Ohishi Waterstones? D-O-N-T soak? Or no need to soak?

[Erich Weidner]

I tried a few of the Ohishi water stones at a LN event, and bought a few. Just finally got around to using them last month. I bought the 1000 and 10,000 but decided I wanted something in between.

Going to LN's site I now see the instructions "do not soak these waterstones" in the product description. Now, I didn't see that before I soaked my stones (and I usually store them in the water). I can't find the manufacturer's website, the stones came with no instructions.

As far as I can tell the stones are not damaged from submersion. But it begs the question, will they be damaged or not work as well if they are soaked? Or is it just that they don't *need* to be soaked beforehand?

Given that I now have a set of 5 grits of these, I'd like to ensure I don't misuse/abuse them.

Cheers,
-Erich

[Ray Bohn]

Since I am a hobbyist with too many hobbies, I find that my Ohishi stones tend to dry out to the point that they immediately suck up any amount that I spray on them.

I contacted LN and they suggested that I soak them for a few minutes. I cannot find their email with the suggested soak time, so I suggest that you contact them. I soak them for 1-3 minutes if needed.

[Tony Shea]

Typically non soak stones can actually be permanently damaged by softening up the binder. That is true with the Shapton Pro's but am not sure about the Ohishi's. I would personally not store them in water and only soak them 5 minutes prior to use. That is how I treat my Shapton Pro's and they work wonderfully that way. But sometimes a sharpening need arises and I just splash them and they still work fine, just not as nice to use this way but produces a great edge either way.