Thread: What to use on an American slate hone

If a stone is gummed from years of oil and swarf, oven cleaner will get the majority of surface oil off, soaking will remove the deep imbedded oil from the stone.

Heat and degreaser, thrift store slow cooker work well, or just soak until they stop releasing oil, glass or plastic pasta containers, though it can take months for all the oil to release, especially hard stones like hard thick arks or other Noviculites.

Do change the degreasing solution once a week or so. I too like Simple Green, though I have used dollar store degreaser as well.

On a fine stone, mineral oil can provide a little better finish, possibly…

This is a medium grit kitchen knife stone by Norton
I show this as an example of a sway back.
There is enough stone left to flatten it and have material left for use.

I am interested in slate stones.
I found on ebay.uk dragons tooth stones. I have not ordered yet. They vary in grit up to aprox 15000 grit.

WELSH SLATE TRI SHARPENING STONE SET 3 HONES RAZOR HONE Ideal Christamas Gift | eBay

Just use the flat side, EBay Dragon Tongue/ Welsh Slates are no-where near 15k or even half that…

Get a 12k super stone, a good Thüringen, hard Ark, Translucent or Black.

Originally Posted by dkwflight

This is a medium grit kitchen knife stone by Norton
I show this as an example of a sway back.
There is enough stone left to flatten it and have material left for use.

I am interested in slate stones.
I found on ebay.uk dragons tooth stones. I have not ordered yet. They vary in grit up to aprox 15000 grit.

WELSH SLATE TRI SHARPENING STONE SET 3 HONES RAZOR HONE Ideal Christamas Gift | eBay

Be careful next time you go outside,,, there's a guy hiding behind your car.

grin
No flat side!!! Look closer.

On the welsh stones that seller offers three different grade/ grit
Since they develop slurries the grit is hard to specify.

I went os an old High school.
They had the old time black boards. I know they were pretty fine grit.

Since I cannot lay my hands on any of those stones right now. I can only offer opinions based on what I have read.

I have, all of them, not near 15k finish.

Lap the flattest side.

In my machine shop I have a boat load of oil stones to touch up my HSS tool bits. They really get loaded up with cutting oil, grease, and swarf. I just use a spray can of Gum-Out carb cleaner. Spritz it on good and heavy then blow the crap out with an air hose. They are bone dry and clean when I'm done. As for my razor hones.............I don't use oil and never will.