Spyderco Forums

I have yet to clean the rods of my sharpmaker. From your experience, what have you found the best way to clean it? I have the medium/fine/ultrafine rods.

I use a green Brillo pad and barkeepers friend. Wet the pad and pour some on there and just scrub them. They come sparkly clean.

The same for me too.

rust eraser

SOS pad and bar keepers friend for me

Barkeeper's Friend and a green Scotchbrite pad

I also use Barkeeper's friend, but I use an old tooth brush.

I'm not familiar with Barkeeper's freind but use that white powdery washing detergent, with a green scotchbrite pad. Works like a charm.

Toothpaste will work too

Rods (ie, the brass safety rods)? Haven't had to clean them yet. I guess probably I'd use bar keep or something. Not sure they will ever get "dirty" enough for me to worry about though.

Bighaze51 wrote:I use a green Brillo pad and barkeepers friend. Wet the pad and pour some on there and just scrub them. They come sparkly clean.

Brother I give you a HIGH FIVE on the "Bar Keeper's Friend" to be sure. However my cleaning process ends with the BKF. I first soak my stones in the new "overnight soaking formula of Dawn Dishwashing Soap" and then I scrub them with Scotch Brite pads with a heavy dose of Comet cleanser. After I get them as clean as I can with those 2 stages I then do the finish work with Bar Keeper's Friend and those Spyderco Sharpmaker stones are as new as if they came from the factory.

I also use that method on all my other Spyderco sharpening equipment with the exception of the diamond rods from the 204 and the diamond Duckfoot. But Bar Keeper's Friend does amazing finish work like no other cleaner I've used. And I've tried all the ceramic top stove cleaners as well as other highly touted cleaners but the method I'm using now is my time proven best.

But I'm always open to a better way. I've heard that there are all kinds of soaking formulas out there that lift the metal out of the stones but I haven't got one myself yet. Great Thread :)

Where does every one get Barkeepers friend? I have never heard of that till now.

My Lowes carries it, Walmart also does.

Mr Blonde wrote:I'm not familiar with Barkeeper's freind but use that white powdery washing detergent, with a green scotchbrite pad. Works like a charm.

It's similar to what is sold under the Comet and Ajax labels here (which are somewhat abrasive), but Barkeeper's Friend is supposed to be non-abrasive. The idea is that you don't embed any abrasives into the surface of the stone/rod...FWIW...

Revival wrote:Where does every one get Barkeepers friend? I have never heard of that till now.

I buy it at the local grocery store.

IIRC, it's also what Calphalon recommends for cleaning their stainless steel cookware.

jon1all wrote:Rods (ie, the brass safety rods)? Haven't had to clean them yet. I guess probably I'd use bar keep or something. Not sure they will ever get "dirty" enough for me to worry about though.

(Ahem...) Rods, which rods? Oh, those rods, the ones I don't use??? :) Shhhh, don't tell Sal's lawyers... :D

Revival wrote:Where does every one get Barkeepers friend? I have never heard of that till now.

I found BKF through the forums for keeping sharpening stones clean and I'll tell you what. An amazing product. I now use it all over the house. I polished the chrome on my beach cruiser. Awesome. In the grocery store right where they sell Ajax and Comet. Great stuff and I do use it on my sharpmaker stones.

Green ScotchBrite and some SoftScrub liquid

Mahmer09 wrote:I found BKF through the forums for keeping sharpening stones clean and I'll tell you what. An amazing product. I now use it all over the house. I polished the chrome on my beach cruiser. Awesome. In the grocery store right where they sell Ajax and Comet. Great stuff and I do use it on my sharpmaker stones.

Bar Keeper's FRiend is a great product>> you can usually find it here in most parts of the USA in grocery, hardware and variety stores like Rip-mart. It's found most of the time right on the same shelf that they keep the Comet and Ajax on. It's in a Gold Can with a Blue & White sheild label that says Bar Keeper's Friend.

I find it to be an excellent product for all kinds of cleaning chores. It's great on stainless steel and copper. I use it on all my RevereWare cooking equipment that has the copper bottom and stainless body.

It's great for all kinds of ceramic cleaning and super on ceramic and glass top stoves. It works on a chemical action rather than on an abrasive action like most cleansers do. I've been using it on sharpening stones of many varieties since the mid to late 90s.

There are many outlets you can buy it online. The Dollar General chain of stores is the cheapest I've found it at. I usually buy it by the case. We use it a lot at work too. I would love to see something that would work better than BKF.

I've done well with comet and a green brillo/scotchbrite type pad, or sometimes just my hands and comet. Havent' tried BKF but likely will. They stock it at many grocers around here as well.