Oil or no oil

I'm no expert but I will post a link to what the experts say here in a bit.
Yes, use oil it keeps the steel from getting stuck and piling up in the pores of the stone and it makes the stone cut the steel more cleanly; think slice rather than tear.
More later.
PS: maybe you have some baby oil or mineral oil from the drug store. That will work fine on your stone. Hell sewing machine oil too.
 
Okay two more questions (I know i'm a curious creature), will gun oil work. And two why is it that when ever I tried out with my Norton carborundum stone, it just seemed through the bottom. Thanks, Evan
 
Sounds like your Norton is too porous for the oil to hold. To keep that from happening, you can melt some petroleum jelly and let it soak into the stone. That creates a barrier of sorts for the thinner oil so it doesn't just go right through.
 
Evan.S.Merritt15 said:
Isn't petroleum flammable and would catch on fire if melted?
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It would probably take an open flame or oven temps up around 500° F to touch it off.
There is specific instructions in the thread I left a link to for melting the petroleum jelly but it would be safe enough to warm up the oven to ~ 200° F. (probably even less).
TURN OFF THE OVEN
then put the stone and jelly in the oven.
I've never done this so check the other thread. Lots and lots of other excellent info there.

PS: melting it on the stove top with an open gas flame or a hot electric burner element where the stuff could drip onto it is the problem
 
The petroleum jelly method works VERY well. I have used it on a few carborundum hones with great success. Before I performed the "petrolization" the hones soaked up the oil ridiculously quickly. Afterward, even a few drops will pool on the surface. Highly recommend this for any oil hone that sucks up oil too fast. I did mine in the oven at 175 degrees, no problems. As the hones cooled I kept adding more petroleum jelly until they stopped absorbing it.
 
Wowbagger said:
There is specific instructions in the thread I left a link to for melting the petroleum jelly
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Sorry I went looking for it and didn't fiind it.

Here at least is some info until more comes along :
vaseline loaded into the stone helps, one can also rub some canning wax (paraffin) and hit for a second with hair dryer or hot air gun - both materials will mix readily with mineral oil and keep the oil on the surface better. Using a scrubbing short pass helps as well.
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I found that here at this Link>>>
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
Sounds like your Norton is too porous for the oil to hold. To keep that from happening, you can melt some petroleum jelly and let it soak into the stone. That creates a barrier of sorts for the thinner oil so it doesn't just go right through.
Click to expand...

It doesn't take a lot of heat to melt petroleum jelly. You can use a hot hair drier or heat gun, or use a double boiler. Even putting a conductive container of it in some really hot tap water is usually enough. :)
 
Evan.S.Merritt15 said:
Isn't petroleum flammable and would catch on fire if melted?
Click to expand...
Hi,
Petroleum jelly/vaseline, is like butter or coconut oil, its grease,
it doesn't take much heat to melt it,
you can use a hair dryer, its what I used
Petrolatum melt point is 37 °C (99 °F)

to seal all 6 sides of a stone,
takes less than 1 teaspoon petrolatum

to load/saturate a stone might take a few oz
ex 2oz aka 12 teaspoons
Re: India Stone - coarse
SecondCrack: I estimate there's around 50-60mls in each stone on average, but that estimate is very rough.




put stone on a plastic bag

Take a plastic spoon or knife or popsicle stick or "credit card" ...
take a little petroleum jelly/vaseline
spread a coat on top of sharpening stone, like lightly buttering bread

then take hair dryer and heat the stone for about a minute
the jelly will turn translucent as it heats up
and start to soak into the stone
If hot enough or you keep heating the stone it will just suck it up
splash of water will cool it off if you dont want it soaking in deep

repeat as needed
 
Ditto to the suggestion for Vaseline (petroleum jelly). I've done a couple of my stones in SiC with it. Real simple. Just spread some on the stone like it was butter or cake frosting, and heat it. I used a heat gun for this; don't need too much heat to make this work, so keep the nozzle of the heat gun at a conservative distance from the stone, on the lowest heat setting. The stone will get pretty warm; try to keep it moderate enough so it's not too hot to touch with your bare hands. When the Vaseline melts to a clear liquid, the stone just drinks it up like a sponge. As with the oil, the stone will absorb a LOT of it too; so don't worry too much about applying more, if you want to. After discontinuing the heat, it'll cool & thicken quickly enough within the stone to seal it up very effectively. Put some towels down under the stone, as the process is a bit messy for whatever work surface you're using.
 
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eKretz said:
The petroleum jelly method works VERY well. I have used it on a few carborundum hones with great success. Before I performed the "petrolization" the hones soaked up the oil ridiculously quickly. Afterward, even a few drops will pool on the surface. Highly recommend this for any oil hone that sucks up oil too fast. I did mine in the oven at 175 degrees, no problems. As the hones cooled I kept adding more petroleum jelly until they stopped absorbing it.
Click to expand...

That mirrors my impression exactly, after I did mine. It's quite amazing how it turns the stone's 'thirst' for oil around in it's tracks. In using oil with my Vaseline-treated stones afterward, they've become as easy and pleasant to use as my India stone (pre-filled from the factory). That makes me very, very happy. :thumbsup: :)
 
Evan, you may have a more coarse Norton stone. On my JUM-3 I can just use mineral oil on the coarse & fine side. But on my crystalline stone purchased from ACE hardware it is more coarse and I had to do the vasoline soaking treatment. Which improved it but I still need
to put a layer of vasoline and mineral oil on it when I use it. DM
 
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Mr. Swede said:
Light engine oil?
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I suppose it would work fine for sharpening.
With all the detergents and additives for high temp and I don't know what all it may not be too good to have around food.

I found this here>>>>
When a small amount of motor oil is swallowed and goes down the food pipe into the stomach, the only symptom that is expected is a laxative effect (loose stools or diarrhea).
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Not something I would want a steady diet of though.
 
Well usually the crystalon stone doesn't clog to much but when it comes to my Arkansas stones even after I while them down the still get a little glaze so I'm now to worried about the crystalon just wondered why it did what it did. Also what would be a good replacement for an old ceramic rod that's wore out? I mean something that will put a final hair shaving edge on my knife before the strop. I've been looking at a surgical black Arkansas or translucent Arkansas.
 
Evan.S.Merritt15 said:
Well usually the crystalon stone doesn't clog to much but when it comes to my Arkansas stones even after I while them down the still get a little glaze so I'm now to worried about the crystalon just wondered why it did what it did. Also what would be a good replacement for an old ceramic rod that's wore out? I mean something that will put a final hair shaving edge on my knife before the strop. I've been looking at a surgical black Arkansas or translucent Arkansas.
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What steel types are you sharpening? Depending on that, it could explain at least part of why your Arkansas stone gets glazed. The natural grit in Arkansas stones is only moderately harder than simple cutlery steel (with little or no hard carbides, like 1095, CV, 420HC, 440A), so Ark stones will still wear (glaze) pretty easily, even on steels more suited to them. Even more so, if they ever get used dry, or only with water.

Also, if you're sharpening steels with some significant hard carbide content (pretty much anything at or beyond 440C, for example, in wear resistance), the other Arkansas stones you're looking at may not be well-suited to those anyway, for the glazing issues described above and because they wouldn't work well anyway for such steels. That's where a ceramic or other synthetic stones (aluminum oxide, SiC, diamond, etc) may be better than the Arkansas stones, at least.
 
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Evan, it's technique and experience that helps the most to put a hair shaving edge on a knife, not the stone. However, if you want to get a
fine Arkansas stone then do it. A fine Spyderco ceramic would likely work better but either one you must clean after each use. Your old ceramic rods may just need cleaning. DM
 
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