Thread: Oil on a Shapton Kuromaku?

Scroll down to the Kuromaku section, last sentence. Anyone tried this? I don’t think that I would because oil is messy.

SHAPTON Co., Ltd.

Recently I chatted with a non-honing fellow out in the country and he wanted a suggestion for his knives. When I looked at what he had, one was an oil-soaked King 800 and he’d used it for years that way and it seemed to be doing fine.

I don’t see why it would not work, I have used oil on natural stones, Arks, Slates, Coticules and Jnats without issue. If washed off after use it comes out easily. I use Smith’s water soluble lube or Ballistol both wash out, but even oil will come out with a quick soak in Dawn dish soap or Simple Green.

Personally, I do not see any benefit in all but possibly a finisher and even then it is minimal. I have tried it on a 20k without any noticeable improvement.

Smith's is the test or Balaitol like Marty said

I no longer use real honing oils since finding Smith's, try it and see, if there is an improvment..

May have to give that a whirl.

Originally Posted by Euclid440

I don’t see why it would not work, I have used oil on natural stones, Arks, Slates, Coticules and Jnats without issue. If washed off after use it comes out easily. I use Smith’s water soluble lube or Ballistol both wash out, but even oil will come out with a quick soak in Dawn dish soap or Simple Green.

Personally, I do not see any benefit in all but possibly a finisher and even then it is minimal. I have tried it on a 20k without any noticeable improvement.

Good points.

Anything you see as a detriment?

Only that it is messy and if you don’t wash off all the oil it can go rancid and smell. And synthetic water stones were not designed for oil use, may have some long -term issue with the binder.

You might want to contact Shapton and be guided by their advice.

I was wrong in assuming that oil when mentioned was petroleum based. Vegetable oil would go rancid.

The link in the original post shows were it is stated that oil is acceptable with these stones.

I have bought and cleaned many a smelly “Oil stone”.

Originally Posted by Euclid440

I don’t see why it would not work, I have used oil on natural stones, Arks, Slates, Coticules and Jnats without issue. If washed off after use it comes out easily. I use Smith’s water soluble lube or Ballistol both wash out, but even oil will come out with a quick soak in Dawn dish soap or Simple Green.

Personally, I do not see any benefit in all but possibly a finisher and even then it is minimal. I have tried it on a 20k without any noticeable improvement.

Problem with the HNK stones is that detergent is a definite no, as per the included instructions so if you use oil on one it stays an oil stone or risk dissolving the binder.

Shapton JP FAQ :
http://www.shapton.co.jp/en/faq/

One of the things I see while reading about these hones. I don't have personal experience with them. Is that one of the main issues with them is the cracking. This seems to be from the wetting and drying of them.

Therefore I am thinking that using oil would prevent this issue.

Any thoughts?