Don C Peterson
09-10-2007, 5:54 PM
Hey,
About 6 months ago, I acquired a nice Hard Black Arkansas Stone. At first I just used oil and got good results, but it was really slow. I decided that oil was just too thick and basically allowed the blade to skim across the surface without getting cut, particularly when polishing the backs of chisels and plane irons.
So being the impatient sort I decided to try something else. I thought I'd read somewhere that water can be used on Arkansas stones, so I decided to try water on the other side of the stone (both sides are flat and smooth). The water allowed the stone to cut a bit faster, but I had problems with the blade skittering across the face.
I decided that the water side needed a bit more lubrication so I tried using a Nagura stone on it to generate a slurry. That did the trick, now I get a finish that I think is somewhere between a 6000 and 8000 Japanese waterstone, without the need to flatten all the time.
For the past several months this has been my final polishing stage, and quick honing stage for touchups. I have been quite happy with the results.
Has anyone else tried something similar? Am I missing something and maybe causing some kind of damage to the stone by using water? I haven't seen any signs of damage yet, but some of these things take time.
About 6 months ago, I acquired a nice Hard Black Arkansas Stone. At first I just used oil and got good results, but it was really slow. I decided that oil was just too thick and basically allowed the blade to skim across the surface without getting cut, particularly when polishing the backs of chisels and plane irons.
So being the impatient sort I decided to try something else. I thought I'd read somewhere that water can be used on Arkansas stones, so I decided to try water on the other side of the stone (both sides are flat and smooth). The water allowed the stone to cut a bit faster, but I had problems with the blade skittering across the face.
I decided that the water side needed a bit more lubrication so I tried using a Nagura stone on it to generate a slurry. That did the trick, now I get a finish that I think is somewhere between a 6000 and 8000 Japanese waterstone, without the need to flatten all the time.
For the past several months this has been my final polishing stage, and quick honing stage for touchups. I have been quite happy with the results.
Has anyone else tried something similar? Am I missing something and maybe causing some kind of damage to the stone by using water? I haven't seen any signs of damage yet, but some of these things take time.