Sharpening Stone Question

Dan Mosley

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1,169
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Palm Springs, Ca
Awhile back at a garage sale I picked up this Stone for a buck and added it to my grinder sharpening box. Today I came across it and one neighbor told me to use water and just rub your tool edge on it to sharpen and touch up the edge.......Later in the day I was talking with another person who said that was not correct and to use oil and rub in circluar motion on the very tip edge of the tool to make the edge razor sharp.
So I thought I would ask other out here how they use this kind of stone for their lathe or hollowing tools...........?

Thanks Dan
 

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...So I thought I would ask other out here how they use this kind of stone for their lathe or hollowing tools...........?

I would use it on neither. It's too coarse for honing/polishing, and too fine for regular sharpening, unless you have a very steady hand and some extra time. It might be usable on skews, but I don't think it'd be of any real benefit on gouges, scrapers, or hollowing cutters. A dry bench grinder and jig would get comparable or better results, more consistently and faster.

A stone like that is handy for fixing a badly-nicked knife, or sharpening axes and garden tools. A lot of guys use then for sharpening bench chisels, but if that's all they've ever used, I think it's safe to say they don't really know what a truly sharp chisel is like. (I know. I was one of them once.) Either water or oil are fine to use on it, and you'll get varying opinions on whether to sharpen in a straight line or a circular motion. The more important issue is keeping the tool at exactly the same angle for every stroke. The suggestion to rub the tool on the very tip (a.k.a. putting on a microbevel) is based on a good idea for some edge tools (bench and carving chisels, plane irons, etc.) but it's typically done with a much finer stone or honing surface, and it's a bit more involved that "rubbing it on the very tip". I've read of a few turners who like using a microbevel, but I've not seen a difference myself on turning tools.

Although it's not real useful for turning tools, that type of stone is still handy to have around the shop and house, and for a buck you did good. :thumb:
 
yeah I think ill stick to my grinder and setup for my sharpening needs........LOL.............but yep ill keep it around for the other stuff as you suggested.............thanks
 
Vaughn nailed it. Useful for big knives, axes and such.
Except, I would use only light oil. And, in most cases, with those old stones they are usually completely sautrated with oil. Boiling can get rid of most of that. Or, soak overnight (outside) in gasoline.
 
I agree - it's worth the dollar. It needs very badly to be flattened to be much use, of course; it's obviously badly cupped. It'd be fine for kitchen cutlery as-is, or for "beater" chisels after flattening.

Use with a light oil after soaking the old congealed oil out of it.

I'm of the straight-line sharpening school - on close examination, scratches perpendicular to the cutting edge don't weaken that edge as much as scratches parallel to the cutting edge. Sharpen by rubbing as if you were trying to shave the stone... that raises less burr than drawing the edge backwards.
 
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