Thread: Amount of water on Hones

Watching a few vids and I noticed that some folks like to finish with as little water as possible on the stone. I'm not understanding what difference this would make. I normally have a nice amount of water on the stone at all times, so why is it important to clean the water off and work on just a damp stone in the end? I'm talking about synthetic stones BTW.

I like a lot of water when I'm honing I spray regularly, the water is the added lubrication more water to me means a smoother edge smoother action overall.

^^^^^^^^^ I'm with Jamie on this one. I hone next to the sink and use a small spray bottle of water to ensure the honing surface stays wet. Sometimes water pushes off the sides of the hone, so I'm regularly spraying.

Wave and undercutting effects are important indicators to me as I progress up to the finisher. And, even at the finisher when things are golden, I see no benefit to be had by drying the hone at this point.

I use plenty water during the bevel setting and sharpening stages and watch to see whether the blade is undercutting the water, which tells me I'm on the right track.

But when finishing on the 8k and higher grits I would start with a wet stone and then keep going until the hone is dry. The direct steel to stone contact with no water to suspend the abraded particles seems to produce a glazing action on the stone, reducing the stone's abrasiveness and improving it's ability to polish the blade.

I use a lot of water as well.

I actually use progressively more water as I go to ensure there is as little grit as possible on my final strokes before moving on to my next stone.

This is pretty generalized and I di like to change things up and experiment from time to time. Mostly I use a fairly wet hone. If I’m finishing on my Norton 8K for example, I do let it go to damp. Some finishers I will sometimes go with damp and end with a few back strokeaka spine leading. Bevel setter is always a lot of water. Finishers that varies a little.