rbscebu
Girls call me Makaluod
I need to clean an old stone that was passed down to me from my grandfather. There doesn't appear to be Simple Green readily available in Cebu, Philippines. What is an alternative?
Simple Green Alternative?
- Thread starter rbscebu
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Orange blast or something... Citrus magic maybe. I forget the actual names but they work OK.
Yep, that will work fine. For a really nasty oil stone, try oven cleaner.
Unless the surface is in really great condition, it may be best to just resurface, or 'flatten' the stone. This will expose a fresh surface that cleaning alone isn't likely to provide. It isn't difficult, and flattening stones are readily available online.
If oil was used on your stone, any petroleum solvent like lighter fluid or paint thinner or acetone or even kerosene and an old tooth brush should do the trick (wear eye protection). And I've never tried it, but dish soap may work. It does cut grease. Whatever the case, it wouldn't hurt anything.
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K&N air filter cleaning solvent (found in your auto parts store). Might be able to mail order it if you had to.
If you are looking to de-grease a stone like an old Washita, and it is very gunked up, lapping it will not do the trick. If the stone is only superficially slimed up, lapping 'may' work.
There are many different types of degreasing cleansers out there - not sure what is available in your area though, but a good hardware store might have a solution (small pun) to your quandary. Oven cleaner like EZ Off can work, but on a very gunked stone it's quite a chore and then you should considering how to neutralize the Lye that seeped into the stone. Handling Lye based compounds can be tricky.
Soaking in Kerosene can work, but it will take way longer than you imagine, and then the stone will smell like Kero forever and it will be a strong odor.
Mostly, it really does depend on the stone, how gunked up it is, how clean you need it to be, and what you can find to do the trick. I boiled out a Hindostan once.... that was tons of fun....I'll never do it again.
There are many different types of degreasing cleansers out there - not sure what is available in your area though, but a good hardware store might have a solution (small pun) to your quandary. Oven cleaner like EZ Off can work, but on a very gunked stone it's quite a chore and then you should considering how to neutralize the Lye that seeped into the stone. Handling Lye based compounds can be tricky.
Soaking in Kerosene can work, but it will take way longer than you imagine, and then the stone will smell like Kero forever and it will be a strong odor.
Mostly, it really does depend on the stone, how gunked up it is, how clean you need it to be, and what you can find to do the trick. I boiled out a Hindostan once.... that was tons of fun....I'll never do it again.
Slash McCoy
I freehand dog rockets
Lap it. It probably needs lapping for flatness, anyway. But you can clean them with gasoline and then dish soap first if desired or needed. Softer stones are more porous and gunk can penetrate deeply, so removing all the surface gunk and leaching out as much as possible is important. With extremely hard stones, there is less penetration. There are things you could pick up in a decent hardware store that would be better than gasoline and would evaporate quickly, but in your situation maybe gasoline is worth considering.
From my experience in France, where Simple Green is not to be found easily, I would suggest finding a solution sold locally for cleaning up oil stains in a garage.
Simple Green is very effective, as sold in the U.S.A., but it also changes the surface character of the stone afterwards in my opinion, for better or worse according to the circumstance.
Simple Green is very effective, as sold in the U.S.A., but it also changes the surface character of the stone afterwards in my opinion, for better or worse according to the circumstance.
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rbscebu
Girls call me Makaluod
Jayber, thanks for the link. That was very informative.
nothing beats simple green in my book. Sadly if it isn’t available, I’ve not found a good alternative. Purple stuff (oven cleaner) use with caution. I put a nearly new (carborundum-like) synth oil stone in to soak overnight once, and half of it dissolved, went from a sharp cornered rectangle to an oval, and a coral-like structure of rusty-looking gunk formed in the bottom of the tub when it dried up.
