Oil Stones, Do I need them?

[Jim Stewart]

As I continue my woodworking adventures I go through periods when I think I know a lot and then run into periods when I think I know very little. I am just starting to sharpen carving gouges, and blades for hollows and rounds. I have found that I cannot use the, "find the two edges of the hollow ground surface, and use them as a guide for freehand sharpening" I have studied the techniques for sharpening hollows and rounds and I am getting decent at sharpening those surfaces. Here is my question. I have read that Oil stones are the best for this kind of sharpening. I have read that water stones will mar easily using the side to side sweep. At this point I have been using a medium ceramic stone to start, switching to a fine diamond stone, and finishing with a Spyderco extra-fine Ceramic. I seems to work well. Do I need to add Oil Stones?

[David Weaver]

No, you have what you need.

You might want a multiform slip at some point. The norton trans slip is nice, but it's about $40 or $45 or something (no trans stuff is cheap, it is nice enough that I don't mind paying that for it).

You will find that oilstones work less well than the spydercos and are actually softer, albeit not enough to matter.

Examine your stropping situation, too. Stropping for maintenance of carving tools is a nice thing, as long as you don't get carried away and use a compound that's so slow and fine as to be worthless.

[Tony Zaffuto]

Having dozens of vintage stones, three Spyderco stones, complete compliment of waterstones and having onetime or another used all (well, except for all the oilstones, as I've turned into a stone accumulator), I fully agree with David's statement. On flat tools, such as chisels and plane blades, your Ultrafine stone should suffice without stropping. For carving tools, you may want to consider a charged, and then uncharged strop.

My current sharpening system is a vintage washita, then a vintage black arkansas and finally a green compound charged strop.

[Harold Burrell]

No, you have what you need.

You might want a multiform slip at some point. The norton trans slip is nice, but it's about $40 or $45 or something (no trans stuff is cheap, it is nice enough that I don't mind paying that for it).

You will find that oilstones work less well than the spydercos and are actually softer, albeit not enough to matter.

Examine your stropping situation, too. Stropping for maintenance of carving tools is a nice thing, as long as you don't get carried away and use a compound that's so slow and fine as to be worthless.

Man, Dave...one of these days I would sure like to hang out with you and just sharpen stuff...:)

[David Weaver]

haha...it would be like paint drying. I do like sharp things a lot, though, and think that there are a lot of things I used to throw away (old scissors, cheap knives, etc) that are pretty easy to clean up and maintain. Even a $1 pair of scissors can be very nice.

[Mark Baldwin III]

As I continue my woodworking adventures I go through periods when I think I know a lot and then run into periods when I think I know very little.
Ain't that the truth! That's when I get myself into trouble. Not too long ago, I thought I knew a thing or two about sharpening, and got reminded that I don't.
Anyway, during a conversation about sharpening (let's just say I was ranting about how much I dislike sandpaper) an individual far more experienced than I am told me the merits of "scary sharp" for those types of tools.
Fortunately, you probably have your bases covered with those harder stones. I need to learn how to sharpen carving tools and molding plane blades one of these days too.

[Jim Matthews]

I use dowels with a little sandpaper to sharpen the inside of gouges.

Same can be done with H&R blades.
I use a strop over a shop made block for larger sweeps.

http://paulsellers.com/2011/04/restoring-woodworking-gouges-project-2-part-1/

[Jim Stewart]

Wow! I like the sandpaper idea! you could have dowels made for different tools! I am off to watch the Paul Sellers video. Jim