Thread: waterstone maintance

i searched the wiki and couldn't find much on the subject, i just have a quick question on maintaning my chinese 12k waterstone i just got from the invisible edge. With this type of stone i was told it doesn't need a slurry stone as it is a natural stone and produces that itself? however, i've heard that i should and shouldn't keep it in water for storage, which is corrrect? and can storing stones in water damage them in any way? i'm obviously new to these kinds of stones.

You can use a slurry or not; I never did on mine. Either way, it should never clog and should never need to be re-lapped.

Storing it in water should be fine, since it hardly absorbs any at all, but there is no reason to store it in water for the same reason (it doesn't need to be soaked before use).

Originally Posted by bkk

i searched the wiki and couldn't find much on the subject, i just have a quick question on maintaning my chinese 12k waterstone i just got from the invisible edge. With this type of stone i was told it doesn't need a slurry stone as it is a natural stone and produces that itself? however, i've heard that i should and shouldn't keep it in water for storage, which is corrrect? and can storing stones in water damage them in any way? i'm obviously new to these kinds of stones.

Your Chinese hone is hard, so it is very slow to release slurry. If you use a slurry stone with it, you will find that it cuts much faster because of the slurry. There is no benefit to storing it in water.