Oilstones and their effectiveness

[CurtisJohnson]

Hi all,

Just wondered what everyone's opinion on oil stones were. Do you guys think I could get a nice edge on my mora using a stanley honing oilstone?

Cheers,
Curtis

 

[scoops_uk]

Oilstones are great if you find one fine enough, most are too coarse for anything but re-grinding, if it feels rough it's probably too rough. I use an old one I sourced from a car boot for my tools (I'm a professional boatbuilder) and it gives a fantastic shaving edge with a bit of practice. Choose one that feels smoothest to the touch and make sure it's flat (I flattened mine using a granite flat surface with wet and dry paper, it took a long time to flatten it, but it's worth the patience.

Scoops

 

[Peter_t]

im a big fan of oilstones and prefer them to japanese waterstones but the quality varies alot. i have a very nice sandy brown colour one (no idear what grit) and it is supurb, then again you can buy these god awfall blue grey things from B&Q and they are terable.

not sure about your stanley, all mine have been bought seccond hand from car boot sales and don't know who made them.
just go for it and see what happens, as long as it is reasonably fine and you use a strop afterwards you should get a good edge just use plenty of oil and wipe it clean and re-apply oil as you go, this stops the stone getting clogged which will stop it working propperly.



pete

 

[CurtisJohnson]

I'm gonna be honest, mines probably one of those really terrible ones from B&Q because my dads a cheapskate ( used to use it for sharpening his chisels years ago :/ ) will it have a break in period, because he only used the coarse side and has barely touched the fine side, so it feels a bit rough. If it needs using more to give the final grit I'll very happily deal with that

Cheers for the help guys
Curtis

 

[scoops_uk]

will it have a break in period, because he only used the coarse side and has barely touched the fine side, so it feels a bit rough. If it needs using more to give the final grit I'll very happily deal with that

Not really, if it's not fine now, it's not going to become fine. Check out a car boot, there are always plenty, just avoid any bananas and remember, you can always use the other side (assuming it's not a two sided stone). It wants to feel something like a sheet of paper.

Scoops

 

[addo]

Cheap carborundum stones work just fine I use nothing else, theres no point.
I use one that has a course and fine side, It cost £5 from a DIY Store.
The old ones from carboots often have course, medium or fine printed on the end on the single grit ones to help with that.
To flatten them, use an old fashioned cheap flat concrete slab and a watering can, takes 5 minutes.
Finish off on a scrap of leather and some stropping paste and you will be splitting atoms

 

[CurtisJohnson]

It wants to feel something like a sheet of paper.

Scoops

Cheers mate, I never thought to ask how I'd tell if it was fine enough, I'll give some car boots a shot and see what I find

Thanks,
Curtis

 

[CurtisJohnson]

I did a little research and found out that it's an aluminium oxide stone, but the grit isn't particularly fine, so I'll just use it for reshaping and if needs be ill just use that and a strop, try and get a decent edge till I sort something out

Thanks guys
Curtis

 

[santaman2000]

Cheap carborundum stones work just fine I use nothing else, theres no point.
I use one that has a course and fine side, It cost £5 from a DIY Store.
The old ones from carboots often have course, medium or fine printed on the end on the single grit ones to help with that.
To flatten them, use an old fashioned cheap flat concrete slab and a watering can, takes 5 minutes.
Finish off on a scrap of leather and some stropping paste and you will be splitting atoms

+1. I rarely use anything else and can get a shaving edge on my knives with a cheap carborundum stone from the hardware or DIY store. I do use a butcher's steel in place of the strop though. On the odd times that I do use anything else, it's a file on my axes; never touched a stone to them and I can get a shaving edge on them as well.

I do use loads of oil though.