Thread: Amount of water on Hones

A lot depends on the stone, but generally on synthetic stones, a good amount of water keeps the stone cleaner and cutting more aggressive and cleanly. You can control the cut with the amount of pressure.

Your progression, how large of a jump you are making from the previous stone to the finish stone will dictate how easy polishing the bevel will be.

While more water can cause a micro “hydrofoil” effect, slurry and swarf will fill the pores of the stone and causes the stone to cut less aggressively as well. This is a larger variable than the amount of water. My goal to repeatable edge is elimination of as many variables as possible.

On your finish stone, the goal is to polish the bevel to straighten the edge and depending on the stone composition and grit, results will vary with the amount of water and or slurry. With Synthetic water stones there is always some slurry.

I hone with more water than most. I use a plastic fast food type tray to catch the excess water and slurry, with the stone in a steelex rubber holder, and use a plastic squirt bottle, keeping the stone flooded with enough water to keep much of the slurry off the stone face. When I finish on a synthetic stone, I do so on a clean stone and will clean and dress the stone with a 600-grit diamond plate and rinse well under running water, for the last few laps after polishing the bevel.

Experiment with the amount of water and slurry to get the results you want. Good magnification will aid in the amount of polish and straightness of the edge. When finishing on a synthetic, I use either, an 8k Naniwia, Snow White, 10k King Ice Bear, a 12k Naniwia Super Stone or a 20K Suehiro Gokumyo, each will finish a bevel to near mirror, but will perform just a bit differently with water and slurry/ swarf. For example the 12k Naniwia and the 20k Suehiro can easily load up and lead to micro chipping, a clean stone face eliminates that problem.

So, to answer the OP, it depends.

It sounds like you are nearing the stage of chasing the elusive 2% of keenness and repeatability. Perfection means nothing if it is not repeatable.

Like so many things when it comes to honing, you must experiment with your stone to find what works best with your technique and razor.

Naturals are a whole other kettle of fish, many more variables...