sharpening stones

[mentalnurse]

To day when I have been out I picked up 3 old sharpening stones. They looks old and covered in very old oil. What's the best way to clean them up? They look like white marble under the oil and fine grain. for the 3 of them it cost me £4.00 .Would soap and water be best or a spirit based cleaner?

sharpening stone by carlhamer, on Flickr

sharpening stones by carlhamer, on Flickr

 

[Teepee]

Boiling in paraffin used to be the remedy

My grandad used petrol for his , I use white spirits or painters brushwash to wash the stone in.

They sound like arkansas stones, very hard but slow cutting.

 

[mentalnurse]

put in am hours work on the 3 stones and quite happy with the out come , will leave to dry of a few days then oil or should be be soked in water and then used, never can tell what stone sould be used each way??

sharpening stones by carlhamer, on Flickr

 

[NoName]

nice find dude! cracking price!!
lndeed looks like 2 Arkansas stones (def the one one the right pic after cleaning) and one? with rough surface, looks like
Once used with oil beter to keep using oil, beter buy specialized oil for sharpening no sticky crap! and whip of after use
use; course, medium, fine

succes!