A Waterstone Question

[Springheeljack1]

Hi, I've been using Kings waterstones for a couple of years now, and mine seemed to have picked up some mildew on the 800 and 1200 grits, 6000 seems fine. I don't keep them in water and dry them out for a day before putting them away, they live in a tupperware box (left open) with silica sachets to draw out any more water, my questions is how do I stop it happening?, Will it affect the stones?, and should I use something like bleach to kill it off?

Thanks for any help you can give.

 

[sasquatch]

Not sure why that's happened but don't use bleach on them. Just get some fine wet/dry sandpaper on a flat surface and lap them until the mildew is gone. It won't affect the stones...

How often do you use them? Maybe it's just a case of them not being used enough?

 

[Springheeljack1]

Maybe once a month to every six weeks to do all the knifes in the kitchen and any of my knifes I use. I'll try the sandpaper and leave them out to dry for a couple of days, thanks for the advice.

 

[robin wood]

how often do you flatten them and what do you use? Waterstones are intentionally soft particularly the coarser grits. The Japanese spend nearly as much time cutting the stone back as sharpening the knife. Every time I use the stones I cut the surface back, this leaves fresh sharp clean abrasive ready to work. It still takes years of normal use to wear a stone away.

 

[sxmolloy]

I think mine are the same on the sides I dont use for sharpening. They have been in this state for some years now and it hasn't affected the way they work. As Robin said cut back the stones on the sides were they are affected if you would them prefer them mildew free. You can easily do this by soaking the stones as normal then rubbing them against each other. This is the way I 'true' or flatten my stones ready for sharpening knives.

 

[Asa Samuel]

Just a side note if you are going to lap the stones and don't have anything flat, I picked up a mirror from poundland and took the mirror out of the frame - its ever so slightly flexible but completely smooth so if you put it on a worktop and then wet it slightly, put your wet n dry on it then have at it with the stone. Some people do it dry but I did mine after the waterstones had been soaking and didn't take very long. Putting hatchings on the stone with pencil help as well to make sure that it's completely flat.

 

[Springheeljack1]

Thanks for your help guys, I'll be giving your advise a bash