knives

[petermac]

I acquired a stone to sharpen knives what is a good oil to use. Sorry I shoud have said i am new to the site the name peter.

[Grind Hard]

Hi Peter welcome to the site.

I use Norton sharpening oils. Bit pricy you can find cheaper oils that will work just as well.

What sort of stone did you get?

[lynnl]

I may be wrong, but I think the main (or only) purpose for the oil is to keep the grinding debris floating in suspension, for later removal, so as to prevent it from embedding in the stone's pores.

I've seen recipes for simply mixing in a little kerosene with general purpose oil.

Other than making a mess, I've never noticed any oil having much effect.

[Rusty Marlin]

The oil is to keep the stone from clogging. Mineral oil works fine I find it a little heavy, WD-40 and CRC Power Blaster work fantastic.

[Black_Moons]

Can't say I have done much sharpening, but doing it under running water always seems so much better then under oils as far as cleaning debrie and not making a mess.

[armedandsafe]

I seldom use oil, preferring water on all but the coarsest of the stones. However, once you have oiled a stone, water no longer is an option. I have some old ones on which I still use sewing machine oil or Marvel Mystery Oil.

Pops

[gwilson]

I use water with a SMALL amount of dish detergent,and a little water soluble cutting oil. If the stone was ever used with oil,it's too late.

Some shops keep their oilstones soaking in a can of kerosene. I used lock oil years ago just because it was handy. It was thinned out oil,so it could run into the lock. Later,the solvent would evaporate,but I was done long before that would happen. Too heavy an oil will prevent you from being as efficient because it lubricates too much to promote fast cutting.

[Carld]

Barbers used shaving soap and water on their stones when sharpening straight razors. The stone never clogs up and is easy to clean. Most of my shop stones I use kerosene on them or put them in a pan of kerosene and use a small stiff brush on them between sharpening's. Sometimes I do the job in my parts cleaner with the fluid flowing over the stone as I sharpen the edge.

It all depends on what it is I am sharpening but I do use light oil sometimes.