Old school stones

[Richard Hutchings]

Yup, oil stones. Like most of you, I've tried all the sharpening systems and found they all work. I settled on 1k and 8k Shapton's and have been using them for years. I somehow lost all my oil stones in a move about five years ago. At some point between now and then, I found a nice black stone at a yard sale and and finally took it out this morning.

I checked it for flatness and of course, it was not. Dished out lengthwise pretty flat side to side. So I started flattening it using 120 grit PSA on granite and after about 10 minutes I had it flat enough. I sharpened another yard sale item, a 1" Sears plastic handled chisel. When I was done and after stropping, I could find no difference in sharpness or speed. Not a very scientific test but good enough for me to start thinking about returning to oil stones. I'll be on the look out for more of these cast offs from the good old days.

Oil on my tools, automatically!

[Luke Dupont]

I love old school oil stones.

I use Arkansas Stones and Vintage Washitas for 90% of my sharpening needs. Diamond stones are in the mix for rough grinding and removing chips, and occasionally I play with cheap Jnats and a host of other stones just for fun.

But, my go to is oil stones. Like you, I do not notice any difference in speed (especially if you keep them clean and freshen up the surface with a diamond stone on occasion to keep the coarser ones cutting fast), and my tools simply never rust because they're always oiled automatically.

Furthermore, and another one of the big reasons I prefer them, is that they don't require a sink.

I think the main difference between waterstones and oilstones, which gives people the impression that the former is superior, is simply because they take better care of their waterstones, keeping them clean and dressed with every sharpening, but leave their oil stones to wear out and clog up. Not exactly comparing apples to apples.

[Richard Hutchings]

I have no idea what this black stone is or who made it. I see some black ones going for close to $300, I'm sure this isn't one of them. I also feel like sharp is sharp and anything more gets diminishing returns. One swipe through the wood and your back to whatever this stone sharpened to. Can't prove that but I believe it.

[Luke Dupont]

I have no idea what this black stone is or who made it. I see some black ones going for close to $300, I'm sure this isn't one of them. I also feel like sharp is sharp and anything more gets diminishing returns. One swipe through the wood and your back to whatever this stone sharpened to. Can't prove that but I believe it.

It's a really fine and hard stone, right? Probably a Black Arkansas.

It sounds like you've got a really nice stone that is likely every bit as good as those $300 ones you mention.

My favourite finishing stone is a little 2" x 4" blue black Arkansas. I bought it on ebay for really cheap. It had a few tiny chips along the edge on one side, and also a discolored "brown" splotch in one corner. But it's an absolutely incredible stone, and leaves a finer edge than any other finishing stone that I've come across. I use it not just on my tools, but on my razors and it works great.

So, short story, price means very little! Especially when you buy things second hand. The sellers sometimes don't have a clue what it is, and you can score some amazing stones / tools / what have you. Of course, for every incredible deal, there's a good number of sellers who thinking their truly junk/unrestorable hunk of rust is worth a fortune.

[Rafael Herrera]

If you were able to get rid of the dishing in only 10 minutes, it's unlikely to be a black hard arkansas.

[Richard Hutchings]

It's kind of brownish now.

[Rafael Herrera]

Maybe an India. They're not terrible, as you noted, it gave you a good edge.

[Kevin Adams]

I love old school oil stones.

I use Arkansas Stones and Vintage Washitas for 90% of my sharpening needs. Diamond stones are in the mix for rough grinding and removing chips, and occasionally I play with cheap Jnats and a host of other stones just for fun.

But, my go to is oil stones. Like you, I do not notice any difference in speed (especially if you keep them clean and freshen up the surface with a diamond stone on occasion to keep the coarser ones cutting fast), and my tools simply never rust because they're always oiled automatically.

Furthermore, and another one of the big reasons I prefer them, is that they don't require a sink.

I think the main difference between waterstones and oilstones, which gives people the impression that the former is superior, is simply because they take better care of their waterstones, keeping them clean and dressed with every sharpening, but leave their oil stones to wear out and clog up. Not exactly comparing apples to apples.

Hi Luke,

Curious if you use Japanese chisels and do you use oil stone on them? I use a Lily white washita and Dan’s hard black on my Japanese chisels and they work just fine, although I guess not “preferred” by the purists. I don’t think I would use diamond on my Japanese chisels as I’m concerned they would be too harsh.

Thanks.
Kevin

[Jim Koepke]

My preference used to be for using water stones. Though there isn't running water in my shop.

During the winter water would freeze in the shop so using oilstones was often necessary.

At a gem & mineral show one dealer had some pieces of stone for a dollar each. It appeared to be a translucent Arkansas stone. They knew it was from Arkansas and one of the folks at the booth thought it was a type of flint and said some of the knife people bought it for sharpening knives. The other guy at the booth thought is was some odd name like novaculite. Well two bucks worth of it came home with me. One of them was a big hunk with three sides flat and the rest just a mass of rock. It does a great job on edges. One of the pieces was given to my grandson for his tools.

Since then a full set of Dan's Whetstones has been purchased along with few other stones here and there. So now, most of my sharpening is done on oilstones.

jtk

[Luke Dupont]

Maybe an India. They're not terrible, as you noted, it gave you a good edge.

Right, I just noticed the comment about flattening it in 10 minutes. Maybe not a black Arkansas.

India's are great too, just as good as any other Aluminium Oxide stone. There's a small chance it could be some kind of Washita maybe, if it looks like a natural stone.

If he can post pictures, some of us can guess perhaps.

Hi Luke,

Curious if you use Japanese chisels and do you use oil stone on them? I use a Lily white washita and Dan’s hard black on my Japanese chisels and they work just fine, although I guess not “preferred” by the purists. I don’t think I would use diamond on my Japanese chisels as I’m concerned they would be too harsh.

Thanks.
Kevin

I do use Japanese chisels, and oil stones work great on them! I really like using my oil stones on Japanese steel. Not only does it prevent rust (which Japanese steel tends to be prone to), but they cut quite nicely. With really hard steels, I've actually had my hardware store variety Jnats be unable to remove scratches from my coarser synthetic stone, whilst my Arks and Washitas were still up to the task. So, they're at least as good if not better than inexpensive / common Jnats (Amakusa, Binsui, and whatever those really common green natural koppa finishing stones are called which are often sold online and at places like Tokyu Hands just as "tennen koppa".)

Diamond stones also work on most Japanese steels. I have had a really hard plane iron that chipped really badly on a diamond stone. But the vast majority of my Japanese chisels and plane irons work just fine on them. You do have to be somewhat more careful about them and maybe have more stones in the progression though, as it can be more work to remove deep scratches on Japanese steel, and I'm sure that some micro-chipping may occur at the edge, depending on the tool and the hardness. India stones also work just fine on Japanese tool steel and may be a better option to, or good transition from diamond stones.

[Kevin Adams]

Thanks, Luke, I love how the Japanese chisels feel and sharpen on my oil stones, too. Some will say that you need to only use water stones, but I’m of the camp that the tool really doesn’t know the difference, it just knows what sharp is. At least I’ve stopped buying stones I think, they do become addictive!

Kevin

[William Lessenberry]

The other guy at the booth thought is was some odd name like novaculite.

Novaculite is the name of the mineral that Arkansas stones are made of. It is blasted out of the ground in small quarries in the Hot Springs area of Arkansas, then cut and machined into blocks and other forms for use in sharpening. Novaculite and crystal mines are neat places to visit if you're ever in the area. We also have a diamond mine in Murfreesboro where you can hunt for diamonds and keep what you find.
BillL

[Richard Coers]

I started woodworking before water stones came to America. It takes a minute to keep them flat, no oil on sharpening station, and incredibly fast sharpening. I consider them far superior and will never go back.