[Woodcarver] Carving stone-honing oil

[Larry Robertson]

Hi Merrilee,

Arkansas stones are natural quarried stone and the bond between the abrasive
particles in the stone is very strong.  The individual particles quickly
start to loose some of their sharp points in use and their abrasive quaility
is reduced resulting in a reduced ability to remove metal from a blade.
This means it takes longer and more rubbing to sharpen a tool.
Water stones are man made and the bond between the particles is weak.  This
property means that old particles are worn away and new sharp particles are
exposed resulting in a quicker cut.  Unfortunately this also means the stone
gets thinner quicker, but it also means that the stone can be kept flat for
blades that require straight edges like plane irons, cabinetmakers chisels,
and even #1 chisels for carving.  It is very difficult to keep oil stones
truely flat.  If you use a water stone on high sweep gouges you quickly
create a groove in the stone.
Ceramic stones have very hard abrasive particles (man made) combined with a
very strong bond.  They cut more aggressively than oil stones and stay flat.
Supposedly they don't require any lubrication, just the occasional wash up
with water and an abrasive pad (not a metal one) to remove the metal swarf.
If I have several blades to touch up I use water on ceramics to keep them
from loading up with the swarf.
I hope this helps.

Larry Robertson
Colchester, Ontario
WorkingInWood


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Merrilee Johnson" <merrihat at hotmail.com>
To: <woodcarver at six.pairlist.net>
Sent: Tuesday, January 13, 2004 9:18 PM
Subject: Re: [Woodcarver] Carving stone-honing oil


> To make a DONATION to the List using PayPal OR regular mail, click this
link: http://wwwoodcarver.com/WWWList/WWWList.html
> With all of this talk about stones - here's my question!  How do you kno
if
> it is an oil stone or a water stone?  I have two from my grandfather and
> he's not around to ask.  They are both pretty grungy though.  And what do
> you mean "the Arkansas slips cut slow"?  Thanks for your explaination!
> Merrilee = Big Rapids MI