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Is There a Modern Synthetic Razor Hone That Can Be Used With Oil?

duke762

Rose to the occasion
I thought I remembered about a year ago a major manufacturer came out with style that can be used with oil or water. I'm positive I looked it up at the time but can't seem to find it now. Could be my imagination.... I could open many doors by getting over my aversion to honing with water but it's an ingrained thing and not likely to change soon.
 
Shapton says that their glass stones can be used with oil, but can not be used with water once used with oil.
 
I thought I remembered about a year ago a major manufacturer came out with style that can be used with oil or water. I'm positive I looked it up at the time but can't seem to find it now. Could be my imagination.... I could open many doors by getting over my aversion to honing with water but it's an ingrained thing and not likely to change soon.


Why do you want as synthetic oil stone?
If you want a synthetic stone then I assume you have a reason for it?
Water stones cut faster, work efficiently, are graded accurately...….
If you are looking for synthetics then give water a try. You will quickly convert for the ease and cleanliness/cleanup as well as maintenance of water stones.

To my knowledge there are no synthetic oilstones.
 
I thought I remembered about a year ago a major manufacturer came out with style that can be used with oil or water. I'm positive I looked it up at the time but can't seem to find it now. Could be my imagination.... I could open many doors by getting over my aversion to honing with water but it's an ingrained thing and not likely to change soon.

Perhaps you are thinking about the Suehiro line of 1k and 6k stones (along with a couple of diamond stones too). I think they are called dual-hones or dual stones, or something like that. They always struck me as hard-baked versions of their tradition water-stone line and are limited to 6" x 2" if you're looking for something larger. There also are one or two German synth stones designed for water or oil as I recall. I'll have to dig around for the info.
 

duke762

Rose to the occasion
Yes! I bet it was the Suehiro. Like I said, I looked it up way back when, but the name escaped me. I remember the name was Oriental but Naniwa was all I could think of. Thanks Alum!
 
I am not sure why anyone would want to use oil on a synthetic hone. It is too messy.

Sometime I want a little more viscosity than plain water, but in that case I will use shaving lather or liquid hand soap. It is my understanding that barbers often used lather with synthetic barber hones. Another option is Smith's honing solution which is not petroleum based.
 
This is probably the one time I will ever say this, but get a bench stone sized slab of marble or granite and try some oil on lapping film.
 

duke762

Rose to the occasion
I use oil on all my other stones which are Arks and a couple Coticules. Mineral oil on the softs, WD40 on everything else. Don't want an odd duck in the bunch.

Toolmaker for 40 years and have had many battles with rust. Precision vices, angle plates, V blocks, you name it, they all rust. Handling any precision stuff usually warrants an oily wipe down. You can spend hours machining and grinding precision tooling just to see it look like heck in 6 months or less because you neglected to oil it. Best practice is do it regularly. Oil is ingrained in me.

I like getting a great Coticule edge and then going to one of my hard Arks. I'd like to have an edge to finish on the Coticule that's a little more refined than what I'm currently getting off of softer Arks when doing bevel sets and repairs.

I get panicky when the shower sprays me in the face too...

Yes Sir Alum! That's it! Thank you!
 
I use oil on all my other stones which are Arks and a couple Coticules. Mineral oil on the softs, WD40 on everything else. Don't want an odd duck in the bunch.

Toolmaker for 40 years and have had many battles with rust. Precision vices, angle plates, V blocks, you name it, they all rust. Handling any precision stuff usually warrants an oily wipe down. You can spend hours machining and grinding precision tooling just to see it look like heck in 6 months or less because you neglected to oil it. Best practice is do it regularly. Oil is ingrained in me.
I'm pretty cautious about keeping blades dry and oiled. I've had some blades that started showing some signs of oxidation during long bevel setting sessions which was really annoying. Now I just keep a dry towel and a piece of cloth sprayed with wd40 or RemOil to occasionally wipe the blade down with.
 
Another line of synths that can be used with water or oil are the German-made Missarka stones, with the proviso that once they are used with oil, they cannot go back to water: Missarka stones, whetstones for scythes, rust eraser | FINE TOOLS - https://www.fine-tools.com/kuns.html.

Can't remember the name of the American company, geared towards jewelry-makers, but around five years back, I picked up a white-colored synth made as an artificial Arkansas stone from them, to be used with oil. It was an excellent hone. Haven't experience with the others I mentioned to say. If I can recall the company, I'll list it here. They also had some excellent narrow translucent stones for the German market going for a pittance. Long gone now though...

Edit: Ah yes, it was Otto Frei. The stone was a 6" x 2" Akeram stone: Arkeram Stones-Boxed | OttoFrei.com - https://www.ottofrei.com/Arkeram-Stones-Boxed. I used it with oil to good effect, and I suppose that the same proviso applies here.

Off-topic, but if you are in the market for a decent loupe at 10x, I would recommend the following at a very good price: Otto Frei 18mm Diameter - 10X - Triplet Loupes With Rubber Grip & Leather Case | OttoFrei.com - https://www.ottofrei.com/Otto-Frei-18mm-Diameter-10X-Triplet-Loupes-With-Rubber-G. In my opinion, a 10x achromatic triplet is great for viewing the bevel by reflected light and the edge in silhouette. All I've really needed for a long time.
 
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