Water Or Oil With A Whetstone?

[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..