Soaking ceramic water stones (Stu's special set)

[Archie England]

I've been using Stu's set for about two years. Though I don't continuously perma-soak, I have kept them in water for several weeks. I refresh the water as need. The plastic base has never showed any issues. When dry, ten minutes is a good starting point for getting them ready for use.

[Charlie Stanford]

He noted which color matches up with which grit on his 2 sided stones in case the markings came off.

Thanks. Do those markings go very deep into the stone? They must dissolve pretty quickly I'd guess.

[Archie England]

I use Sharpie's to label the end of each stone (no need to this for Choseras), especially the white colored stones. Most have lasted (with fading) over a year.

[John Coloccia]

Thanks. Do those markings go very deep into the stone? They must dissolve pretty quickly I'd guess.

The markings on my Norton dual stone seem more or less permanent, but I don't really use water stones anymore, AND I don't soak them, so who knows.

[Derek Cohen]

Hi Charlie

Fishing again ...

For reference, Stu mentioned to me that there had been cases where the colours on the 1200/13000 faded until you could not tell them apart. Therefore I marked them.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Bill White]

I keep mine in a plastic container made for holding deviled eggs (ain't that a new one fer ya?).
The "cupped" bottom keeps the stones from fully on the bottom of the tray, and a dash of bleach keeps the water clean.
Bill

[Stuart Tierney]

Hi Charlie

Fishing again ...

For reference, Stu mentioned to me that there had been cases where the colours on the 1200/13000 faded until you could not tell them apart. Therefore I marked them.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Actually, it's the Select II #6000 that's dyed 'orange' as if it's undyed, it's visually identical to the Select II #10000.

It's the only Sigma Power stone that is coloured in any way, and the only one that's affected by water or typical household chemicals.


As for the original question, I usually soak the #1200, splash the #6000 and #13000. All can be soaked, splashed or anything in between and they behave differently depending on whether they're soaked or splashed or used dry. Experiment to find which way you prefer them to be.

Stu.

[Adam Cruea]

I soak my stones 24/7 in a closed, opaque container. No light, there shouldn't be anything growing in it (but I still change the water when it starts to seem cloudy or whenever I feel like it, but the city water here has chlorine in it anyway).

Soaking, they all seem "softer" to me and like they're working just a little better. YMMV, though, as I like a "soft" stone. . .I've noticed when I'm done on a particular stone, the instead of the stone feels like it stops "grabbing".

Either way, good buy. I love those three stones. . .a mirror polish with minimal work. Great for a lazy dude like me. :-D

[Tom Henderson2]

Hi Rob

I keep mine in sealed plastic tubs (from the supermarket), one per tub. I am lucky to have a sink in my shop, and have sideboards for both the tubs and for where I sharpen. The tubs look like this ..

<snip>

Derek

Hi Derek-

Could I ask why you go to the trouble of having separate containers for each stone? I'm just wondering if there is a technical benefit (less cross-contamination etc) or if it is just convenience for the size of the available containers.

A related question is soaking the stones in horizontal vs vertical (on edge) orientation..

Thanks in advance!

-Tom in SoCal

[Charlie Stanford]

Hi Charlie

Fishing again ...

For reference, Stu mentioned to me that there had been cases where the colours on the 1200/13000 faded until you could not tell them apart. Therefore I marked them.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Not really fishing Derek as much as using my sense of sight

[Charlie Ross]

Not meaning to steal a thread but I just got the 1000, 6000, and 13,000 from Stu. The 6,000 has a base. It looks like some sort of polymer. Can it soak in the water indefinitely too?

I soaked that same stone in a tub for a week and the base fell off?

[David Weaver]

Sounds good. If it fell off cleanly, you can just leave it off.

[Chris Griggs]

I soaked that same stone in a tub for a week and the base fell off?

You're better off. Bases suck anyway.

[Charlie Ross]

Yes, fell off cleanly... And fixing it, is not on the to-do list

[David Weaver]

You're better off. Bases suck anyway.

Hey!! What did you think of the kingwood base?