Prepping a Norton economy stone for use

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maximus83

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Nov 7, 2011
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I have a couple Norton economy stones lying around I've accumulated over the years (6 inch size), plus a recent 8 inch bench stone. Would like to use these sometimes, for example when I could use the 100 grit coarse side for some tasks.

What is a good way to condition these and keep them ready to use? I won't use them dry, and I assume if you soak in water it'll just drain out too quick while sharpening. So I assume with these, oil is the way to go. When I've oiled these in the past, they just keep sucking up the oil which is quite annoying during sharpening. :-)

Wondering if I should do something like this:
  • Immerse in mineral oil until totally saturated. Another user here in the forum did this.
  • Use light norton oil on the surface during sharpening.
  • Wipe off when done and store in ziplock bags.
    • Will this approach keep them "conditioned" with oil? Or will the saturated mineral oil just drain out over time leaving a big mess and I'll have to keep submerging them?

Or as an alternative, forget all this messing with the economy stones and get a Norton Crystolon for profiling, since they come preconditioned with oil. At $18, it's not a budget breaker anyway.
 
You only need a very thin layer for it to work effectively, but if you're really still having issues with it, older literature mentions heating petroleum jelly and soaking the stone with that.
 
FortyTwoBlades FortyTwoBlades since you're here, how does the Manticore compare to options in this role of super coarse profiling stones? Your site lists it as 60 grit SiC. No way I will use a stone this coarse dry. So, do you use it with water or oil? With water, I assume similar to the Norton, it'd just drain out too fast due to the coarseness of the stone. If oil, wondering if you only have to submerge-or-condition it once, and then just use a few drops on the surface thereafter during sharpening. Or if you'll have to keep immersing it periodically to keep it well saturated.
 
The Manticore will actually hold water, believe it or not. However, you'll want to frequently rinse the stone to remove loose grit and the huge amount of swarf you'll be creating.
 
With the economy stones, it may not be a bad idea to soak them in mineral oil for a while. They'll drink a LOT of oil for a while anyway; but soaking them will get 'em in shape a little sooner. And I'd personally be more inclined to soak them in a heavier mineral oil, like the pharmacy-grade laxative stuff. The stone will hold that a bit longer, before it drains out. Save the lighter oil for drizzling on the stone in use, if you prefer to use it for sharpening. In my own uses, I still just use the laxative stuff on SiC & AlOx stones anyway; it works fine on those.

I've found, after 'drying' the stones and storing for a while, a trace amount of the oil will remain with the stone, internally. The surface of the stone will feel & look essentially dry & oil-free. But, it won't drink quite as much new oil each time, after using them, wiping them down and storing them for a few cycles.

As for storing them, I'm planning on just storing a couple of mine in a pan w/an airtight lid, submerged in enough oil to keep them covered. So long as the stone is wiped down and cleaned of dirty oil before returning them to the pan, I wouldn't see any issues in keeping them this way.


David
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
The Manticore will actually hold water, believe it or not. However, you'll want to frequently rinse the stone to remove loose grit and the huge amount of swarf you'll be creating.
Click to expand...

If you submerge Manticore in water for a good bit prior to sharpening, how long of a sharpening session can you get out of it before you'd realistically need to re-submerge? I'm not averse to using water (actually prefer it to oil, where possible). But don't want to have to keep messing with it in the midst of sharpening. To make a comparison with different types of stones, the Arctic Fox and the Ptarmigan. With both of these, I always use wet, submerge both for half an hour until no bubbles are emitted, then I periodically spread a few drops of water on the surface throughout the sharpening session. Both of these stones hold water so well, as @adamlau noted elsewhere, that I can sharpen an entire session or multiple sharpenings, I've gone as long as 2 hours using the AF, and no need to re-submerge it to keep a consistent sharpening surface.

Would the experience with the Manticore be similar? If so, then that's probably viable "no oil" solution for an ultra-coarse profiling SiC stone.
 
Obsessed with Edges said:
With the economy stones, it may not be a bad idea to soak them in mineral oil for a while. They'll drink a LOT of oil for a while anyway; but soaking them will get 'em in shape a little sooner. And I'd personally be more inclined to soak them in a heavier mineral oil, like the pharmacy-grade laxative stuff. The stone will hold that a bit longer, before it drains out. Save the lighter oil for drizzling on the stone in use, if you prefer to use it for sharpening. In my own uses, I still just use the laxative stuff on SiC & AlOx stones anyway; it works fine on those.

I've found, after 'drying' the stones and storing for a while, a trace amount of the oil will remain with the stone, internally. The surface of the stone will feel & look essentially dry & oil-free. But, it won't drink quite as much new oil each time, after using them, wiping them down and storing them for a few cycles.

As for storing them, I'm planning on just storing a couple of mine in a pan w/an airtight lid, submerged in enough oil to keep them covered. So long as the stone is wiped down and cleaned of dirty oil before returning them to the pan, I wouldn't see any issues in keeping them this way.


David
Click to expand...

This all makes sense for the economy stones. Short version: store them submerged in a bath of clean, pharmacy grade mineral oil.

I wonder how the stones that Norton preconditions with oil, like the India and Crystolon, retain that oil in their pores over the long-term, meaning that all you ever really have to do is just a few drops on the surface? They must have some manufacturing trick that goes beyond just submerging them in order to make that happen.
 
maximus83 said:
This all makes sense for the economy stones. Short version: store them submerged in a bath of clean, pharmacy grade mineral oil.

I wonder how the stones that Norton preconditions with oil, like the India and Crystolon, retain that oil in their pores over the long-term, meaning that all you ever really have to do is just a few drops on the surface? They must have some manufacturing trick that goes beyond just submerging them in order to make that happen.
Click to expand...


I boiled one of my India stones. What congealed on the water was a waxy sort of oil. Entirely possible it could be stearine (type of fat used in candlemaking and as the binder for many grease stick honing compounds) or just a thick grade of oil.

FWIW, a thin film of vaseline will hold oil very well, or just pre soak the stone. On really coarse stones I recommend no oil and just keep a dunk tub handy. If you use oil on them the grit breaks down into a muddy mess that really impedes grinding.
 
maximus83 said:
If you submerge Manticore in water for a good bit prior to sharpening, how long of a sharpening session can you get out of it before you'd realistically need to re-submerge? I'm not averse to using water (actually prefer it to oil, where possible). But don't want to have to keep messing with it in the midst of sharpening. To make a comparison with different types of stones, the Arctic Fox and the Ptarmigan. With both of these, I always use wet, submerge both for half an hour until no bubbles are emitted, then I periodically spread a few drops of water on the surface throughout the sharpening session. Both of these stones hold water so well, as @adamlau noted elsewhere, that I can sharpen an entire session or multiple sharpenings, I've gone as long as 2 hours using the AF, and no need to re-submerge it to keep a consistent sharpening surface.

Would the experience with the Manticore be similar? If so, then that's probably viable "no oil" solution for an ultra-coarse profiling SiC stone.
Click to expand...

Water runs through the Manticore faster than the Arctic Fox and Ptarmigan stones, but still holds water well enough that if used consecutive days in a row all I need to do is give it a few quick dousings of water under the tap and it's back to full saturation.
 
Obsessed with Edges said:
With the economy stones, it may not be a bad idea to soak them in mineral oil for a while. They'll drink a LOT of oil for a while anyway
Click to expand...
Thirstiest stones I have ever seen. I think a 6" stone could hold a gallon of oil. I agree 100% with OWE's approach here - use the cheap, thicker USP mineral oil from the drug store for the initial soak, and save the nice light mineral oil for sharpening sessions. I have a couple of them. I use one of them fairly often, for when I just don't feel like getting out something bigger. That thing is STILL not saturated.
 
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