Honing oil secrets?

[Mauser lover]

Okay, I appreciate a sharp knife just as much as the next guy (or perhaps even more), but that doesn't mean that I understand the process very well!

Honing oil is to keep the stone clean, right? What is so special about its composition? Will any relatively light oil work? What is to keep someone from using, say, transmission fluid on their stones? Will it work? Will it not? I keep a little oiler of tranny fluid in with my tools for anytime I need a little squirt of oil, and if I don't have to replace the little bottle of honing oil that came with my sharpening kit, I will be up both dollars and space for storage!

Okay, good idea, or bad idea? Or, if you know of another thread or article somewhere, I'll go read that instead. Thanks!

 

[Ironicaintit]

The oil also pulls the filings away from the stone. I'm no pro, but I use most any fairl light viscosity oil. Usually ATF.

My dad could get a wicked edge on a knife.... And his favorite honing lubricant was spit!

 

[Mizar]

Honing media depends entirely on the type of stone and how you like to sharpen your blades. Depending on the stone one can use oil, water, soap water... It depends. In my opinion, ATF is too thick for honing oil - I use Ballistol on my Arkansas stones because it's light, I have it already as a gun cleaning oil, and it is food safe. Hope this helps.

 

[ironworkerwill]

I've used kroll, ronsinol, 3in1, kerosene, ^spit, water... All sorts of stuff. The operator is more important than the lubricant in my opinion. One of my favorites is ronsinol (lighter fluid)

 

[Mauser lover]

I have some water stones, and on them I use... Water! I might use spit on those ones. But I generally have water handy.

But the ones that came with my Lansky set are supposed to be oiled. At least, that is what the seller said. I don't remember who, at the moment. It does take a while to go through the little bottle that came with it!

I'll have to look at the Ballistol. I told myself I would get some after I ran out of Hoppe's, which was about a pint ago. I still have better than a cup in stock, so maybe it is time to start shopping. But then again... I was going to try the recipe for "Ed's Red" too....... So many experiments, so little time!

 

[Jesse Heywood]

Do not use oil with Teflon. It fills the pores on the stone.
Some of the oil sold for stone use is thin cooking oil. Works pretty good.
Dad taught me to use 3 in 1, it has served me well for almost 60 years. Got my first knife when I joined Cub Scouts. First thing he did was show me how to sharpen it. And I still have it.

 

[entropy]

I use 3 in 1.

 

[Mauser lover]

One of my first knives was a cub scout knife! My dad gave it to me and told me about when he bought it. The first thing he did with it when he was a cub scout was slice his thumb open! They hadn't even made it out of the store parking lot yet...

I never was in any sort of scouting group, but I still got the pocket knife!

 

[JohnKSa]

The secret to honing oil is that unless you like using it, you don't need to. In fact, there's some evidence that you may get better results without it. I stopped using honing oil decades ago and have yet to see any negative impact on either the stones I use or the sharpening results.

If you're using a hard stone, you will need to clean the stone from time to time to remove the buildup of metal particles removed from the blade during the sharpening. You can do that by washing it with soap and water, but I usually use a white plastic eraser or something similar.

 

[Mizar]

One of the problems with honing oil is that once you start using it on the stone you are bound to go with it - it soaks in and stays there. If you wish to start using water at some point you must grind off the contaminated layer and even after that there is no guarantee that it will work OK. I know, that this is too broad explanation and it really depends on the stone, but those are my observations in general. One of the reasons, besides being painfully slow, to rarely use my Arkansas stones anymore is my huge dislike of oil as honing media - messy, runny, everything you touch gets slippery. Too much mess. And, as I'm not a sharpening stones connoisseur, several grits of different types of water stones fulfill my needs at 100%.

P.S. In my humble opinion, and because Carthage must be destroyed, the place for that Lansky sharpening system is in the dumpster.

 

[AZAndy]

P.S. In my humble opinion, and because Carthage must be destroyed, the place for that Lansky sharpening system is in the dumpster.

Cato? Is that you? Where you been, man?

 

[Mizar]

Cato? Is that you? Where you been, man?

Here and there, mainly establishing platonic relations with young naive shepherds and some wine tasting... You know how it is round here - nothing much to do really.

 

[lemaymiami]

I keep two sets of stones - stones used with oil for the shop and stones used with water for the kitchen or my skiff (food prep, I want nothing but water stones...). The only difference between them is that once you use oil on a stone you're going to have to stick with it for the life of that stone (whether synthetic, like Carborundum, or natural like Arkansas....).

At one time years ago I was cutting 100 - 200 lbs of fish a day for the restaurants we sold fish to (I was a young mate on charterboats back then...) and everyone I knew used only water with their stones.... These days I rarely cut more than 10 to 30lbs of fish for my anglers (times change and I've been a full time fishing guide now for more than 20 years). For the shop, though, I'm still using oil stones (for knives, scissors, chisels, and other hard metal sharpening....). I don't care what kind of oil I use - as long as there's enough of it to carry sharpening debris away from the surface of the stone... With water stones I want flowing water over any stone I'm using...

 

[Mauser lover]

P.S. In my humble opinion, and because Carthage must be destroyed, the place for that Lansky sharpening system is in the dumpster.

Wait... Why? I tend too be able to shave with the knife after it goes through the Lansky treatment...

And why must Carthage be destroyed? Is there a cultural joke I'm missing? I hate to miss out on a good joke...

 

[Mizar]

No, sorry, no joke here - I just don't like that sharpening system for one reason or another. I much prefer the so-called "free hand" sharpening. I would like to see more people dropping Lansky and indulge in the joys of free hand sharpening. Therefore, Carthage (sharpening systems) must be destroyed.

 

[Mauser lover]

I figured that you really didn't like the Lansky, but how did that get to be Carthage allegorically?

 

[Double_J]

If i remember my Roman history one senator would end every speech with Carthage must be destroyed/die. he did that to build hatred towards carthage and encourage war.

Now to keep this thread on topic, I used to have an oil stone that was used with a light air tool oil. That stone was lost to the sands of time during one of my moves over the past several years. my current stone is used dry and it puts a very good edge on my kitchen knives and my pocket knives.

 

[Mauser lover]

Ah, that Roman history gets me every time. Well... most times.

I like the Lansky because if I had to "freehand" all my knives, they just would not be sharp. Nobody ever taught me how to sharpen with just a stone.

I freehand my chisels, and I seem to do pretty well with them. Otherwise, some sort of guide system is necessary for me. I have a wannabe Edge Pro that I got from someone in China off the Flea-bay, and I have synthetic stones with them upon which I use water. I just need to either find a substitute for the Lansky lube or just get some more of the same stuff, which I really don't want to do.

 

[Mizar]

Hoppe's Nr. 9, Zippo lighter fluid? They both work, but you must apply them more often. Liquid paraffin from your local drug-store is another quick option. 3in1 oil from some hardware store. Johnson's baby oil...

 

[entropy]

If i remember my Roman history one senator would end every speech with Carthage must be destroyed/die. he did that to build hatred towards carthage and encourage war.

Cato the Elder. I'll bet he didn't sharpen his Gladius with a Lansky. (See what I did there, tying it into the topic?)

 

[Mauser lover]

I'll bet he had a Secret Service detachment that did though! Ha!

Wikipedia said that he was a soldier for much of his life, and also that he was an adherent to "the old Roman Strictness" so maybe he did use a little vise and guide system for his cutlery, because if he was a strict Roman, that obviously means that he wanted the edge of his sword exactly centered in the blade. Something that can be done easily with a guide system Or does "strict" not mean OCD?

Oh, moreover, I consider that it might be a good idea to destroy Carthage. This might sound good at the end of a bill to repeal the NFA. Can you imagine someone repeatedly saying something like this every time he made a suggestion in the Senate or House?

Anyway, interesting history, thanks for cluing me into it!

 

[JohnKSa]

One of the problems with honing oil is that once you start using it on the stone you are bound to go with it - it soaks in and stays there.

You can usually get it clean by taking it outside and really soaking it down with a spray cleaner/degreaser like Gunscrubber or pneumatic tool cleaner. I've reclaimed a stone or two this way when the former owner abused it by soaking it with oil.

I don't care what kind of oil I use - as long as there's enough of it to carry sharpening debris away from the surface of the stone...

When I sharpen dry with a hard stone, the sharpening debris may build up in the stone but it has no effect on the result other than the stone may load up and need to be cleaned eventually. I clean them with a white plastic eraser or something similar which is very fast and easy--much faster, easier and cleaner than messing with oil.

On a softer stone the surface of the stone wears away with use. Therefore there's no buildup and the loose sharpening debris can be blown away or shaken off, again much faster, easer and cleaner than messing with oil.

Besides, unless the oil is actually flowing over the surface of the stone during the sharpening process, nothing is really being carried away from the surface. It's just creating a thin lapping compound on the surface of the stone that the knife is being dragged through. So instead of just the sides of the edge coming in contact with abrasive when it touches the stone, the actual cutting edge comes in contact with abrasive as it's dragged through the makeshift lapping compound. As far as I can see it's a lose-lose.

I might change my mind if I were able to use a system that constantly irrigated the stone's surface with fresh oil but that also prevented the oil from going everywhere. As it is, I get my knives sharper than anyone else I know and never use a drop of oil on my stones and only use water on them when I wash them.