Spyderco Forums

I have fine and medium ceramic stones that has been used to the point were it's so cower inn metal particles they don't take off much metall from the blade.

Have any one had this problem?

Can any one give me a tip on how to clean them?

didn't you watch the video that came with your sharpmaker?

some comet with a scouring pad will do a perfect job :)

anyway welcome to the Spyderco world :)

You seem familar :p But any ways, I use a scouring pad and old dutch cleaner.

Hello,

for cleaning I use classical kitchen cleaning powder and old toothbrush, works great for me.

Welcome aboard. As my forespekers said, scouring powder is OK. But I preffer a pencil eraser. :eek: It does the trick just fine in a matter of seconds :)

I've tried both ways, eraser and powder and pad. I prefer the cleanser and scouring pad. I do it my own way having never seen the video.

I'll fill the sink with warm soapy water and let the rods soak for as long as until I feel like having a go at them. Then do the power and pad bit, rinse, and dry. Works for me.

I'm no expert but felt I got better results this way. I suppose as far as both go, there isn't a good or bad, both methods work.

I know exactly what "andyy" is trying to get right. I myself notice that if you don't occasionally give your 204 Sharpmaker a very thorough cleaning that you will lose the abrasive cutting ability and uniform abrasive honing/polishing qualities. It will in my opinion require an occasional thorough cleaning of the stones. I am not trying to take away from or disrespect the other guys/gals methods of cleaning the stones. But If you do want to restore the 204 Stones to their new "out of the box" cutting/polishing ability then you have to do it right.

What I do is to soak the stones in hot soapy water for a few minutes. Then I scrub the stones with Ajax or any other high abrasive cleanser. Then after that I use a specialty cleanser known as "Bar Keeper's Friend". I take a stiff bristle brush and really do an intense scrubbing and then rinse in very hot water. It not only returns the "brand new" abrasive qualities of the stones but also really gives them the ability to put on a superlative edge that can compare with any professional grade sharpening device. JD :spyder: O

Barkeepers friend... I love that stuff!!...Doc

:spyder: I scrub my sharpening stones nightly before every use. I figure as much upkeep as I afford my knives the 5 minuets it takes to scrub my fine and ultra fine stones (medium means chipped or neglected blade to me) is small compared to the benefit of having a uniformly sharpened edge. :spyder:

This brought back a memory for me. A buddy of mine used to barrow my old Sharpmaker (not the self-contained 204), and the Lansky kit I had. The Lansky has you oil the stones, and , he was oiling the stones of my Sharpmaker too. I figured this out when I tried to sharpen my Endura of the time. The tiny metal particles and the WD-40 he used created a gunk that wouldn't sharpen much of anything. I had to soak the stones in hot, soapy water and then scrub with comet. Several times.
I've also found that if you gently "sharpen" one stone with the other of the same grit, you get a better "grab", when sharpening a dull blade or reprofilling. YMMV.
---Tom

I have tried all the above methods and these work best for me;http://www.knifecenter.com/kc_new/store ... ml?s=XTRER

:D

I use either a pencil eraser, actually, that white art eraser stuff, or those crepe blocks, mostly the crepe blocks. I found that the crepe block cleans without wearing out the abrasive surface. The art eraser works,but it just takes a bit more time. The crepe blocks are "stickier" for lack of a better term and just seem to work better. I use them for cleaning my discs and belts - just cut a small chunk off (you talk about stuff that'll bind your blade when cutting :eek: ). I don't have a sharpmaker, but do use ceramic rods a lot. I've gotten the crepe blocks from either Lee Valley tools, or Canadian Tire, but I would would suspect you should be able to get them in a variety of hardware type stores.

Hope this helps - gord

Ah, the quarterly Sharpmaker cleaning thread ... is it summer already :)

The quickest, fastest way to clean the Sharpmaker is:

A steel wool scouring pad charged with detergent -- i.e., something like brillo or SOS.

This works signficantly faster than using those plastic scouring pads. It literally takes me just a few seconds to get a stone incredibly clean. Yes, I realize that what should happen is that the metal scouring pad gets "sharpened" by the stone, and clogs it up even worse. However, due an extremely complicated quantum tunneling effect, that you'd need to understand M-theory to even remotely fathom, this doesn't happen. Instead, the stones come out squeaky clean in seconds, no muss, no fuss, no special chemicals or erasers, no pre-soaking.

Joe

i read about the pencil eraser some time ago & decided to try it myself, works like a charm actually :p

Inn less than 24hours i got 13 replys.....thanks too you all.

A steel wool scouring pad charged with detergent -- i.e., something like brillo or SOS.

Im new to this contry.... brillo or SOS (Comet?)? Can i find it at grosery stores??

I use either a pencil eraser, actually, that white art eraser stuff, or those crepe blocks, mostly the crepe blocks.

Crepe blocks? Is that the "soft" eraser you can roll between your fingers??

http://www.knifecenter.com/kc_new/s...il.html?s=XTRER link has been added to favorites.

Barkeepers friend?? Whats that??

I scrub my sharpening stones nightly before every use. Ill do that from now.

You seem familar ? Yes... i hang out at knifeforum.com


didn't you watch the video that came with your sharpmaker?

I don't have the Sharpmaker... just one fine and one medium rod...wy don't they make them in ultra fine??

Andyy wrote:I don't have the Sharpmaker... just one fine and one medium rod...wy don't they make them in ultra fine??

They do, actually. Ultra fine, fine, medium and diamond.

It's not on there web page. Only fine, medium and diamond.

http://spyderco.com/catalog/list.php?ge ... er_page=10

The Ultra Fine rods do exist--
http://www.newgraham.com/spy7.htm
Spyderco Replacement Rods, Ultrafine - 204UF

Brillo, S.O.S. & Comet are easily found in grocery & some convenience stores.

Crepe Blocks

Good luck & happy sharpening!

:spyder: Those ultra-fine stones really work. They get :spyder: 's sharper than the mind's eye. Super-duper sharp. :spyder:

I tried the eraser. It works ok.
I tried soaking inn hot soapy water and scrubing with toothbrush. Didn't do much.
And i tried scrubing with comet and scour pads (scotch Brite, 3M). This worked the best for me.

I will have to get one ultra fine to.

And i'll stop by a hardware store and look for a crepe block

Thanks again.