Sharpening stones

Josh Rider

Josh Rider

Stuff maker
Joined
Sep 2, 2014
Messages
2,428
Hey guys,
I just recently acquired some stones from an auction online.
The guy that had them has a bunch of them from buying storage lockers.
Is there anyway to identify if they are whetstones or oil stones or anything about them other than what I plan on doing which is trial and error?

One has “the champion” on it which according to the Internet is a razor stone or maybe it was sold with a razor at some point.
I’ve started flattening them on my DMT duosharp. A couple flattened quickly, a couple of them not so quickly.
Thanks for any help.
CC5D7B30-3238-4126-847F-C6E8CBBEB11F.jpeg
 
Josh Rider said:
a razor stone or maybe it was sold with a razor at some point.
I’ve started flattening them on my DMT duosharp.
Click to expand...

aaahhhh . . . you killed it :(

Yeah, don't ever flatten or condition a razor stone. It is kind of a just use it kind of thing.
Not that I know anything about it because I don't but I was told that about this stone. Maybe true for yours.

IMG_3662.JPG
 
Sometimes it's hard to get his point. But he's meaning one can change the surface (cutting dynamics) of it by flattening. So don't do that. It should still be flat. Top is a razor stone. Watch about flattening that w/ a diamond.
Your next one looks to be a coarse SiC stone.
Next one looks to be a India.
The bottom one I'm not sure but may be a soft Arkansas.
Using a coarse diamond to flatten can degrade that stone. Good luck, DM
 
Last edited:
Josh, you're welcome. You being a Reds fan.--- My wife got to watch Pete Rose play in Cinncinnati. DM
 
Last edited:
Josh Rider said:
I’m not sure if I follow that, why would you not want a flat stone?
Click to expand...
Well I suppose for sharpening large blades free hand a flat stone is important.
A super fine grit razor stone isn't going to get much wear. Also since one is taking the razor to a flexy curved strop there isn't much point in having a flat stone is there ?
As I understand it the razor stone is fired and finished and the only useful part of the stone is the thin layer on top. If one abrades that enough there is a much more coarse material just below the "glaze" and that is going to be useless for sharpening at the grit intended.

On a guided system the flatness of the stone is critical and I very definitely want flat stones.
 
I see. I don’t know if I ruined that one or not. The others seem to be fine and got two of my knives to a very sharp edge in short time. I just don’t know if I should put oil on any of them or water. I used water last night briefly.
 
There are a lot of threads here on oil vs water.
I don't actually use that razor stone; it was my grand father's and I keep it around just for that reason.
I have used honing "oil" in the past before I knew what I was doing. Now I only use water, even on hard Arkansas stones. Be aware to use real honing oil and not just machine oil etc.
Actual honing oil is closer to kerosene (a solvent) than machine oil. In fact kerosene works just fine. I just don't want the smell in the house and there is a lot to be said for being able to take a loaded up stone over to the sink and rinse / scrub it under running water to clean the pores.

As far as I can tell the biggest argument for using oil over water is if you are sharpening blades that rust really easily then the oil won't rust the blades.
What ever. I and millions of Japanese (to name a few) sharpen plain high carbon (rust prone) steel on water stones everyday and all is right with the world.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top