Do You Reuse Your Water?

[darita]

I use coffee filters to "clean" the water after use and keep it in a jar for next day. Do you ever add anything to keep the water from fouling?  By the way, I do use ACC-150.

[John Hancock Sr]

I don't bother filtering it but I sometimes decant after it has been sitting for a day or two if there is sediment in the bottom. If you are careful you can get most of the water out without the sediment if you leave it for a bit before pouring it out. You don't loose much that way. I have a cocoa container from Costco that is the perfect size. It takes almost 2L of water plus 1/2 a bottle of ACC-150 which does me for quite a while.  The last lot was getting pretty manky and only had about 1/4 left so I threw it out and made up a fresh batch. Not sure how long I had it but it was a LOT of sharpening.

[darita]

The last lot was getting pretty manky and only had about 1/4 left so I threw it out and made up a fresh batch. Not sure how long I had it but it was a LOT of sharpening.

Thanks for the reply. I actually considered adding a drop of bleach to my mixture to keep it from going bad, but I reconsidered and decided to post here first.  There are probably other things that could be added to do the same thing, however I'm wondering if it is even necessary.  I do know that the solution does smell a bit foul, but I don't know if that's the chemicals and metals or biology that I'm smelling.

[John Hancock Sr]

Mine did not smell but it was getting fouled by the rust, grease et al form the knives and tools I was sharpening. It still worked fine but was quite discoloured and was not a lot left so decided to throw it out and start again.

[RichColvin]

The last lot was getting pretty manky and only had about 1/4 left so I threw it out and made up a fresh batch. Not sure how long I had it but it was a LOT of sharpening.

Thanks for the reply. I actually considered adding a drop of bleach to my mixture to keep it from going bad, but I reconsidered and decided to post here first.  There are probably other things that could be added to do the same thing, however I'm wondering if it is even necessary.  I do know that the solution does smell a bit foul, but I don't know if that's the chemicals and metals or biology that I'm smelling.

Derek,

I'm not a chemist, but bleach is an oxidizer so I believe it might accelerate rusting.  Someone who is a chemist or metallurgist may correct me though.

Rich

[darita]

The last lot was getting pretty manky and only had about 1/4 left so I threw it out and made up a fresh batch. Not sure how long I had it but it was a LOT of sharpening.

Thanks for the reply. I actually considered adding a drop of bleach to my mixture to keep it from going bad, but I reconsidered and decided to post here first.  There are probably other things that could be added to do the same thing, however I'm wondering if it is even necessary.  I do know that the solution does smell a bit foul, but I don't know if that's the chemicals and metals or biology that I'm smelling.

Derek,

I'm not a chemist, but bleach is an oxidizer so I believe it might accelerate rusting.  Someone who is a chemist or metallurgist may correct me though.

Rich

Yikes!  I wouldn't want that. 

[Ken S]

There is an old English idiom, "penny wise and pound foolish". I once calculated the approximate cost of filling the water trough of a T8 with ACC solution at $.60 US. This cost is based on one use. Reusing the solution would reduce this cost.

A set of three or four super abrasive wheels, either diamond or CBN, costs approximately $1000 US. It seems poor economy to me to possibly risk this investment to save a few pennies.

Retrieving the used solution for a second day, or even several days, seems logical. To stretch the solution to the point of needing to add another chemical preservative does not seem logical.

Ken

[John Hancock Sr]

Also - you don't know in what way the bleach may react with the rust inhibitor. I bought A 5L of AC2 non-glycol coolant additive from my loacal automotiver store and it works out about 1/1`0th the price of the Tormek and the ratio is pretty much the same. I *think* that it is pretty much the same stuff but with a dye added to identify it. There are several types and the one I got I think has the same active ingredient.

[darita]

Thanks for the advice here.  What I'm doing now is, I filter and reuse the water if it's reasonably clean, as many times as it stays that way.  On heavy grinding of course, I only recycle the water once.  So far, it's been working fine with my CBN wheels, so I'll keep up that practice.

[Ken S]

That sounds like a good balance.

ken

[capt rich]

 I'm a home based sharpener. Dehumidifier dries the water from the trough. Scrape out sludge with 2" putty knife. Save gallon plastic jugs for refills.I put a drop of dawn dish soap once a month.