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Thread: Oil Stones? Help Identifying.

  1. #1
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    Oil Stones? Help Identifying.

    These came from my Father's garage, they could be from my Grandfather (who did some woodworking), or the prior owner of the house. No way to know now.

    So the box of one of these labeled Carborundum is clearly an oil stone (as the back of the box instructs to use oil).

    2020-08-08 00.29.34.jpg 2020-08-08 00.29.43.jpg... very dished out.

    And this one:
    2020-08-08 00.26.09.jpg2020-08-08 00.26.26.jpg

  2. #2
    Quote Originally Posted by Erich Weidner View Post
    These came from my Father's garage, they could be from my Grandfather (who did some woodworking), or the prior owner of the house. No way to know now.

    So the box of one of these labeled Carborundum is clearly an oil stone (as the back of the box instructs to use oil).

    2020-08-08 00.29.34.jpg 2020-08-08 00.29.43.jpg... very dished out.

    And this one:
    2020-08-08 00.26.09.jpg2020-08-08 00.26.26.jpg
    Erich,

    The Carborundum is pretty easy . It also shows what happens when you do not use the whole stone to sharpen. The other looks like a dual grade India, my guess one side Med the other fine. Add a strop and you have a complete sharpening system.

    ken

  3. #3
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    The first one looks like a carborundum stone. Norton made those so it may be pre-Norton or a second brand. It is man made stone. They tend to cut fast. It looks to have a light side and a dark side. Not sure if that is just a stain or if one side is coarser than the other.

    The second looks like a two sided India stone. India stone is a Norton trade name for aluminum oxide sharpening stones.

    Though my carborundum stones are occasionally put to use, my India bench stone usually sits idle. Some of my India stone slips and speciality stones do come in handy.

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

  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by ken hatch View Post
    Erich,

    The Carborundum is pretty easy . It also shows what happens when you do not use the whole stone to sharpen. The other looks like a dual grade India, my guess one side Med the other fine. Add a strop and you have a complete sharpening system.

    ken
    But what is Carborundum? Dual grade India... what is that in waterstone grit speak?

    Flatten with the same methods as waterstones?

  5. #5
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    You can tell a lot just by touch.
    Run your finger over the sides of the stones.

    Start with the roughest, finish with the smoothest.

    Strop until it shines.

  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Matthews View Post
    You can tell a lot just by touch.
    Run your finger over the sides of the stones.

    Start with the roughest, finish with the smoothest.

    Strop until it shines.
    Jim,

    You cut to the chase . Pretty much tells the story of sharpening.

    Erich,

    Waterstones have made us "grit crazy", the grit makes no never mind, For getting a great working edge I'd add a Black Arkansas as a polishing stone to the two synthetic stones and you would be set.

    To kinda answer your question the course stone would be around 100 grit and the fine stone 300 to 400 grit.

    ken

  7. #7
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    There are many different grit comparison charts available. They do not always agree on different aspects of how an abrasive particle is measured.

    Here is one:

    GritComparison-Feb-23-10-1.pdf

    And another:

    Grand Logarithmic Grit Chart.jpg

    The second one doesn't cover oilstones.

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

  8. #8
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    I'm not trying to be flip about this.

    Most of my oilstones came from the local flea market, unidentified. After flattening them, the tops felt the same.
    (I used the same plate to flatten all.)

    The "raw" sides were a good estimate of (relative) roughness.

  9. #9
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    Do you flatten these the same as waterstones? i.e. can I just use my DMT diamond plate? Or would this cause issues with flatting waterstones after.

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by Erich Weidner View Post
    Do you flatten these the same as waterstones? i.e. can I just use my DMT diamond plate? Or would this cause issues with flatting waterstones after.
    Erich,

    I would start off on something like a cinder block to get it close, then the diamond plate to finish. Any time you flatten a course stone your flattening plate will wear faster than when working on a fine stone.

    ken

  11. #11
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    I would just use the undisturbed side of the Carborundum stone. It's so far out of flat on the dished side as to be pointless. (They're inexpensive, and your time is irreplaceable. )

    Get a "file brush" to keep your Diamond plate clean.
    I use WD40 and that makes a handy solvent, too.

    Flatten stones in reverse order - from fine to coarse.

  12. #12
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    Carborundum is Silicon Carbide, usually called Crystolon (Norton brand), one of the hardest / fastest materials for sharpening. These usually leave a rougher surface and cut the fastest.

    https://www.sharpeningsupplies.com/W...Stone-W25.aspx

    That said Saint Gobain Abrasives uses "Carborundum". Every time I see a Saint Gobain stone, it includes "Norton" so they may be related in some way these days.
    https://www.carbo.com/en-us/sharpening-stones

    That indeed looks to be a course / fine stone. They work very well when you want to shape something quickly. If I wanted to purchase a new one, I would get something like this for $24 delivered:

    https://www.amazon.com/Norton-Abrasi.../dp/B00CQ884UW

    The other stone is an India stone that uses Aluminum Oxide. This does not cut as fast but leaves a finer finish. Often you see a combination Crystolon / India stone

  13. #13
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    This is a good question.

    *IF* the same plate is used, scrub oily residue off with Simple Green or some concentrated soap before flattening a waterstone.

    DON'T DO THIS IN YOUR KITCHEN SINK.

  14. #14
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    OK. So the reason I was trying to figure out what I had was due to spousal request. She asked "Do you have an oil stone I could use?"
    "Well, I have some stones in a bag from my grandfather that I've never used. Pretty sure they are oil stones", I said.

    Just watched the video of her hobby so I understand what she wanted. The goal is to sharpen calligraphy pen nibs. The instructor is using a hard Arkansas stone (Norton brand I see) with water to sharpen these nibs.

    Can you use water with an oil stone? I'm assuming the reason he uses water is for not mucking with the ink the nib will be flowing later (I have no idea, but would guess oil residue might be a problem).
    Hard Arkansas is a fine stone as I recall. Makes sense for the teeny bit of metal being removed.

    I'm further assuming that there is reason not to use a water stone, just probably that the whole setup of soaking/flattening/mess is why this gentleman is using water on an oil stone. I'm also guessing that if there is a problem using oil stones with water (clogging pores?) given how little stone is being used... it maybe isn't a problem.

    Either way, my oil stones are not what she needs. But maybe I should buy her a small one if just using water is fine and easy.
    Or would the dual sided India stone work?
    Last edited by Erich Weidner; 08-17-2020 at 1:42 AM.

  15. #15
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    Eric,

    I would not use my diamond stones to flatten those. They will be tough on the diamond plate by going after the nickel that holds the diamonds.

    I asked the same question a few years ago, and was advised to go flatten on the sidewalk.......which I did. Took a while but did get to a workable degree of flatness.

    Stew

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