
I build special cleaning machines for industrial applications, you don't need one to clean sharpening stones but I will suggest the industrial detergent I get for them because it'll work fine in a pot of water, just use a metal rack to keep the stone off the bottom of the pot and always put the stone in water that is at room temperature - two reasons for this is to prevent thermal shock that can break/shatter the stone and to allow the convection current flow of the water to assist in cleaning. Do not allow the water to boil, simmer is fine, around 195°F tops, when the water gets into a boil, the bubbles are air pockets and they will cause cavitation pitting of the stone's surface just the same as happens to pump impellers subjected to cavitation. You have to watch how much heat you put into cast/molded stones so as not to destroy the adhesive bond holding the abrasive together, for these I generally keep the water temp below 175°F.
Diamond hones come in two flavors, the plug type which may or may not be actual diamond as most are plugs of cubic boron nitride (CBN) in a nylon block so as to make a low-cost product that sells for big dollars. I sell a three-piece set of coated CBN (man-made diamond) hones for $10 that has one each 2"x6" hone in 180, 240 & 360 grit that work great for resurfacing flints & stones as well as working hardened steel and sharpening carbide tooling. CBN is CBN no matter what you pay for it and if over-paying makes you feel better, I'll be happy to help you feel better. ;)
I got away from using any kind of oil on stones/hones years ago despite the fact that it was drilled into my head about the need for "oiling the stone" for as long as I can remember. When you're honing by hand, you're not generating any heat so there's no need nor value for sulfurized and chlorinated cutting oil. Oil is a surface film lubricant that defeats the purpose of grinding a piece of iron down on an abrasive stone, abrasive cutting and edge cutting are two completely different animals. Simple detergent & water is the best, I suggest Ivory Liquid because it doesn't promote corrosion and it doesn't have issues with residuals. About a tablespoon mixed into a gallon of lukewarm water, I tried all kinds other brands and generics, Ivory brand is best (same mix will help remove static problems from plastics too). Use liberally on stone/hones and especially on CBN, diamond and ceramic. When you're done, rinse the stone/hone in warm water, if needed a nylon brush will get anything that sticks. If you're like me and you forget about rinsing, nice thing about Ivory is you can just put the stone/hone in warm water for a few minutes and the residuals will loosen and come right off without fuss - trust me, others are not so user-friendly.
Lately there's been quite a bit of chatter about using soluble oils designed for surface grinding applications so I got some samples to try ... in my experience, it made for a nasty slop mess. Splashed Ivory liquid wipes up without a hassle, slopped soluble oil requires washing off with a detergent and if you get it on wood, you've got a permanent oil spot just as nasty as if you slopped with the good ole Rigid dark cutting oil.
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