Thread: honing oils... are they needed?

hello there guys, i have been seeing alot of honing oils, and 'special' honing oil recepies you can buy. and i just wanted some opinions of you guys on here. how many think you should spring for oils, or does water do just fine and just aswell. are these oils just a money grabber? or do they actually do a better job?

Most of the stones we use for straight razors are 'waterstones' and oil will harm many of them. For arkansas, charnley forrest and a few others oil is used. I use Smith's Honing Oil because I have a big bottle I bought years ago. I only use it on my arkansas stones. Some people will substitute water with a couple of drops of dish soap for oil. What oil or water does is lubricate the stone and creates a vehicle for the swarf (debris of metal and stone particles) to be carried away so that it doesn't become embedded in the honing surface and glaze the stone. That would ruin the effectiveness of the stone.

I think Jimmy's got it covered in his post.

There has been allot of talk about this issue in the past, and all I can add is that like anything, it's a preference thing. You certainly don't need it, but ultimately the reason I don't use it is, because it's just messy...

Jimmy...maybe this is the wrong thread for this,but question. The guys at the meetup where tellin me that WD40 works good for keepin blades in good storage shape.I am wondering though...will the solvent in it hurt my scales at all ?

Originally Posted by Nightblade

Jimmy...maybe this is the wrong thread for this,but question. The guys at the meetup where tellin me that WD40 works good for keepin blades in good storage shape.I am wondering though...will the solvent in it hurt my scales at all ?

that is a good point, solvents and plastics of any sort generally don't like each other, but isn't WD40 some sort of fish oil?

Yes...exactly but they all said it's got a little bit of solvent in it.But if it's good to go then that's the way I want to go.Just need a confirmation on it's safety.Don't want melted scales.

I've heard that WD-40 ain't the greatest as a rust preventative. I don't know that from personal experience. On guns, knives and razors I use a Birchwood-Casey product called R.I.G. (rust preventative grease). I have a silicone gun cloth impregnated with the stuff and wipe my stuff down with that from time to time. I've also heard that Renaissance Wax is very good for protecting metal and wood.

Yeah..they did mention the renwax too. Thanks Jimmy .

yeah too right, i am sure you used to be able to get it in a non pressurized squirty bottle, like window cleaner. Maybe sacrifice an old set of scales to find out.

Only got two razors...thank you though.