Originally Posted by
ovidiucotiga
I'm smiling when i write this so dont take it the wrong way....
With all due respect this oil and water dont mix thing is a bit taboo.
I have had thuringians and even Eschers that were used by the old guys at the sharpening shops with oil...when asked, they replied it make the stone cut faster and finer... at that time i thaught that was just plain stupid.
I have also recieved jnats that were used with oil or petrol...somwhere @ 50 years ago...stone was in great shape...actualy beeing impregnated with oil prevented it from cracking.
Cracking in jnats is due to oxidation of metalic substrate in the presence of air and WATER...no Water...no oxidation....no pressure effect (oxides ocupy a larger volume then the metal substrate) along the metal mineral lines and no cracking...or anyway much less of it...some cracking is due to contraction/dilatation of the stone when subjected to temperature changes...like honing with warm water.
So yess...oil is messy...it's not readyily available...if you run out you cant just go to the sink for more....but it has it's specific advantages that have to be put in balance.
NO, i am not an oil fan, i like water for the reasons mentioned above....but i think you are not damaging a stone by converting it to an oilstone...you are just repurposing it :))..some woodworkers love oilstones and they have reasons to.
i did my own experiments a while back when i found out about this...at first i felt angry like "what's this loonatic saying here use oil on my precious whetstones"...but guess what ... i tested a few stones i could dispose of and indeed they worked diffrent then on water...
for instance the 3 hone set sold by AJ...those english Slates...they cut way faster on oil....so did a slab of thuringian...coticules/BBW cut faster and finer in many cases...and jnats cut faster ...sinthetics dont get clogged with metal swarf so much....
But i guess we all have to do our own experimenting...
I like when people use arguments, scientific arguments or personal arguments from experience and testing to suport their ideas.
in short my personal opinion from what i have tested is you should use dedicated whetstones with water and oilstones with oil, but if you want to experiment, you can, the results are interesting...
Now i'm not saying pour honing oil on your Nakayama Maruka :)) or your Labled Escher...but there are cheaper stones you can experiment with.
My 2 cents, luv you guys!