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Thread: Do oil stones need to be "broken in"?

  1. #16
    Dan's Whetstones will resurface oil stones for around $25. They do a nice job.

  2. I have both hard black and soft Arkansas stones I bought from dans years back. I dress them very regularly with an extra course DMT diamond stone. Works fantastic. Highly recommend this to anyone. I could never imagine not doing this. I would imagine after a while it would take forever to sharpen anything. I also use a 50/50 mix of mineral oil and kerosene as honing oil which also helps keep the stones clean.

  3. #18
    There are folks who say you should never dress an oil stone, and there are others who insist that the stones be dressed every time you use them. Over time I've come to believe that these positions are dogmatic and unhelpful. A freshly abraded stone will cut quickly but may scratch too deep for the desired use. Conversely, a stone that has not been abraded will produce very shallow scratches but will cut very slowly and is unlikely to be as flat as one might want. Between these two extremes there is a large sweet spot.
    For most of my sharpening I use a coarse Washita followed by a trans Ark from Dan's (I used to use a fine India, but the Washita has mostly replaced it). I abrade the Washita frequently; at least once a week. The trans stone, on the other hand, gets abraded much less frequently. It doesn't make sense to treat all stones the same; you want the coarse stone to cut quickly, and the fine stone to cut more slowly.
    "For me, chairs and chairmaking are a means to an end. My real goal is to spend my days in a quiet, dustless shop doing hand work on an object that is beautiful, useful and fun to make." --Peter Galbert

  4. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by Steve Voigt View Post
    There are folks who say you should never dress an oil stone, and there are others who insist that the stones be dressed every time you use them. Over time I've come to believe that these positions are dogmatic and unhelpful. A freshly abraded stone will cut quickly but may scratch too deep for the desired use. Conversely, a stone that has not been abraded will produce very shallow scratches but will cut very slowly and is unlikely to be as flat as one might want. Between these two extremes there is a large sweet spot.
    For most of my sharpening I use a coarse Washita followed by a trans Ark from Dan's (I used to use a fine India, but the Washita has mostly replaced it). I abrade the Washita frequently; at least once a week. The trans stone, on the other hand, gets abraded much less frequently. It doesn't make sense to treat all stones the same; you want the coarse stone to cut quickly, and the fine stone to cut more slowly.

    What do you use to abrade your stones?

  5. #20
    Join Date
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    Quote Originally Posted by Günter VögelBerg View Post
    In an effort to spend less time stropping I bought a "black surgical Arkansas" stone. I've never actually had a new natural stone before. This stone seems to be anything but "surgical" and leaves a fairly rough finish. Should I expect the stone to be smooth in the beginning or do I need to do something to lap it? It was a $100 stone, so it's not like I bought a cheap one.
    A black Ark should be glass-smooth from the supplier.

  6. #21
    Quote Originally Posted by Günter VögelBerg View Post
    What do you use to abrade your stones?

    Until a few months ago, I used loose silicon carbide grit on a sheet of glass, with some WD-40. The virtue of this method is that it's cheap. You can still find a pound of 80 grit silicon carbide powder for $5 on ebay (search for "80 grit silicon carbide lapidary"). A glass shop will probably give you a sample piece free, or for a few bucks at most.
    You can also buy the powder from Lee Valley, though it's more expensive. They also have glass and plastic laminate sheets that will save the glass from wearing out.
    Eventually I got tired of the hassle and mess, and bought a 400 grit Atoma stone. It does a very nice job. Either method works, it's just a question of how much you want to spend.
    "For me, chairs and chairmaking are a means to an end. My real goal is to spend my days in a quiet, dustless shop doing hand work on an object that is beautiful, useful and fun to make." --Peter Galbert

  7. #22
    This one?

    https://www.amazon.com/Atoma-Diamond...01558766&psc=1

    Would it be useful to abrade the fine oil stones on coarser oil stones? I have some very coarse manufactured oil stones.

    I am unsure how to analyze the effectiveness of these methods.

  8. #23
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    It may be a good idea to ensure one's oilstones actually have a problem before trying to correct it. Will Rogers once said, "If it ain't broke, don't try fixing it."

    My softest oilstones, after approximately a half century of use, do show signs of being slightly out of flat. Any of my problems with oilstones have been more attributable to errors by the user than the oilstone.

    jtk
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

  9. #24
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    Quote Originally Posted by Günter VögelBerg View Post
    This one?

    https://www.amazon.com/Atoma-Diamond...01558766&psc=1

    Would it be useful to abrade the fine oil stones on coarser oil stones? I have some very coarse manufactured oil stones.

    I am unsure how to analyze the effectiveness of these methods.
    Some of the reviews claims that it is NOT what it claims to be.... One review claims that it is just the replacement sheet, for example. Perhaps that was sent in error.

    The latest reviews all seem to be happy with it. So, if you order it and it does not seem correct, especially with Amazon Prime, mark it as a problem and return it, they pay for the return shipping.

    And yes, that describes the correct one.

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