Thread: Oil or Smith's on Zulu Grey?

For users of the Zulu Grey stone, has anyone tried using honing oil or Smith's solution?
If so, what was the result, as compared to water?

Thanks in advance.
Paul

Water only or smith's solution, I prefer smith's solution. I feel it gives a little smoother edge with no drop in sharpness. However, my favorite finish with most steels on the Zulu is with a very slight slury of its own or better yet, a light slury of a Turingian stone. The former takes some of the keenness feeling away (some people love the keenness of the edge) and the later gives the edge IMO a slight buttery feeling like a Turingian does (Zulu with Turingian slury is to margarine as a truringian edge is to hevy cream butter). The consistency of the slury is like when you put a couple of drops of milk in a glass of water. You can tell is water, but something is clouding it.

The smith's solution is water soluble, so you can revert to water only or water and slury if you want. I think once you use true oil, it gets water phobic, I never tried it.

Enjoy your Zulu, it was my first natural and I still enjoy using it and the edges it gives! Double O

http://straightrazorpalace.com/hones...ml#post1072347


There is my old post

Glen, after reading about your suggestion on Smith's Honing Solution, I got some & use it on my oilstones instead of thick oils, Smith's makes less of a mess, easy to watch the flow along the blade & washes off easy.

I don't use anything but water on naturals, but that's just me.

Considering it's a higher "lap/stroke" stone (average user gives 50-100 laps/strokes), I wouldn't even bother with a real "oil" or you will be honing for a while. From my experience, both water or Smiths honing oil works well...I use water when I use it now.

Originally Posted by Hirlau

Glen, after reading about your suggestion on Smith's Honing Solution, I got some & use it on my oilstones instead of thick oils, Smith's makes less of a mess, easy to watch the flow along the blade & washes off easy.

I don't use anything but water on naturals, but that's just me.

Yep same here, I have 2 oilstones in my arsenal and I use the Smith's solution on both now, I no longer worry about storing all the hones together..
I would not go so far as to say it is better then real oil, but honestly I haven't noted a drop in performance either...

Glen,
It's been a while since I have used any oils, but from my memory the Smiths seemed to act a little thinner than sewing machine oil. Was this your experience?

Experience... Have only used water. Happy with only that.

+1 to water only. However, I read about someone using a drop of soap after diluting the slurry down to nothing. I tried that the other day with good results. It eliminated the stick/skip issue I'd get on occasion.

Chris