Thread: Start to Finish With Oil Stones?

If you have single grit hones like the Arkys then you could lap both faces. Use one side for your chisels and the other for your razors.

Originally Posted by 32t

If you have single grit hones like the Arkys then you could lap both faces. Use one side for your chisels and the other for your razors.

And somehow I would never have thought of that. You just saved me a lot of grief, for this I thank you!

I've done it on several razors. Maybe a dozen (as in from not-used-in-decades to shaving sharp). I have so many stones that I don't ever do the same thing for long, but I don't see any detriment to using oilstones.

I also use a jasper stone as a burnisher after a black arkansas, but to be honest, after a few shaves, I don't notice any difference (maybe initially, too). I use the jasper solely because I have it and it's sort of like a sure-thing burnisher.

I would rather agitate a soft arkansas to set a bevel than use a synthetic oilstone (like an india stone), but I'm sure an india would work fine. The soft arkansas with a slurry on it will set a bevel as fast as anything else. I follow that with a washita that is broken in smooth and then use a hard ark (and then the jasper for insurance).

Possible, yes. Harder for a beginner who has watched a bunch of videos that use synthetic stones and finish with powders or pastes? Probably.

Do I notice a difference between any of them after a razor's got a week of shaves and a few trips to the linen? no. They're all the same by that point.

I'm going to irritate you guys with a video. I, for some reason, went on a rash of purchases of japanese NOS razors a couple of months ago. This razor is one of the ones made of the schoeller bleckmann special process "phoenix" steel. I have no clue what it's virtue is, I'm more interested in the razor being well made than made of whiz bang steel.

I've been shaving with this razor the last two weeks.

Anyway, I have some very settled in stones, and since oilstones don't really cut steel too much when they're settled in and the steel is approaching polished, I figured I'd see if the shave would work well if I just worked the razor on the stones in various directions without getting into any specific method. It actually worked fine.

Like I said, the shaves have been fine, and my magic point with any razor (oilstone or whatever) is where the razor shaves after it's been to the linen a couple of times. The linen will define where the razor stays for the next 150-300 shaves, and if there's a problem with the sharpening, the linen won't step it up. If there isn't, it'll be in excellent shape after a couple of trips to the linen and feel like every other razor I have.

(Do NOT do this with a razor on stones that have not settled in well, if the stones are coarse and still cutting, they will just raise a fat wire edge).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61Qt...pdxvepK7zDpcow

I have used a surgical black Arkansas hone for quite a while. My experience is that the oil and swarf will fill the pores and make the stone even less efficient. I prefer to use it with water.

The opposite of that should occur. If the oil used is thick enough (not a light cutting fluid, but an oil), then the oil should keep swarf from ever getting stuck in pores. It should come out with the oil.

My experience with the stones is that they will cut a notch or two more finely (without totally feather-touching them) if there is oil on them instead of water or a light cutting fluid.

With tools, I use something thin because speed is desirable, and with razors, I will use something thin sometimes but often finish with oil if I think the stone is not quite going where I want it to.

Nonetheless, there is no substitute for familiarity with the stones. An experienced user who looked like they have awkward technique will do well with the stones, but someone brand new to them probably won't. It would be my guess that the reputation of the stones being really slow has a lot to do with people using them like waterstones and coticules, and they should be instead used like oilstones.

Originally Posted by DaveW

I'm going to irritate you guys with a video. I, for some reason, went on a rash of purchases of japanese NOS razors a couple of months ago. This razor is one of the ones made of the schoeller bleckmann special process "phoenix" steel. I have no clue what it's virtue is, I'm more interested in the razor being well made than made of whiz bang steel.

I've been shaving with this razor the last two weeks.

Anyway, I have some very settled in stones, and since oilstones don't really cut steel too much when they're settled in and the steel is approaching polished, I figured I'd see if the shave would work well if I just worked the razor on the stones in various directions without getting into any specific method. It actually worked fine.

Like I said, the shaves have been fine, and my magic point with any razor (oilstone or whatever) is where the razor shaves after it's been to the linen a couple of times. The linen will define where the razor stays for the next 150-300 shaves, and if there's a problem with the sharpening, the linen won't step it up. If there isn't, it'll be in excellent shape after a couple of trips to the linen and feel like every other razor I have.

(Do NOT do this with a razor on stones that have not settled in well, if the stones are coarse and still cutting, they will just raise a fat wire edge).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61Qt...pdxvepK7zDpcow

Very nice. My razor has yet they be sharpened since received... it fails the hanging hair test all the way along the blade. I made a strop so it hasn't been getting worse, but so far I have really needed to prep my face to avoid discomfort.

Hopefully I will have a hard (surgical) black arkansas stone to compliment my 'medium' arkansas (probably just hard arkansas with clever marketing) soon.

At that point, I can make a chromium oxide doped denim strop from some old jeans and give it a go at improving the razor. I am 100% confident that I can recreate the current, terrible edge, so I see no harm in a good try.

If you have one of the newer "hard" arkansas stones that still has some bite, a black followed by green chrome will (should at least) make for a very keen edge, as good as anything else.

In my experience, once Arks are very smooth they do not do much cutting with water - it's more of a burnishing effect. With oil they will still pull swarf. The stones don't really "clog" when using oil, they just get so much swarf on the surface that your razor or whatever you're sharpening is just sliding over oily steel/swarf rather than hitting abrasive. Easy remedy for this - add a few more drops of oil and wipe off the surface with a paper towel. Do it again until it comes away almost clean, then go back to honing. If you do this every 100 laps or so the stone will never clog, and even if you do get it loaded up, more oil and a paper towel wipe or two will clear it right out. Personally I never let anything BUT oil touch my Arks.

Originally Posted by DaveW

The opposite of that should occur. If the oil used is thick enough (not a light cutting fluid, but an oil), then the oil should keep swarf from ever getting stuck in pores. It should come out with the oil.

I don't know what oil you would recommend, I only used Smith's honing oil that I bought with the stone. Every so often I would brush them under a hot water tap with washing up liquid to get rid of the oil and swarf clogging up the pores of the stone.