Cleaning hard water off of Hot Stones

[Heidi K]

I've seen many threads about cleaning stones between uses, but haven't found anything for if the stones were neglected. I went on medical leave to recover from back surgery, and was gone for a couple of months. I left my stones and a few other supplies in my massage room for the temporary therapist to use. When I returned, I not only found the stones still in water in the warmer (which stunk and had a slimy film and floaties, ewwwwww), but they also had many rings of hard water around the larger ones that were partially exposed. I have scrubbed and scrubbed the stones, I've boiled them with purifying essential oils, and am currently giving them a vinegar bath. But I'm having a hard time getting the hard water off. Has anyone had to clean their stones in this nature? What has worked? My next resort is scrubbing them with CLR or Limeaway, which I'd rather replace them before using harsh chemicals on them. Any insight would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

 

[S[he] Be[lie]v[ed]]

Cleaning hard water off of Hot Stones

I'm wondering if some sort of cleaner meant for glass coffee pots would work? I used that in a coffee shop I worked for years ago (wish I could remember the name of it) and tried using it on some really old pots that had a bunch of hard water deposit and it took it right off. It didn't seem to be too horribly harsh. The only other thing I can think of is maybe re-oiling them or taking them into a rock shop to see if they have any ideas. I'm sure if all else fails they can tumble them a bit, but I don't know how that would affect the functional shape of them.

 

[C-is-for-cookie]

Cleaning hard water off of Hot Stones

My 1st thought was something along the lines of limeaway and then repeating what you've already done to remove the limeaway.

One other thing to try is combining salt and lemons (sqeeze the juice into the salt to make a paste) and scrubbing the stones with that.

good luck and let us know if anything works.

Angie

 

[Shaji K]

Cleaning hard water off of Hot Stones

More general gunk, rather than hard water experience (I tend to end up with stone speople don't use for some reason) if you're talking about basalt or granite stones, they are tough, they can take pretty much anything you want to soak/wash them in. I don't recommend it as a regular method of cleaning the stones, but a one off get them back to as clean as possible - a dishwasher is great. You'll probably want to give them some really rinsing baths afterwards, but all those chemicals in a dishwasher pretty much just wash off.
I'm sure basalt would have no trouble dealing with CLR, just a feww good rinses afterwards. The other thing I've found works well is oxy action stain remover soaking powders, they get lots of less than great oil out of stones that just washing doesn't seem to shift.

If the stones are something more porous than basalt, more care might be required.

 

[cheer583]

Cleaning hard water off of Hot Stones

There is this stuff called Lemishine that works fantastic!! It's an all natural product made with fruit oils and acids. I use it all the time. I would think it would be safe to use on the stones if it's safe to use on dishes.