Thread: What stones do you use oil on

Im wondering what stones you guys are using oil on? Ones you cant use oil on? What oil your using that does not cause a problem with the hone? One suggested White Diamond sewing oil.

I dont want to damage my hone and make it an oil only hone. I would like to use oil and be able to wash the stone with no residue left.

Thanks Rene

What kind of hone are we talking about?

I've tried sewing machine oil on several stones but the only ones that I found where oil works better than water is on my Arkies. I should also say that I haven't really tried any of the other traditional oil stones. Oil on a polished c12k works but does no better job than water. I haven't tried that stone in a while to see if it could still be used with water. That particular c12k was one of the lower "grit" phigs out there and I was trying to see if the oil made it more of a finisher.

I only use oil on one of my stones.
That stone is a Charnley Forest.
I've only used one kind of oil on it, and that is a sewing machine oil.
The edges off of that stone is quite awesome on the right razors

Back when I was using washitas , and hard Arkansas for my knives , and tools , I used honing oil . I spent a lot of money on honing oil . Then about 20 years ago I read an article in a magazine , saying water worked better on these stones . I cleaned the oil off my hard Arkie , tried it with water , and found it worked better . I haven't used oil since then . The only hone that you NEED to use oil on , are the hones that come from the manufacturer already pre-soaked in oil . Such as the Norton India hones .

I have used mineral oil (as that is what I have) on a dragons tongue hone and a coticule (no slurry) both showed a marginal improvement of the edge vs just using water and both cleaned up with soap and water without problem.

Mineral oil on cotis,makes for a darn good edge IMO,and it washes right off with soap and water.

Originally Posted by Birnando

I only use oil on one of my stones.
That stone is a Charnley Forest.
I've only used one kind of oil on it, and that is a sewing machine oil.
The edges off of that stone is quite awesome on the right razors

That's such a true story, how it depends on the razor. Originally, the only razor I had was one that wasn't even mine. It was my dad's that he lent me until I knew I was going to stick with it. So, all I had was a norton 4/8. Then I joined this site and started buying more razors and using that stone on them, and the end result for each was relatively close to the same. But! After joining this site, I started reading about finishers and all that jazz, so I bought a few. There's a legend about samurai swords that says that each sword has one stone that is perfect for it... like its soulmate. I'm pretty sure that's an ancient reference to different razor sharp instruments working best with certain finishers, for sure. I've enjoyed the hell out of the whole finisher adventure though... it's fun to find out which combination works best for which razor. The only stone I use oil on is a Llyn Idwal. I use Case brand honing oil, which was only about 2.99 a bottle, so its pretty cheap. It's a night and day difference between that and water, though.

I'll be honest, I know there are a lot of people who don't like to use oil on stones, because once you do, it's hard to go back... but I don't understand why that's a big deal. Oilstones always work better with oil, so I don't know why you'd even need to use anything else ever again.

Originally Posted by nun2sharp

What kind of hone are we talking about?

I was interested in what you use it on. I have a Thuri/escher, C12K and barber hones.