Thread: Honing with Salt Water

Water and steel are not best of friends. Reason to keep water away from pivot, and keep blades dry etc.
Saltwater and steel are outright enemies. Dont do it!

There is a reason a salt spray test is used as a measure of corrosion resistance of coatings and alloy composition.

Sent from my SM-N910C using Tapatalk

Originally Posted by sqzbxr

I'm not sure what your point here is, but I feel I should point out that no part of Vermont is within 120 miles of Cape Cod, and the closest quarry would be more like 160 miles. The big quarries in the Barre area (I used to live across the street from Rock of Ages) are pushing 200 miles, and are at a mean altitude of about 1500 feet above sea level.

The point is that someone in my family has a vacation home by the sea on Cape Cod with embedded pieces of Vermont slate in the housing structure. In the 30+ years that I've visited the place, they've remained quite stable. So, in seeking to hone with an approximation of sea water, I remembered this and reached for a piece of VT slate rather than, say, a coticule. Also, VT slate having been sold as a sharpening stone in New England in Melville's day, it didn't seem that out of context, although in terms of the routes that whaling boats travelled, such a stone could have come from just about anywhere.

I was thinking baking soda could be useful somewhere in the honing process because of its abrasiveness.

Originally Posted by slurrycurry

I was thinking baking soda could be useful somewhere in the honing process because of its abrasiveness.

Not very hard... The natural mineral is nahcolite with a Mohs hardness of 2.5 (very soft):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nahcolite

Any action you get is chemical.
Etching acids are neutralized with baking soda... It is likely to interact with steel in swarf.

The chemical reactions that polish steel are interesting and remind me that Coca-Cola
has one active ingredient: "The active ingredient in Coke is phosphoric acid. Its pH is 2.8. It will dissolve a nail in about 4 days."
This involves tiny nails for sure...

Play with it and other things -- keep notes the tricks of the trade are 'still secret'.

Some hones like Kitayama stones contain Magnesium salts that will dissolve in water
so it is recommended that you do not leave the stone in water for long periods of time.
Kitayama 8000 Grit Water Stone
I think chemically it is magnesium oxide with a hardness of Mohs 6 and steel has a hardness of 4-4.5

Originally Posted by niftyshaving

Not very hard... The natural mineral is nahcolite with a Mohs hardness of 2.5 (very soft):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nahcolite

Any action you get is chemical.
Etching acids are neutralized with baking soda... It is likely to interact with steel in swarf.

The chemical reactions that polish steel are interesting and remind me that Coca-Cola
has one active ingredient: "The active ingredient in Coke is phosphoric acid. Its pH is 2.8. It will dissolve a nail in about 4 days."
This involves tiny nails for sure...

Play with it and other things -- keep notes the tricks of the trade are 'still secret'.

Some hones like Kitayama stones contain Magnesium salts that will dissolve in water
so it is recommended that you do not leave the stone in water for long periods of time.
Kitayama 8000 Grit Water Stone
I think chemically it is magnesium oxide with a hardness of Mohs 6 and steel has a hardness of 4-4.5

Don't forget carbonic acid too. It's in all carbonated drinks.