Desert Rat
Senior Member
Have you tried adding dish soap to the water with out degreasing?
The Greatest Sharpening Stone in the World
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KingShapton
Senior Member
I tried degreasing with water/dish soap-mix. It worked so well that I ended up ordering a bottle of Simple Green
. Sometimes experimenting doesn't make sense, especially when a good working solution is so easy to get...
VICTOR J CREAZZI
Senior Member
I use my Crystolons with water and propylene glycol without degreasing the stones. As far as I can tell the pg doesn't solve the oil in the stone, but it breaks the surface tension allowing the water to wet. Originally I thought it would slowly work the oil out of the stone. Maybe it is, but not that I can tell.
Williamchan87
專業豆漿品評師
Where I got mine it says:
These man-made bench stones are for basic work to bring an edge to a condition ready for final honing or general carpentry.
They do not cut as quickly as water stones of similar grit, but wear more slowly.
Both stones are 90x/600x combinations. The standard stone is 8" × 2" × 1"; the extra-large stone is 11 1/2" × 2 1/2" × 1".
Williamchan87
專業豆漿品評師
So I got my stone, so I sprayed bicycle chain/cassette degreaser on it, and the first thing to come off was the prints on the side of stone that says norton, product code and made in mexico. I didn;t scrub iot or anything, i just gave it a wash and noticed the printing was gone.
I got a new one that is a synthetic I haven't seen before. It's speckled and patented.
And it has a logo one one end. But pretty tough to make out.
Maybe a cowboy holding an axe?
I haven't tried it yet. But I imagine it's going to be very similar to an India. Some sort of alox
And it has a logo one one end. But pretty tough to make out.
Maybe a cowboy holding an axe?
I haven't tried it yet. But I imagine it's going to be very similar to an India. Some sort of alox
Oh yes. It's from Zereth Mortis. Used for sharpening argent mawsworn weapons.
Desert Rat
Senior Member
I'm doing the same with dish soap. I use it as a wetting agent at with oil stones because I mostly use them stones with oil.
Looks like a tiger head logo India to me
Yeah it's definitely the same Norton India stamp.
No, does that work too? I do sometimes use with a bit of dish soap if I remember, but didn't try before I'd degreased.
Greasylake
Thick knives save lives
My India finally arrived in the mail, a week late 
the surface is pretty nasty so I think I'll degrease it a bit before I use it, otherwise it looks like a fun stone.
the surface is pretty nasty so I think I'll degrease it a bit before I use it, otherwise it looks like a fun stone.
That is a very old one. Pre 1930s. EditMy India finally arrived in the mail, a week late
View attachment 169990View attachment 169991View attachment 169992
Norton/BehrManning acquired Pike in 1931. But it looks different than late 30s early 40s packaging. So probably early 30s. But I am out of my depth and making my own head spin
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Picked up this one, needs a clean
And I cleaned this one up but took off most of the logo......
And I cleaned this one up but took off most of the logo......
KingShapton
Senior Member
Congratulations, that's a really nice catch.My India finally arrived in the mail, a week late
View attachment 169990View attachment 169991View attachment 169992
Granted, I'm speaking from a collector's point of view, but this well-preserved box is a feast for the eyes! Seriously, the old design is insanely good and I like it so much better than today's designs from the packaging of the stones. I love old sweethearts like this.
Can you show us pictures of the stone after degreasing?
So, I got my crystalon last week. Sunday I brought it to work for the first time. It did great. Stayed relatively flat for the amount of knives I sharpened that day.
I like it just as much as the india stone I think. If I could find a combination stone with a crystalon coarse, and fine india. In an 8x3 size. It would be the ideal stone. I can for sure say the crystalon coarse side is better than the india stones coarse side.
The ace hardware store off brand SiC stone I have doesn't even compare to the norton.
I like it just as much as the india stone I think. If I could find a combination stone with a crystalon coarse, and fine india. In an 8x3 size. It would be the ideal stone. I can for sure say the crystalon coarse side is better than the india stones coarse side.
The ace hardware store off brand SiC stone I have doesn't even compare to the norton.
KingShapton
Senior Member
Have you ever thought about gluing the stones together yourself?
https://www.sharpeningsupplies.com/Norton-Crystolon-Bench-Stone-8-x-3-P24C25.aspx
https://www.sharpeningsupplies.com/Norton-India-Bench-Stone-8-x-3-P23C25.aspx
Alternatively, not quite as wide (2 1/2 instead of 3) but longer (11 1/2 instead of 8) but only with the medium Crystolon...
https://www.sharpeningsupplies.com/Norton-Crystolon-India-Combination-Stone-P701C25.aspx
If I'm going to do it, maybe the glueing it myself thing would work. The 8x3 is the perfect size for a stone imo. The other one would just be to thin and long. Also it needs to he the coarse crystolon.
I wonder how well the adhesive would work with the stones full of oil. I actually wouldn't be interested in degreasing them, I like how they work with oil. I think it would be nice having that though. I would especially like the extra height. .
KingShapton
Senior Member
In principle, it must be possible to glue the stones together despite using oil.
I'm just not sure if gluing works with stones that are already impregnated with oil. You might have to degrease the stones beforehand. But maybe @cotedupy has an idea? Or maybe he already has experience with it?!
The only ones I've glued I've degreased as much as I could beforehand, because I tend to used epoxy and it's not going to work on an impregnated stone. I presume there are other types of glue that would though, and because you're not going to be sharpening on that surface (as opposed to repairing a cracked stone for instance) it won't matter at all what adhesive you use...
Maybe contact cement? Theres one I have that says its oil and gas resistant. Idk if that's before it cures though.
Greasylake
Thick knives save lives
The box was one of the reasons I got this specific stone, I'm a sucker for the fish haha.
Stone is in the simple green, cleaning up quite quickly so I'll have some pics in a few days I think
Greasylake
Thick knives save lives
This is where the stone is now after degreasing. It had a lot of dirt or something on the surface that was oil and didn't clean off until today... so I might put it back in the simple green to see if I can get the surface a little prettier. Not sure though, it absorbs water so I might also just use it as it.
I forget, what's the grit estimate for the medium Indias?
KingShapton
Senior Member
@Greasylake Grit fine India is estimated at 320-400#. But in an American grit system, if we think in terms of JIS then the grit count should be a bit higher.
'Practically perfect in every way.'
PU D4 works. I did some.
But you need clamps (strong). It will expand and grip them together. At some point you need to "flatten" the extra into the sides. I'm not sure that they can ever be pulled apart once it's fully hardened, unless they are cut.
my stone's a 1998 USA one (NOS, likely from around the end of US production), and i ran it under some water. even though the stone doesn't feel oily, it does smell like machine oil, and the surface is quite hydrophobic.
i don't have any simple green. i know it's useful stuff, and i should just buy a gallon. but i'm lazy.
so i rubbed a thick coating of dr bronner's liquid castile soap all over it and set it in an empty bucket. i'm hoping that some will work its way in via diffusion.
later, i'll dump some boiling water over it and maybe add more soap and let it sit.
will report back.
i don't have any simple green. i know it's useful stuff, and i should just buy a gallon. but i'm lazy.
so i rubbed a thick coating of dr bronner's liquid castile soap all over it and set it in an empty bucket. i'm hoping that some will work its way in via diffusion.
later, i'll dump some boiling water over it and maybe add more soap and let it sit.
will report back.
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Nortons are strong enough to be perfectly clean with most (maybe any) oven cleaner with no effort whatsoever.
hah. or maybe the pyrolytic cleaning cycle in an oven. preferably one not used for food.
