Sharpening stone or?

[Sean Troy]

Hi all, I have an oil stone to sharpen chisels and plane blades but was wondering if there is a better way. Oil stone seems to get clogged and dirty so fast. Thanks, Sean

[Harold Burrell]

oooh...you need to check out the Neander side of the forum. This question is something that comes up often (to say the least).

WARNING: Be ready for a LOT of differing opinions. :D

[Sean Troy]

oooh...you need to check out the Neander side of the forum. This question is something that comes up often (to say the least).

WARNING: Be ready for a LOT of differing opinions. :D
Will do, thanks

[Dave Cullen]

Yup, lots of opinions.

I use Arkansas stones and I wash them in warm soapy water at the end of a session. Been doing that for 30 years and never had a problem with clogging.

I've recently acquired a set of water stones for sharpening kitchen knives and some day I'll give them a try for the woodworking tools. But I don't have a sink in the workshop, so keeping the bench dry is gonna be a challenge.

[Matthew N. Masail]

Check out the thread about ceramic stones, but beware of the rabbit hole.

[David Weaver]

Sean, what does the stone look like? A novaculite stone (a natural oilstone) should never load if it is used with oil or any other appropriate fluid. Some of the synthetic stones will load, though.

If you have a picture, that would focus the discussion somewhat.

[David Weaver]

A brief warning about the conduct in this forum, though. I'll liken how sharpening questions go with a clothing analogy:

you: I bought this shirt today, I don't think it fits quite right, what do you think?

Response #1 from forum members: you can get by with it
" #2 - the shoes are wrong
" #3 - I would never wear those shoes, that shirt, or that belt that you're wearing in public....and your shirt sucks, too
" #4 - I went to work for 40 years as a professional and never worried about what #2 or #3 said, it didn't affect me
" #5 - I'm pretty sure the tanning process in your belt wasn't done properly
" #6 - poster #3 is a jerk (followed by an exchange between 6 and 3 that gets a thread temporarily locked, and draws in dogpilers from several other forums - and then a blogger or two tells the world they're unhappy with SMC)
" #7 - (thread is unlocked) post accusing everyone being a jerk after moderators warn. A couple of member show pictures of a bunch of tools that are completely unrelated to a thread. One more jerk post... (thread is permanently locked)

And you go back to sharpening with your stone.

[Sean Troy]

Sean, what does the stone look like? A novaculite stone (a natural oilstone) should never load if it is used with oil or any other appropriate fluid. Some of the synthetic stones will load, though.

If you have a picture, that would focus the discussion somewhat.
What I have is a cheap oil stone I don't even know what it's made from. I need to find out what I should get so I can hone and put a good edge on my chisels and plane blades. I realize this may open a can of worms....;)

[David Weaver]

Well, if you have an india/carborundum stone that's coarse, we'll be able to tell you pretty much whether or not it has the potential to do anything productive. It probably costs about 50 bucks to be able to put a decent edge on something, but it can do it on everything in your house (scissors, kitchen knives, etc). I gather by your picture that you're a turner - you might find use for some hand honing on your tools, especially the skew.

[Sean Troy]

Well, if you have an india/carborundum stone that's coarse, we'll be able to tell you pretty much whether or not it has the potential to do anything productive. It probably costs about 50 bucks to be able to put a decent edge on something, but it can do it on everything in your house (scissors, kitchen knives, etc). I gather by your picture that you're a turner - you might find use for some hand honing on your tools, especially the skew.

Turning days are pretty much behind me now. I've been doing flat work mostly and I'm trying to learn a bit more with planes and chisels. Money is kind of an object so a reasonable price to get me going with sharpening is what I'm looking for. What are we looking at in the 50.00 range? thanks, Sean

[David Weaver]

A decent 1000 grit stone and some loose 1 micron diamonds. Might be a hair over 50 bucks, but it would be sharp and fast.

Presume you already have a grinder from turning?

[Sean Troy]

A decent 1000 grit stone and some loose 1 micron diamonds. Might be a hair over 50 bucks, but it would be sharp and fast.

Presume you already have a grinder from turning?
Yes, I have a grinder with good wheels. Any brand stone in particular?

[David Weaver]

Yes, I have a grinder with good wheels. Any brand stone in particular?

It ultimately doesn't matter if the point is just sharpness. Shapton pro 1000 (no soak), bester 1200 (soak), ezelap 8x3 600 (dry-diamonds).

Used to be you could get a king 800 for 20 bucks. Not a great stone, but does do its job. Somehow, that ended.

[Sean Troy]

It ultimately doesn't matter if the point is just sharpness. Shapton pro 1000 (no soak), bester 1200 (soak), ezelap 8x3 600 (dry-diamonds).

Used to be you could get a king 800 for 20 bucks. Not a great stone, but does do its job. Somehow, that ended.

Thanks David, I appreciate the help, Sean

[Robert Eiffert]

If your stone has been hanging around for awhile it may just need a good cleaning to get it back to snuff. Hot soapy water like Dave Cullen says works well, esp with soak and scrub and changing water.

Also using paint thinner (mineral spirits or eco version) also works Again with soak, scrub and change.

Then a soak overnight to fill the pores with a thin oil.

Then just a few drops when you use it followed by a wiping with a clean cloth.

The oil is lubricating, it is filling the pores so the metal doesn't clog and limit the stone from presenting new abrasive.



Oilstones have worked well for centuries, there is new (and different) tech but then people still ride bicycles ( or walk). If a cleaning doesn't get your stone working, then you could start looking at $ for something different. Your stone MAY be coarser than optimum for extra sharp, but that's another issue to resolve after getting as good an edge as your current stone provides.




Hi all, I have an oil stone to sharpen chisels and plane blades but was wondering if there is a better way. Oil stone seems to get clogged and dirty so fast. Thanks, Sean

[Jim Koepke]

Hi all, I have an oil stone to sharpen chisels and plane blades but was wondering if there is a better way. Oil stone seems to get clogged and dirty so fast. Thanks, Sean

David already has asked about the stone. It would be good to have an image.

My next question would be what kind of oil are you using on the stone?

I bought a 3 oil stone set from Woodcraft about 10 years ago in the $40 range. It isn't the greatest, but sometimes I still use it.

You will likely get many responses to this question. Everyone seems to love spending other folks money.

I picked up an India stone at a flea market for a buck and it does pretty well for the price. It sometimes surprises me how fast it can put a good edge on a turning tool. For my plane irons a couple of hunks of novaculite I picked up for $1 each at a rock & mineral show work fine when oil sharpening is in season in my unheated shop.

Just recently bought a fine trans Ark slip stone from Dan's Whetstones. It wasn't cheap, but to me it is well worth the cost.

jtk

[Sean Troy]

David already has asked about the stone. It would be good to have an image.

My next question would be what kind of oil are you using on the stone?

I bought a 3 oil stone set from Woodcraft about 10 years ago in the $40 range. It isn't the greatest, but sometimes I still use it.

You will likely get many responses to this question. Everyone seems to love spending other folks money.

I picked up an India stone at a flea market for a buck and it does pretty well for the price. It sometimes surprises me how fast it can put a good edge on a turning tool. For my plane irons a couple of hunks of novaculite I picked up for $1 each at a rock & mineral show work fine when oil sharpening is in season in my unheated shop.

Just recently bought a fine trans Ark slip stone from Dan's Whetstones. It wasn't cheap, but to me it is well worth the cost.

jtk

The stone came with oil, and guide. Marples brand, I believe it was something like 14.00. At that price, you can see the quality most likely isn't there for a good edge.

[David Weaver]

Probably a hardware store aluminum oxide stone. They are pretty coarse, even the finer ones.

[bridger berdel]

David, a post like that was completely uncalled for. I'm shocked, shocked mind you to see you engaged in such unabashedly vicious trolling behavior. You should be immediately banned for life from the internet.





A brief warning about the conduct in this forum, though. I'll liken how sharpening questions go with a clothing analogy:

you: I bought this shirt today, I don't think it fits quite right, what do you think?

Response #1 from forum members: you can get by with it
" #2 - the shoes are wrong
" #3 - I would never wear those shoes, that shirt, or that belt that you're wearing in public....and your shirt sucks, too
" #4 - I went to work for 40 years as a professional and never worried about what #2 or #3 said, it didn't affect me
" #5 - I'm pretty sure the tanning process in your belt wasn't done properly
" #6 - poster #3 is a jerk (followed by an exchange between 6 and 3 that gets a thread temporarily locked, and draws in dogpilers from several other forums - and then a blogger or two tells the world they're unhappy with SMC)
" #7 - (thread is unlocked) post accusing everyone being a jerk after moderators warn. A couple of member show pictures of a bunch of tools that are completely unrelated to a thread. One more jerk post... (thread is permanently locked)

And you go back to sharpening with your stone.

[David Weaver]

That's a good one. It should've been in there as one of the #s :)

[Winton Applegate]

Oil stone or
Definitely or.

[Sean Troy]

Probably a hardware store aluminum oxide stone. They are pretty coarse, even the finer ones.

Feels as coarse as my 120 grit wheel on my bench grinder. I don't see me getting a holy crap that's sharp finish with it.

[Matthew N. Masail]

Bridger your a jerk if you don't have anything good to say than don't say anything !! (((-:

[Stew Denton]

David, you generally do a very through job on your comments, but you left out at the very least a couple. I don't know if you were just trying to illustrate in general how the board works, or to list every comment. After I stopped laughing I thought I should add a couple more possible posts that would go on the thread.

In my opinion, you left out one post which would be that the problem with the shirt was that it was from the Stanley clothing store on 604th street, and that those shirts never fit well, and that he should have bought the shirt from Millers clothing on 4th Falls street. His experience is that those shirts always fit better.

At which point someone else would chime in that the store didn't matter, but the key was the angle of the taper....the shirt should have a 25 degree taper, and if that angle was used then the source of the shirt did not matter.

At that point someone would add that they never went to the store on 604th street, because they had been chiseled once there, and that such store was mostly staffed by chiselers, and the shirts from 4th Falls street were just as good and a lot cheaper. At that point the topic would have been hijacked, and a discussion on chiselers running clothing stores and chiseling would have taken it over.

The poor guy never would find out that his was a cotton shirt and if he hadn't washed it in really hot water it would still fit.

Stew

[David Weaver]

There are definitely many I left out :)

* I left out comments from the shirt collectors about how some shirts were better than others (even though they do the same thing)
* I think I forgot comments about the pants. You know if someone came here with a question about a shirt, they'd get more answers about their pants
* I forgot the comment from the guy who doesn't wear shirts and who thinks it's a waste of time to talk about it

(I did get the fights, the unsolicited posts about unrelated tools or projects, the drawing of flies from other places, the obscure "you're wrong" no matter what post - without any explanation, and the general lack of any helpful comment about the shirt - the original request from the person requesting - that gets us a general feel for most threads. Of course there's one other type, and that's where someone asks a question about a shirt and everyone reads it and nobody responds because we're too lazy)

[David Weaver]

Feels as coarse as my 120 grit wheel on my bench grinder. I don't see me getting a holy crap that's sharp finish with it.

Yeah, you definitely won't. There are a lot of forks in the road that lead to various finer stones, and all of them will get you where you need to go, despite comments to the contrary.

I have a bit of a problem buying sharpening stones of various types, but the thing that makes them so interesting to me is that all of them work, and you can get quick and get a good routine with all of them.

[Adam Cruea]

There are definitely many I left out :)

* I left out comments from the shirt collectors about how some shirts were better than others (even though they do the same thing)
* I think I forgot comments about the pants. You know if someone came here with a question about a shirt, they'd get more answers about their pants
* I forgot the comment from the guy who doesn't wear shirts and who thinks it's a waste of time to talk about it

(I did get the fights, the unsolicited posts about unrelated tools or projects, the drawing of flies from other places, the obscure "you're wrong" no matter what post - without any explanation, and the general lack of any helpful comment about the shirt - the original request from the person requesting - that gets us a general feel for most threads. Of course there's one other type, and that's where someone asks a question about a shirt and everyone reads it and nobody responds because we're too lazy)


I found it an absolute riot and immediately thought "Oh oh! I can name those people by number now! :D"

And you forgot the few old farts on the board:

"In the past 50 years since I've worn and made shirts, I've never seen such abhorrent quality and disregard for craftsmanship."

[David Weaver]

I found it an absolute riot and immediately thought "Oh oh! I can name those people by number now! :D"

And you forgot the few old farts on the board:

"In the past 50 years since I've worn and made shirts, I've never seen such abhorrent quality and disregard for craftsmanship."

don't forget shirt design!!

[Pat Barry]

Congratulations, that shirt should get the job done for you. Great selection!

[David Weaver]

Congratulations, that shirt should get the job done for you. Great selection!

Blatant agreement...how tasteless!!

[Steve Voigt]

Old shirt makers didn't understand the exact chemical makeup of the fabrics they used, therefore vintage shirts can NEVER be as good as new shirts made by boutique premium shirt making companies.

[Tony Zaffuto]

David,

May I be the first to direct your clothing comments and subsequent questions to an appropriate men's clothing forum, by the name "Ask Andy". This is a legitimate forum, just don't go saying the name quickly around SWMBO, telling her about a great new site you've found.

T.Z.

[David Weaver]

Sounds expensive, Tony! I'm currently happily ignorant of style and buy clothes entirely on price. I'm afraid if I learned something about what made quality clothes, then I'd want quality clothes.

[daniel lane]

Sounds expensive, Tony! I'm currently happily ignorant of style and buy clothes entirely on price. I'm afraid if I learned something about what made quality clothes, then I'd want quality clothes.

David, I can't see your belt in your photo, but that purple shirt...I'm going to have to agree with Bridger.

[Adam Cruea]

don't forget shirt design!!

Also don't forget this type:

"In the past, how do you think they made a shirt? They didn't have pre-made thread. No, they went and picked the cotton or found a sheep, made their own thread, aged it, dyed it, stretched it, and made one.

They also made their own sewing needles out of bones."

[Winton Applegate]

Bridger your a jerk if you don't have anything good to say than don't say anything !! (((-:

Yah well . . . Mathew,

That's just YOUR opinion.
and by the way I STILL don't think the tanning process in the NEWly acquired replacement belt it right. No sir. Definitely sub standard.

(((( PS: :p ))))