Thread: Pros & Cons of Oil vs Water Hones?

Even with the blurry picture I know what that other stone is. It looks like a norton sharpening stone. I think around 320 grit on one side and I don't know on the other maybe 200 or something. That would be for if you have some serious nicks you need to get out but for really nothing else. They are really aggressive and I use to have one when I was a boy scout for sharpening my knives.

Don't know much about oil except the Arkansas stones are too rough

I own both Norton water stones and arkie oil stones. I can get a fine edge from my oil stone, and for me a better edge, however, I grew up using oil stones. The main difference between the two is the amount of time it takes on oil vs. water. Norton stones can and will put a fine edge to a razor, and do it in a short amount of time once you learn how. Oil stones take time. Oil stones are slow, and they tend to be more forgiving if you make a mistake in technique or pressure. Some also take in to consideration the clean up. With oil to move the swarf you always have oil to clean up, IE. slippery, and messy, where with water all you need is to dry off everything. This has never been a problem for me but I could see where it might be an issue. This is just my opinion and I am sure there will be many more along the way that will have better advice and more knowledge. The pest part about being a member here is the brotherhood and help... good luck

Originally Posted by dgtirl1971

Don't know much about oil except the Arkansas stones are too rough

what Arkansas stones are too rough. I finish with an Arkansas stone and it is finer than my PHIG and coticules. There are different types of Arkansas stones with different APPROXIMATE grit and all have potential razor use from removing big nicks to finishing. Remember natural stones can't be given a grit rating. You have the washita, which is the roughest, and on the opposite side of the scale you have the Hard blacks and the Translucent's. Both are of the ultra fine variety and probably contrary to popular belief the Hard Black being the finer of the 2. Usually the translucent's cost more because they are less common and prettier. Then you have several in between including the soft ark, lily white, and hard ark. Hard and hard black are two different stones.

Back in the day when Arks were a lot more prevalent then they are now, they were assigned low grit ratings but these ratings differ from the ratings we give stones nowadays. Back then it was an American grit rating given, the Translucents were given like a grit rating of 1200 grit. Well on todays rating scales which we're usually using the Japanese grit rating or European which has the more recognized ratings of things like 4k/8k nortons. I have read somewhere, I can't remember but it might have been a post here, that the ratings given stones back in the old days you should add a zero and that would be closer to the equivalent grit rating they would have today. That would then mean that my Hard Black Translucent stone would be closer to 12k which makes sense being it is my best finisher (no I don't have a JNAT and i see no use for one).

Another thing is that in arkansas stones, the mineral that does the cutting is novaculite. Novaculite, unlike waterstones which have grits that break away, wears down with use. Thus making them become in a sense finer with use. You can never truly understand the potential of an arkansas stone if you keep lapping it or trying to make a slurry with it. They are not waterstones and should not be treated as such. A lot of people try to make a slurry with arks because they're so slow (they aren't in my experience that much slower then some other naturals) but really they are resetting the break in of the stone. In reality in a normal humans lifetime with normal use you should only have to lap an arkansas stone, especially on the harder side, once maybe twice in your life. And when you lap it you should lap it all the way up to like 2k on the finer stones, not just 320 like you can on the waterstones.

Lastly, for a translucent or hard black stone to be a great finisher they need not only to be lapped minimally but after you lap it and before you use it for a razor you need to break it in. I take a nice wide chisel and put some oil on the stone and just go to town on the chisel pressing hard and covering the whole face of the stone....for a long time...until its nice and reflective when clean and dry. Not necessarily like a mirror but some detail should be able to be seen.