Sharpening Stones

G

g123

Joined
Oct 25, 2009
Messages
329
Hey Guys,

How come some sharpening stone require the use of oil and some only water to make sure the metal does not clog up the stone?

Is there a quality difference? For field use the water type would be much better.

Thanks,

Geoff
 
Don't use oil. One you use oil on a stone it's forever an oil stone. Just use water with a little dab of dish soap to break the surface tension and you're golden.

At least that's my experience. :)
 
I use ceramic and diamond, neither of which require lubrication of any sort. Back when I used natural stones I always used water, even on the Arkansas "oil" stones, seemed to work just fine, I still have several and after 20+ years of service are still going strong. BTW plain ole spit works pretty good too. :D Chris
 
Wayne Goddard suggests a solution of Simple Green cleaner and water. I use that on my Norton stone and it stays clean and cuts great :) Just label the stuff so kids don;'t think you have green Kool Aid in the bottle.
 
I have used straight simple green, and it works quite well when I have used it with wet/dry sandpaper on a piece of glass.
 
This is kind of a hotly debated topic here. Here's my take: Most stones don't "need" any kind of lubrication. The goal of sharpening to to remove metal from the blade so we can get a sharp edge. Lubrication slows down that process. It *may* also carry away metal particles in process.

For the last few years I've been sharpening dry on silicon carbide, aluminum oxide, and various ceramics. I've found that metal easily cleans off of all of these media with dish soap, water, and my fingers.

John Juranitch was the first one to popularize the idea of sharpening dry. He wrote about it in his very famous book, "The Razor Edge Book Of Sharpening". He cites his own experience that stones coated with oil actually produce duller edges that don't last as long. Some people here will argue that he was wrong, or that he observed something not caused by oil, but that's what he wrote from his extensive experience in the sharpening industry.

Bottom line for me: Unless you have a natural Arkansas stone that's been dosed with oil before, don't bother. Sharpen dry and clean your stones off every now and then with dish soap and water. Easy.

Brian.
 
Though most stones can be used dry I find using soapy water with diamond stones makes them more effective. The effects of the finer grits especially the EEF hone are easily noticed, the diamonds reomove metal at such a fast rate that within 10 passes per side the stone can start to loose its cutting effectiveness. Even with the use of soapy water you still need to rub the surface with your fingers to loosen the metal particles. One way to tell if your diamond stone is clogged is if the blade feels like its running over dirt on the surface.

Before diamond I used ceramic and before that it was the good'ol Arkansas stone. I tried soapy water with the ceramic stones once but the only thing it seemed to do was make a mess. The Arkansas stone was used with oil for a while until I heard that it might work better without, after that I quickly learned that cleaning the stone often was a must. It was so long ago I can't remember if it made a difference but I know I never used oil again.
 
Bill Siegle,

Is that a recent recommendation by Wayne Goddard? I only remember smokeless lamp oil/denatured kerosene.

Thanks,

John
 
use a wet rag to wipe stones often. mostly use diamond ,the rag will show you how quick the debris builds up & also you wo'nt waste as much h2o if you are in the out.
 
bgentry said:
This is kind of a hotly debated topic here. Here's my take: Most stones don't "need" any kind of lubrication. The goal of sharpening to to remove metal from the blade so we can get a sharp edge. Lubrication slows down that process. It *may* also carry away metal particles in process.

For the last few years I've been sharpening dry on silicon carbide, aluminum oxide, and various ceramics. I've found that metal easily cleans off of all of these media with dish soap, water, and my fingers.

John Juranitch was the first one to popularize the idea of sharpening dry. He wrote about it in his very famous book, "The Razor Edge Book Of Sharpening". He cites his own experience that stones coated with oil actually produce duller edges that don't last as long. Some people here will argue that he was wrong, or that he observed something not caused by oil, but that's what he wrote from his extensive experience in the sharpening industry.

Bottom line for me: Unless you have a natural Arkansas stone that's been dosed with oil before, don't bother. Sharpen dry and clean your stones off every now and then with dish soap and water. Easy.

Brian.
Click to expand...
I agree with this, good post . DM :):)
 
WTForce said:
So you can use a waterstone without water?
Click to expand...
Japanese-style waterstones? No, those need water. They sharpen by forming a slurry (grits from the stone broken out of the matrix and suspended in the water) and require soaking. However, relatively few people bother with Japanese-style stones, so when they say "no stones need lubrication," they mean stuff like Arkansas, aluminum oxide, silicon carbide, diamond, etc.
 
I as well use the simple green method on my IC-11....It works wonderfull...Wayne Goddard came up with that after trying various other types of fluids in his shop...I have also tried the Simple Green on other types of stones with success...I also have used it to spray on my fine grit belts whe running then hit it with and eraser cleaner thingy...works good...still wouldnt drink the stuff....
 
Simple Green is an *extremely* concentrated cleaning solution. Based on recommendations from the Simple Green web site, I've been doing general purpose cleaning with a 1:15 solution of Simple Green to water. It's pretty effective. I know others that use it at 1:30, especially on floors and things.

I wonder if a 1:15 solution would work just as well for sharpening lubrication? It's not like SG is very expensive, but why waste it if a milder solution will do? Even if you only use it 1:1, that's twice as much SG for your money.

As to drinking it, SG is "non-toxic" by the official definition, which includes consuming X amount per unit body weight before it becomes lethal. That number is fairly high for SG, but you could kill yourself or get really sick if you tried. I heard a story from a guy that worked on F18s. The bathroom cleaners they were using on the F18s corroded the parts. The Simple Green rep, who said SG wouldn't corrode their materials, proved how safe it was by drinking a cup of SG in front of management.

When asked about it after he got the contract, he said that it made him a little sick for a few days after, but it was worth it for the contract. My calculations about it's toxicity show that "a cup" is way below the lethality level, so it's probably a true story.

Brian.
 
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