Thread: Slurry Stone question.

When you guys pick up vintage hones, how do you select a slurry stone to use with it? Do you choose different stones based on their grit?

Ideally, you would use a matching piece of hone to create the slurry. If that is not available, other choices include a) a finer hone (i.e. using coti slurry on a BBW) b) a hone that does not break down (i.e. using a DMT to raise a slurry) c) cut a piece off the big hone and use that to make slurry d) other creative options I don't know about yet e) not using slurry.

I used to use DMT for all stones I have no slurry stone, now I switched to Atoma diamond plate.
If you have coticule you can get slurry coticule fairly easy.
Eschers usually , but not always, come with their own slurry stone.
Some synthetic stones come with synthetic nagura.

Dia Sharp (DMT) sells a credit card sized 325 that I use for stones if I don't have a slurry stone of the same type. It is about six bucks. Using an 8" lapping plate is doable but cumbersome.

Originally Posted by mainaman

Some synthetic stones come with synthetic nagura.

You have to be very careful about using a synthetic rubbing stone. For example, the various grit Naniwas come with the same rubbing stone (if you get the ones that come with rubbing stones - they don't all), and it's quite coarse. I believe the synthetic rubbing stones are designed to clean off the hone, not create a slurry. I wouldn't use one to clean a hone either, though, because I would be worried about grit contamination.

Then what do you use when you pick up a vintage natural without a matching SS? If you lap a hone with a 325 diamond stone, then wouldn't using it to create a slurry dig an uneven surface?

On the harder stones I have (such as a C12k or my vintage Thuringian), my DMT 325 does leave scratches. For these, my personal choice would (I say "would" because I don't use a slurry on my finishers at all) be to use a Spyderco Medium pocket hone (because I already have one). They are very hard ceramic, and don't break down when raising a light slurry.

I ask because I stumbled upon an old Tam O'Shanter and acquired it. it's my second stone. My other is a Coti. Sometimes I read that the Tam is of a lower grit than the Coti, and sometimes I read the opposite, so the decision to use my Coti SS is now complicated.

I'd love to lap the Tam and try it out, and if it's really a finishing stone (for use after my Coti) then I'll only use water, but various forum posts disagree about the Tam's role. For some it's used in the middle of a progression and for others at the end. One needs slurry and the other doesn't.

Have any advice?

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

Dia Sharp (DMT) sells a credit card sized 325 that I use for stones if I don't have a slurry stone of the same type. It is about six bucks. Using an 8" lapping plate is doable but cumbersome.

Which DMT credit card do you use? I see them as listed coarse, fine and extra fine...

Originally Posted by LegalBeagle

Which DMT credit card do you use? I see them as listed coarse, fine and extra fine...

I use the 325 which is the coarse.