Thread: Oil vs water

Hi guys,

I have heard on a few occasions that, when using whetstones, if you start with water keep using water, if you start using oil you must keep using oil. Why is this?

If oil gets into a waterstone, most of which are porous, then it is quite difficult to ever get all of the oil back out.

I get that, but why would that in itself stop you from being able to hone with just water from then on? Surely a little oil seeping out isn't going to cause any harm?

You can hone with either, oil is messy, get rancid and smells. It can be cleaned by soaking, but on some stones will take months to get it all out.

Water will perform just as well as oil, except for some very hard stones and even then there are water soluble oils, Smith’s Honing solution that works just as well and rinses off.

So no, if the stone was used with oil it is not an “Oil” stone forever. I have used oil on some stones I have cleaned and if you wash it off with Simple Green or Dawn dish soap or some other degreasing soaps, it will remove the oil from a single honing just fine.

It is just a matter of personal preference. I doubt most could tell the difference in an edge honed on oil and or water.

Originally Posted by PalmedAce

I get that, but why would that in itself stop you from being able to hone with just water from then on? Surely a little oil seeping out isn't going to cause any harm?

It really depends on the Waterstone,

The actual downside and danger is that Waterstones work best when they can release their grit, that is how they work.. Oil in/on the stone might inhibit that ability therefore not allowing the Waterstone to perform at it's optimum...


This is actually one of the reasons I never use "Oil" any longer, I want zero chance of contamination of my Waterstones, my honing box contains only Smith's Honing Solution which works quite well on Oilstones yet is still water soluble just in case