Cleaning Stones

[Gregg28]

I have been getting into doing work on my 1911s, and have been successful at trigger jobs and even built a frame for a Marvel conversion (sweet). I have really come to rely on my stones, but they are getting dirty and clogged. Can they be cleaned or are they disposable?
Thanks,
Gregg

 

[Pappy John]

Hit them with some liquid dish washing soap and a toothbrush. Rinse off and dry. Good as new.

 

[JoeHatley]

I like to use GoJo. Gets the stones and my hands clean at the same time.

Joe

 

[JNewell]

Disclaimer: I do not recommend that anyone do what I have done. If you do, you need to read and understand all the safety precautions.

I have cleaned really fouled stones with muriatic acid. It worked unbelievably well, but even outside it's enough almost literally to kill you. This is probably why it's getting hard to find the stuff in hardware stores...

 

[Bill Z]

Flush the stone down with a liberal amount of WD-40, it's the only good use for this stuff around the bench. You may need to hit it with a toothbrush and flush it again if it's real bad. This also keeps the stone from drying out and geting brittle.

 

[Manitou]

I would spray the stones down with a liberal dose of WD-40 and then take and set them on the magnetic chuck of the surface grinder and turn it on.
I would lightly stone the magnetic chuck while using the magnet to draw all of the steel particles out of the stone. However, this would not get non ferrous material out of a stone, and you'd have to try one of the other methods.

 

[sm]

Bon-Ami [tm]

 

[Bill Z]

Going to the hospital nad putting them in an MRI would really draw the particles out.

 

[C. H. Luke]

Don't know what kind of stones you have but been using mostly ceramics. Brownell's Tech Line rec's Comet Cleanser for ceramic.