Right you are, cudgee...!cudgee wrote: ↑Sun May 30, 2021 5:46 amYou have been holding out long enough " but that's another discussion ", why the shift from oil to water? Water with a dash of detergent . Time to start the discussion.Working Edge wrote: ↑Mon Apr 05, 2021 6:38 pm Sharpening Supplies. Com sells a complete two-sided oilstone (U.S.A. made) kit, along with many other oilstones and water stones.
Here's a link:
https://www.sharpeningsupplies.com/Trad ... P1891.aspx
You can't go wrong with this particular double-sided stone, if you could own only one stone, this one would serve you very well.
Just as an aside, I am moving away from using oil on my oilstones, and moving towards using water instead, but that's another discussion...
Hope this helps..!
Mark
The reason I switched from oil to water, honestly not that I had anything against oil, is that water is so much easier to clean up, and is so very plentiful and available, compared to oil.
As you have observed, a bit of dish detergent in the water floats away steel swarf just as effectively as oil ever does.
After having clung to the tradition of sharpening with oil, I finally found that water on my Arkansas stones allows me to more easily feel the cutting action of stone on steel, especially on the hard Arkansas and black hard Arkansas stones.
Mark