Water Or Oil With A Whetstone?

[Tree Reaper]

Best in our opinion with honing oil. When purchased new, some people

will use water.

Let me now if I may be of additional assistance.

Best Regards,

Darren

Darren Walker

Customer Service

SharpeningSupplies.Com

[DoubleC]

Thanks Kevin but I did do them with soapy water at the kitchen sink. They are slick as a whistle now, can't believe the difference. Might have been even sharper with oil I don't know. But they did a good job on the strap. Unfortunately I mixed up the order of the layout and may have to do it all over but will see what Duane says after I dye it....getting ready to start right now. But thank you for contacting them for me. As soon as I can get some mineral oil I'll switch. Cheryl

[Tree Reaper]

I admit I have used both water and oil but now I just use 3 in1 oil on carborundum.

My expensive wet stones that I use on planer blades and chisels only use water.

[DoubleC]

Yeah, read up on the wet stones. I can get 3 in one and use it to oil the tools afterward. I'm surprised these turned out as well as they did since it was my first try so maybe they'll even be better with oil. It even did a good job on my round punches. I'm glad I got the set finally. Thanks for all your help Kevin. Cheryl

[SooperJake]

I recommend Leonard Lee's "A Complete Guide to Sharpening". About $15 or so from Amazon. Money well spent.

Jake

[DoubleC]

Thanks Jake, I'll check it out. Cheryl

[SooperJake]

Welcome. PM me with any sharpening questions, Cheryl. Or ask them here if you'd like. I 've been a woodworker most of my life and taught tool sharpening for nearly 13 years. I think I've used (and own) pretty much every kind of sharpening stone, jig, widget and machine that's been invented.

You can lubricate an oil stone nicely by adding dish soap to water. Once an oil stone is saturated with oil, you will never remove all the oil from it, so it is best to continue using oil. Kerosene is an old time lube for Arkansas stones. A little thinner than mineral oil. By the way, you can use unscented lamp oil in place of mineral oil, and you aren't paying for something labeled "food safe" Heck, any cooking oil would technically work.

Abrasive technology has come a long way, yet is well rooted in the past, still. Natural Arkansas stones and quarry cut japanese water stones are among the best sharpening stones you can get. But, they are getting more rare each day. Of course there are modern versions too.

Also, keep in mind as regarding grits of stones that there is more than one "grading system"

Here are a few useful comparison charts:

http://micro-surface...page=page&id=16

http://www.fine-tools.com/G10019.htm

Jake

Edited October 20, 2012 by SooperJake

[DoubleC]

Thanks so much Jake. I'm glad I used soapy water on it to begin with and I'll continue to do that. It really did a nice job of sharpening my end strap punch, oblong punch and round punches I use. I have a heavy or whatever that grit is and a fine one and used both on the tools. Even tried sharpening my awl on them but that didn't work so well. Guess I'll continue to strop it :-) Well when I get a new one, want a smaller round blade instead of the diamond shape one I have right now. On plain ole veg tanned light weight layers it works fine but add anything else into the mix and it either pushes them away or the holes are too big. Looking to upgrade that soon. Not sure that's actually an upgrade but rather a choice of what I think I'll be able to handle better. I got this one in a lot on eBay and I love it, it's the old, vintage wooden handled type but not a shaped handle. I saw one that is a longer handle and shaped so I can really get my hand on it. This one I have to push on the butt with my palm and doesn't take long for my hands to say they're quitting Fickle hands. And I'll PM you with any questions I have with my other tools as they need sharpened. Cheryl

[Jimbob]

OK, been making knives, sharpening them for 30 years and able to sharpen an ax to be shaved with ( show off,,,,haha)

Water stones are used with water because they are more corse and oil would not stay on the surface....oils stones have a much finer cristal consistency...so they keep oil film longer and better....and yes they will clogg up...easy fix....wrapp a stone in a wett rag, put in safe container and put in stove and cook for 30 minutes on medium heat!

The stone will be like new....now we all talk about stones, much more important is the way you sharpen, how you hold the knife, tool or ax...haha...what angle, what degree,,,,what steel is better to sharpen what is not....you can sharpen eventually a knife on a piece of card board.....it is not so much the stone and the oil or water....it is the way you hold, handle and guide the tool to be sharpened.

Only my two cents, now I get back finishing my shaving with my old Marbles ax...hehe...

James

[Northmount]

Never did get a good handle on shaving with my axe. My trim knife works pretty good, but I look a lot better if I use my 'lectric razor.

Tom

[Horrrk]

Haha! And here I was thinking I was going slightly mad a couple of months ago, cos I was looking at going with a cut throat for the economy..

[lwm803]

I actually did, on occasion, shave with my pocket knife back when I was in the Air Force. But it was usually just to show off the fact that I could get my pocket knife sharp enough to shave with. Even though the knife in my pocket right now has two razor sharp blades, these days I'm more likely to skip shaving all together....LOL

[Hennessy]

when i was a lad in sydney nsw australia i worked awhile in an ol' prestigous saddle shop there named davidson n smith.one of their top hands twere a cherman immigrant.now when i got around any discussions on steel quality ,craftmanship etc #1 was german steel #2 british #american.anyhoo everyone claimed this chap could edge a knife.i'd just bought my first round knife[dixon] n everyone said take it to klaus .he was gracious to show me on dinner break how to hone that knife,angle is everything.now its razor sharp and he passed on his knowledge n exp.dont stone unless absolutely necessary,strop frequently every so often if its all day every time your knife drags.the strop he told me to make i'll pass on here,i've always used a wood bed slat[ 2 x 1/2] to which i glued chap lea ruff up on both sides.he told me go to a metal shop n under th bench grinder scoop up a large cup of fine metal shavings.now get some thick oil heavy motor oil or heavier.smear oil down one side then sprinkle shavings over that get a knife [flat blade] strop shavings in,repeat over n over until surface becomes more or less pasted flip strop over n final strop blade on clean ruff lea,be careful that blade is bound to be sharp! i've stoned my dixon over th years but stropped it thousands it is still th same size n shape as when i first got it,that ol 'cherman ' knew his stuff .

[DoubleC]

Well I don't plan to shave with any of my tools or doing anything beyond trying to get my stuff 'sharpish' from use. Doubt I'll ever be a master at the craft, but I guess I can live with that. And no throat cutting on my thread LOL

[Horrrk]

Well I don't plan to shave with any of my tools or doing anything beyond trying to get my stuff 'sharpish' from use.

And no throat cutting on my thread LOL

LOL.. Furry nuff..

[tbmow]

Just want to ante my $0.02 into the pot here...

One method to learn how to sharpen is to find an old, dull tool or buy a cheap tool (like the $5 H/F 11 piece wood carving set), and practice using a cheap sharpening stone (like the two sided H/F one for $4). Before beginning, look at the cutting edge. You will see a lot of parallel lines that look like they are scratched in, those lines are what you want to remove. Start with the coarse stone and move to finer stones. When you have finished, the cutting edge should look smooth and shiny without any visible scratches.

If you get the cheapo set, start with one of the flat blades and progress to the more difficult shapes. The benefit of using this approach is that you are not working with an expensive tool that you are afraid of ruining. Set a goal of sharpening one of the set per day—about 30 to 45 minutes. Once you do it right, you can get good enough edges on the cheap tools to actually make them useful. Because the metal alloy is low-cost and not heat treated, these tools will not hold an edge (stay sharp) as long as your better quality tools. Taught sharpening this way to a neighbor last year, and he managed to get all 11 pieces sharp enough to shave hair off his arm. Then he went and sharpened his grandfather's tools.

On the water vs. oil debate. Certain natural stones, the "water stones," are best used with water. Most man made (synthetic) stones work with either. I have had stones that were used with water begin to "rust" when the water reacts with the metal particles removed from the edge. Rusting does not happen with oil. On the other hand, spilling water is an easy clean up compared to oil. If you decide to go the oil route, store the stones and oil in one of those plastic shoe boxes, and keep it on the bottom shelf (so that it has nowhere to fall down to and spill).

One type of oil that has not been mentioned yet is home heating oil, kerosene, or diesel fuel. Many sharpening oils are made from these oils because of the availability and low cost. If you do not like the odor, use mineral oil, commonly called baby oil.

Remember that sharpening skills are like leatherworking skills—practice, practice, practice...