Arkansas Oil Stones Oil Usage

[Tom M King]

Out of desperation, when I was young and poor, I used bacon grease once. It worked fine that morning, and using some other lighter oil later floated all that away.

The few times I've ever cleaned the oil stones I've used carb cleaner. The carb cleaner cleaned them so well that I found out what I had bought as a Black, in probably 1974, was really a translucent. These stones all work as good as they ever have.

[Rafael Herrera]

Unrefined mineral oil contains carcinogens and other toxic chemicals. Food grade or laxative mineral oil has been refined to remove these unwanted compounds. The CAS number (an ID used in the industry to identify chemicals) of food grade mineral oil is 8042-47-5. It's the same ingredient listed in the MSDS sheet of Norton's honing oil. Stew might be able to dispel the notion that if two products have the same CAS number, then they are the same thing.

My mineral oil is thin enough for my needs, so I don't really feel compelled to thin it. On the other hand 3 in 1 or neatsfoot oil, those two feel a bit too thick, and smelly. Not offensively smelly, but I rather use mineral oil.

Sometime ago I got some kerosene. I'm not a stranger to it, we used it a lot when I was a kid. I don't remember the smell being so strong, but using it in my basement workshop was a no go. Not the least because the odor would migrate to the rest of the house and cause my wife to complain. I've heard there are other grades of kerosene, but for me, it's not worth the effort to get it.

[Mark Leifer]

A stew, that’s a wonderful education. Thank you for sharing it. (Ever since childhood , I’ve wondered what Neat’s foot referred to.)

[Warren Mickley]

There is a difference between purifying and refining. Purifying means getting rid of impurities that are not oils to make it safe for skin or consumption or what ever. Refining means narrowing the molecular weight or boiling point to a certain range. Mineral oil which is not crude oil has been refined. the more volatile stuff like gasoline components and mineral spirits and the heavier stuff like tar are removed in the refining process. A highly refined oil has has components in a tight range of molecular weights and is more expensive.

When I was a teenager, I bought a 1/4 ounce of mineral oil for $1, minimum hourly wage at the time. It was clock oil. You did not want it to spread away from the bearing or gum up, etc. In order to get stuff in a tight range you need to do more refining steps. That same oil today is made synthetically, but is still around $15 an ounce.

[Haitham Jaber]

There is a difference between purifying and refining. Purifying means getting rid of impurities that are not oils to make it safe for skin or consumption or what ever. Refining means narrowing the molecular weight or boiling point to a certain range. Mineral oil which is not crude oil has been refined. the more volatile stuff like gasoline components and mineral spirits and the heavier stuff like tar are removed in the refining process. A highly refined oil has has components in a tight range of molecular weights and is more expensive.

When I was a teenager, I bought a 1/4 ounce of mineral oil for $1, minimum hourly wage at the time. It was clock oil. You did not want it to spread away from the bearing or gum up, etc. In order to get stuff in a tight range you need to do more refining steps. That same oil today is made synthetically, but is still around $15 an ounce.

Stew .... thank you so much for sharing your experience.
Warren ... what do you men by made synthetically. Are they not still derivate of hydrocarbures?

Yes 3-in-one has a smell to it (for me a nice smell) anyway I read somewhere that they add anti-corrosion additives

thx ^^

[Haitham Jaber]

I migh go a bit off topic but I would like to ask you two questions:

1. First, as I understood if i use them often it's not a problem but if I there's a period that I know I'm not gonna use them I should clean them with some refined solvent like odorless mineral spirit, unless I've used mineral oil on them and wipe them down. Anyway on Dan's whetstone website they say this: "Whetstones should be cleaned after each use by rubbing a liberal amount of honing oil onto the stone and then wiping the excess honing oil away with a clean cloth". Anyway they define their honing oil as a light mineral oil

2. I own the soft hard and black 8x3. I would like to add a translucent (even if it's similar to the black). I see on their online store they have the 10 and 12 inches long. For my woodworking and knife care also with waterstones I've always used the 8 lenght. Do you know any practical reason why a 10 and 12 would be better. I'm at the start of my crafts journey, so I might not see some useful uses that I may need in the future.

I've seen Schwarz using a 10 inches oilstone on roy underhill handplane essentials and it's just a precious thing

^^

[Rafael Herrera]

This pamphlet was published around 1900. It has some marketing language in there, but I think in general it can be used as reference. The advice is basically keep them clean and with some oil on them. That last part, to not allow the stone to "dry" because it can harden. I wonder about the rationale for that.

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?...iew=2up&seq=20

The oils available in that period were not as light as what we have today, so issues of glazing and gumming were common. The last section promotes a non-drying oil manufactured by Norton, but there are no details about what it was.

On a side note, I've always been curious about the sperm whale oil that was common at that time. I found very little online about its properties. Somewhere I found that it was very light, odorless and non-drying. It's been banned for a while so it cannot be purchased commercially. I've seen auctions on ebay of old bottles with some oil left in them, but they usually sell for a couple of hundred dollars for a couple of ounces. Not worth the risk to buy.

Does anybody remember using it in their misguided youth?

[Haitham Jaber]

Thank you Rafael

Nice little document there. I love them. Call me Romantic ^^

Luckily they stopped using whale oil. Unfortunately we're still depaupering mother earth for our petrol based oil... that I use too.
I should transition to natural oils in the future. When I'll be brave enough. I wonder if camelia works well on oil stones. I bet yes

^^

[Rafael Herrera]

2. I own the soft hard and black 8x3. I would like to add a translucent (even if it's similar to the black). I see on their online store they have the 10 and 12 inches long. For my woodworking and knife care also with waterstones I've always used the 8 lenght. Do you know any practical reason why a 10 and 12 would be better. I'm at the start of my crafts journey, so I might not see some useful uses that I may need in the future.

I've seen Schwarz using a 10 inches oilstone on roy underhill handplane essentials and it's just a precious thing ^^

A bigger stone is just very cool. For chisels, plane irons and knives, I don't think it's going to be of much advantage. 8x2x1 is kind of the sweet spot for a bench stone.

I once found an Norton 8x2x1 hard Arkansas. I sold it to a guy that really really wanted one. I already had several hard Arkansas, 7 x 2 x 1/2, and told myself I didn't really needed it. Big mistake, I regret selling it, lol.

Sold hard ark.
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What I occasionally use, a 7 x 2 x 1/2". The nail is in there so the phone could focus.
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Get the biggest stone you can get away with. The ones that are 1" thick will allow you to fit them comfortably in their own boxes. You can go loco making nice boxes for them.
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[John C Cox]

I doubt I've gone through a whole pint of honing oil in my entire life. The little, bitty bottles are so convenient, and they last me years... The good stuff doesn't stink, turn gummy, or stain everything it touches. I guess I just don't begrudge them the $1.00 profit for packaging it conveniently and getting it on the shelves where I shop.

[Haitham Jaber]

Thank you all ^^