Is it a whetstone or a dry stone?

[platinummatt]

I have a stone and done know which it is how do I find out. Also what angle should a SAK pen knife blade be when sharpening? Should it be going back or foward? Thankyou

 

[Allan Molstad]

well...an oil stone, can be used dry too.
The fact is that some of the guys who have writen books about getting things sharp have talked about not useing oil ever....

One the other hand, most all the other books talk about useing oil all the time.

So although I make knives and guys at work are always asking me to sharpen their knives, I yet dont know what the correct answer is.

What i do know is that once you start to add oil to a stone, you more-or-less have to keep adding oil all the time then.

For me?, I use oil,,,lots of oil....I like my stones clean and so i really dump the oil on...Im not sure thats correct but it's what i do.

as far as i know, most sharpening stones that are sold to us guys are sold as oil stones...

 

[platinummatt]

Thanks for the post man. Can you use water instead of oil?

 

[Jeff Clark]

Sprinkle some water on the stone. If the water beads up into tight drops than you can roll around the surface the stone has been treated with oil. If it has been treated with oil the easiest way to use it is by applying some light oil to the surface when you hone. If you don't want the mess of honing with oil you could try and remove it by running the hone a few times through a dishwasher or by boiling it in a detergent solution.

A hone without oil can be used with some water or dry. An oily hone has to be used with oil.