Sharpmaker 204--Cleaning Frequency?

[knifenerd]

I've had my 204 for about a month and I am very impressed with it's ease of use and the fine results I have been able to achieve.



I find that I tend to clean the stones with the usual Scotch-Brite and Comet materials after every 3 or 4 sharpenings. I might be overdoing a bit, but I feel that I can't hurt the stones and I feel more comfortable knowing that I will be able to get the best edge on my blades. Clean stones will simply cut better.



What are your cleaning-frequency patterns?



Dick

[dePaul]

Hi knifenerd,
Actually, I tend to clean my 204 prior to every sharpening session. This way, I save a lot of time.

[vampyrewolf]

knifenerd/
I use the 204 on 20/30 knives a day and the cleaner you get them the better the stone cuts, try using "flitz" or "Metal Glo" or another polishing paste you will be surpized how easy it cleans it up and you can, and should keep them in the base unit so you don't damage them by droping them.


sharp blades good bandiads bad

[clipiteer]

It depends on the size and sharpness of what I am sharpening. When I'm touching up my Delica Ltwt., the stones don't need cleaning until after several times, but when I was sharpening a dull sword with a 30" blade, I had to clean my sharpmaker quite often because the steel kept building up on it.

[mundele]

I've noticed that in the end it saves time to clean them pretty often. I think that, on the white stones anyway, there's a big difference in how the stones cut after just one sharpening (or maybe two). I try to clean them fairly often (every other sharpening or so, at least)

--Matt