Thread: Recondition a hone?

Bought a Swaty and it looks in rough shape. There are two areas on the face that you can feel a raised blemish. Also it may have seen oil used on it, how can it be brought back to serviceable condition.

Pictures to follow.

My two cents;
I use Simple Green to scrub my hones with. A bio safe, great cleaner & degrease. if the hone is in really bad shape, I use EZ Off Heavy duty oven cleaner for 20 minutes, then scrub with Simple Green.
If you feel a raised blemish, I would pencil grid it, then gradually lap it until the blemish is gone.
But, I'm new with hones and I'm sure the guys will be along soon with more ideas.

It sounds like it could use a lapping. Swaty's are really hard so make sure to start with coarse sanding paper and work your way up to a fine grit. I'd start with a 120 grit sanding mesh if it's really bad otherwise with 120 waterproof sanding paper.

I wouldn't worry about the oil, lapping will remove any remnants, I'm not sure if oil can even get into a swaty.

I wouldn't worry much about the oil either. I have read that some hone manufacturers recommended boiling the hone in petroleum jelly.

EZ off will surely get the oil out and lapping will finish the job.

Will N.

Nah, that hone isn't in bad shape. The chip is not good, but it's not that bad either.

I usually don't even bother with cleaning them when they look like this. I simply hit it immediately in a fully submerged sink full of WARM water and my DMT and start lapping. Anything that does not belong to the hone soon will disappear.

Using a Granite lapping plate and wet or dry will remove a lot of material fast, then take it to even higher grits.

Most of your worries are on the face anyway, not the back. Don't worry much about the face until you have the back surface nice.

I usually finish my hones on up to 600grit on the face and 1k or more on the back. That's just how I do it. I learned about using different textures on a single surface hone to add to cutting and polishing effects. It hasn't ever served me wrong.

It's a beauty!! I had 5 Swaty's, only 3 left now after selling some off. They are wonderful stones, really good polishers. I think you will enjoy this hone for many years to come!

Good luck mate!

M

What is special about a Granite lapping plate? Is it any different than say, a piece of granite counter top?

There's nothing special about a granite lapping plate and you can use your countertop. The surface you use for lapping may get dull and receive scratches from loose grit. I use glass plates and after a while they get all scratched up.

Originally Posted by InstaRAD

What is special about a Granite lapping plate? Is it any different than say, a piece of granite counter top?

Truly there is nothing different, other than the plate can be moved to anywhere you want, and you won't scratch up any surfaces you care about. The plates I use I have had flattened specifically for this purpose. I work right next door to a bullnoser and he makes plates for me to use specifically for lapping. They are a little flatter than your counter top would be. That's really all, portability and convenience. I don't worry about SWMBO coming down on me hard for scratching her granite counter top.

I have had a bunch of 12x8x1" plates made up for this specific purpose. They work very well for me!

M

Thanks for the information. I have a bunch of left over glass and countertop leftover from a renovation a few years ago.