Quick question

[daverave999]

I've had a good search through the forums and not found a definitive answer.

I've just bought a rather coarse stone, which I believe to be SiC.

Should I use it with water, or dry?

TIA

 

[leatherman]

I always soak my silicon carbide stone in water for a bit before I use, I am curious what others do. My Grandpa soaked his in oil, in fact it pretty much lived in a trough of oil along with his finer stones. The only stones I use oil on are my Arkansas and India.

 

[sog]

Many posts say to never wet or oil, because once you do you have to keep doing it and shouldn't go dry again with it. Dry stones sharpen faster and some say better. Wetted stones build up swarf which some say dull an edge. Just remove the particles (which probably dull the edge) from a dry stone when it builds up. I would never wet or oil a hard Arkansas stone.

 

[leon.pugh]

Soapy water for fast cutting, dry to get it sharp, I have found alternating from soapy water to dry just seems to keep the poors of the stone open thus it works better when dry. No oil on my stones.

Leon Pugh

 

[Native Justice]

I've used water, oil and dry.

I prefer mineral oil because I get faster cutting and cleaner edges on my Norton India stones without clogging.

Dry sharpening actually wears the stones faster, though it cuts more aggressively. My medium and coarse India's actually sharpen better than my DMT coarse diamond when used dry (they do a great job on S30V).

Water absorbs too fast in the stones to be an effective lubricant even after soaking and frequent reapplication and tend to load the stones.

I haven't had clogging with mineral oil since I wipe the stones after use or scrub them with a brillo pad after use and reapply oil afterwords.

My translucent Arkansas polishes very effectively with oil; less effectively with water or dry.

Just my $.02