When was the last time you washed your smelly sharpmaker stones

[Will Rogers]

Wow - Bartender's Friend and a scrubbing pad worked like a charm. Good as new. I assume the stones don't work as well with the gunk on them.

[vivi]

Wow - Bartender's Friend and a scrubbing pad worked like a charm. Good as new. I assume the stones don't work as well with the gunk on them.

Definitely not. If there's visible steel particles on the rods they won't work as well.

[Evil D]

I've been playing around with nail polish remover and a rag and it actually works pretty well as an in-between way of keeping them clean if you do it before they really get clogged up. If you're using a heavy scotchbrite pad you can use just about any soap with good results, I've been using Dawn and I really like how squeaky clean the rods come out.