Sharpening oil

D

dennis357

Joined
Jan 13, 2010
Messages
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Is it necessary to use honing oil specifically when sharpening your knives with an oil stone? Couldn't oil like is 3 in 1 or gun oil be suitable?
 
I couldn't tell you about honing oil but I'm fairly certain you shouldn't use lubricant as a substitute.
 
Use U.S.P. (United States Pharmacopia) mineral oil. It is available at drug stores. It is food safe, reasonably priced, and an ingestable laxative. I know someone who made mayonaise with it.
 
WD40 works in a pinch too. Oil on an oilstone is important if it's already been oiled, it keeps the steel particles from turning into an oily paste glaze that prevents contact with the stone surface, and also makes the whole sharpening experience a bit smoother. If the oilstone wasn't oiled from the factory you may be able to use it dry, or with water. Depending on the stone it may work really well.
 
Oil helps keep the stones clean, that's the main reason I use it. I just use the cheap bottle of Smith's, it lasts forever.
 
There is a food grade oil I have gotten from grocery store meat markets that work well
 
You can use oil, water or dry....doesn't matter if it has been oiled before, don't overthink it. Oil will slow down the cutting rate...
 
dennis357 said:
Is it necessary to use honing oil specifically when sharpening your knives with an oil stone? Couldn't oil like is 3 in 1 or gun oil be suitable?
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A light mineral oil will do the trick and is the best "general purpose" oil you can use. Lube the blade up when finished to keep it sparkling and new. You can use the same stuff for your kitchen knives or anything that might do food prep without fear that minute traces will contaminate your food. Grocery stores, drug stores all sell the stuff in quantities up to a gallon. You can buy it at cut-rate supermarkets for a few buckets a quart sometimes.

The viscosity of most mineral oil (except "heavy" mineral oil) is "just right" in that it does a good job of keeping the majority of the swarf floating within the puddle and away from the stone's pores. Just like engine oil, when the oil starts to become dark gray, it's time to wipe it off, give the stone a good rub down and dribble some more onto the stone to create a good "head" standing a few mm above the surface.

Good luck, have fun.

-E
 
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I have heard some people have had good results using Simple Green on their stones. I haven't tried it yet, but I have some and will give it a shot.

Bruceter
 
I use baby oil, and it works well with my Norton India stone and Japanese whetstone. I was told to use water with the whetstone, but I use baby oil instead.
 
tiguy7 said:
Use U.S.P. (United States Pharmacopia) mineral oil. It is available at drug stores. It is food safe, reasonably priced, and an ingestable laxative. I know someone who made mayonaise with it.
Click to expand...

That has got to be the worst visual and worst name for diarrhea ever. :D
 
Mineral oil, thinned to your preference with a little odorless mineral spirits, or just right out of the bottle.
 
I guess I'm an Neanderthal or somesuch, but I spit on the rock as that's what my Dad showed me to do decades ago. I never use oil as he had told me it would gunk up the rock
 
I had read an article about a man named John Juranitch regarding studies he did on sharpening and the actual edge of a blade and, If I recall, he came to the conclusion that a dry stone will work just as long and will produce a better edge than one that is oiled. The belief being that the "slurry" the oil produces can actually be likened to pushing the blade through sand thus producing a rougher scratch pattern. This is , of course, at a microscopic level. Any credence to this?
 
I sharpen with Arkansas stones, use compressor oil, 3-n-1, and honing oil. I mix oils on the stones to get the viscosity I want to get the results I want. Courser stones get thicker oil. Translucent stone (finest) mostly gets only honing oil. I clean up stones with Breakaway. Knives get cleaned with Fantastic with bleach, then rubbing alcohol. I oil my knives after cleaning with mineral oil.
 
As far as I know oil isn't used on stones outside USA, at least not commonly.
IMHO Jurantich is 100% right and I've read other very knowledgeable people's opinion against using oil too.
Theoretically oil also reduces friction, making the edge slip on the stone, i.e. reduced cutting power, scratches instead of removed metal.
I've never used oil, so I can't cite personal experience though :)
 
If I don't use oil on my stones, they glaze over and lose their bite. Oil will float the glaze which can be squeegeed off with a rubber spatula. If you remove the dirty oil, stone, metal mixture (swarf), the whole process becomes less messy. I wipe the blade with a rag before moving to a finer grit. You don't want coarser grits on finer stones. They leave scratches on your taper. I use USP Zinc Stearate to powder my bicycle inner tubes. It has much more lubricity than talc. What's your favorite USP material?
 
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