My Sharpmaker stones have never smelled any particular way, though. Not sure how they'd ever be smelly, unless you sharpen a knife blade with fish guts or food residue still on it.
Jim
Wouldn't steel wool add swarf instead of removing it? Scotchbrite pad and Barkeeper's Friend for me.
You're actually right. D'oh on me! I had been using the 0000 steel wool with mineral oil to remove some light rust from an old knife, and for some reason, the steel wool got crossed up in my mind. I also use Scotchbrite pads, but usually with Comet, to clean my SM rods. Glad that was corrected, lest someone actually thought my erroneous suggestion was a good idea...
If your answer is "i can't remember...", chances are you better go do it right now. I washed mine today and now their performance has increased twofold. It used to take me about 10 minutes to touch up a vg-10 kitchen knife and now it takes about 5!
I wash them quite often, increases performance a lot just like you said.
My tip: Cleanser for ceramic / ceran cooktops. Works amazing.
I use a product called "Ceraclen" (yes, spelled like that, so not "Ceraclean") - probably not available in thee US though, but certainly a ton of similar stuff.
Top three going by pocket-time (update October 25):
- EDC: Endela SE (K390). Endela SE (VG10), Manix 2 LW (REX45)
- Mountains/outdoors: Pac.Salt 2 SE (LC200N), Salt 2 SE (LC200N), Pac.Salt 1 SE (H1)
generic mr clean erasers + bar keepers friend gets them looking new.
I'm probably a little more prompt that most people when it comes to cleaning the stones. Because after I get just two or no more than 3 good sharpenings I immediately clean the stones with "Bar Keeper's Friend" cleanser and give them a good and thorough scrubbing. And by doing it frequently like that I find the "bite" on my stones is a lot more consistent.
I've only used the Mr. Clean Erasers one time and I find that a good scrubbing with Bar Keeper's Friend cleanser sure keeps the stone performing better. The only drawback to those ceramic stones is that they clog up quicker than most any other type of stone I use. But it doesn't take very long if you do it frequently.
I use all my Spyderco stones a lot and clean them with BKF and a green scrubby pad weekly. I call it washing my sharpening dishes. If you can see steel build up give them a quick scrub and they work better. The Ultrafine you will end up cleaning each use at minimum as it loads up fast.
When we mention erasers, it seems that not everyone is speaking of the same ones !
I personnally use an eraser meant for graphite, for drawing. Works really well and when it's not enough anymore (it manages to get something like 95% of the steel out), it's time for BKF.
Yep, the white pencil erasers are so much easier for cleaning the rods. No need to get out the BKF and an abrasive pad.
Pentel set of three will last you a looong time
You know, ever since I learned that I got a sharper edge from using extremely light pressure on the Sharp Maker stones they don’t really load up fast. So, I haven’t cleaned them for way too long. Will correct that today. Thanks for the heads up.
You know, ever since I learned that I got a sharper edge from using extremely light pressure on the Sharp Maker stones they don’t really load up fast. So, I haven’t cleaned them for way too long. Will correct that today. Thanks for the heads up.
For sure ^^ I almost end up using not enough pressure on stones most of the time. I lift most of the knife weight, so there's really little to no pressure. Maybe I should start adding more.
The Sharpmaker is a particular case though, I won't change anything on it since the contact surface is ridiculously small !
Using the spyderco tri angle sharpener I give the stones a wipe with some abrasive paper towels after every time I’m finished sharpening a blade. I noticed a few months ago that if steel dust just sits on there and builds up it’ll makes them too slippery, and not sharpen up your blades as good.
I agree. They load quickly, but they clean quickly also, really in just a few minutes. I haven't tried erasers, but Scotchbrite and whatever abrasive cleaner you have will do the trick.
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