Norton India & oil
- Thread starter jj_sharp
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If not, maybe the straight razor guys can help.
AA
AA
Norton India Stone is made from Aluminium Oxide. This is a Water stone. You use it with water rather than oil.
Edit: Maybe not . .. I've not personally tried a synthetic stone with oil but apparently you can do this.
Edit: Maybe not . .. I've not personally tried a synthetic stone with oil but apparently you can do this.
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- #4
Find your type of stone here:
www.nortonabrasives.com
It mentions that India stones use oil.
Sharpening Stones
For over 190 years, the Norton line of sharpening stones has brought solutions for craftsmen and hobbyists alike. To obtain top-flight performance and
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- #6
I wouldn't do that. Norton Co. sold oil for their stones and it was food grade mineral oil. All of these stones are porous to some degree. The parafin would seal it. Once you get the stone filled with oil, enough will stay on top to lubricate. Norton also made a three way sharpener which had three different stones in it, in a plastic house, the bottom of which served as a reservoir for oil. You flipped the assembly to let each of the three stones sit submerged in an oil bath.
Chandu
I Waxed The Badger.
Norton fills them at the factory with a very high viscosity oil. This stays in the stone pretty much forever. The oil you use then stays on top. Based on what you are saying I think it's a very old stone or perhaps someone de-oiled it so they could use it with water. (you can burn the oil out or heat it in the oven with towels to render the norton oil out.
Whatever the case, to fix. Heat some vaseline to the melting point. Warm the stone in an oven on low heat, maybe 150 degrees. Then take it out and use a metal pan or something not heat sensitive. You need the stone hot so the the vaseline does not solidify on the surface. Pour the vaseline on the stone, it will drink it up. Keep pouring it on. Flip the stone over every minute or so so the vaseline doesn't seep out the bottom. Once the stone cools below the melting point of the vaseline, the vaseline will be locked in. After that you can use with mineral oil or kerosene and that will stay on top and you will have a nice sharpening stone again.
I did this very technique to a non norton aluminum oxide stone and it worked well.
Whatever the case, to fix. Heat some vaseline to the melting point. Warm the stone in an oven on low heat, maybe 150 degrees. Then take it out and use a metal pan or something not heat sensitive. You need the stone hot so the the vaseline does not solidify on the surface. Pour the vaseline on the stone, it will drink it up. Keep pouring it on. Flip the stone over every minute or so so the vaseline doesn't seep out the bottom. Once the stone cools below the melting point of the vaseline, the vaseline will be locked in. After that you can use with mineral oil or kerosene and that will stay on top and you will have a nice sharpening stone again.
I did this very technique to a non norton aluminum oxide stone and it worked well.
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- #9
Chandu
I Waxed The Badger.
I think you need the stone itself to be warm. It retains heat well, so makes the job easier. If you live in a place like I do where it's about 30 degrees outside. When done just take your pan and stone outside. The outside of the stone will quickly cool and lock in the oil that much faster (less turning the stone to keep the vaseline in).
Good luck. Let us know how it turns out. I know the fashion is for waterstones, but I'm a wood worker and like my oilstones. I carve wood and have many tools with very small surface area that would quickly eat into soft waterstones. Someday I might spring for a Shapton finisher. Currently I use India, Arkansas, Diamond and Strops to get the edges I need. Waterstones are fine if you have things to sharpen that have a big enough surface area so the pressure is not just in one small place on the stone.
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- #11
You are correct. I had forgotten that they were oil-filled at the factory and I have never heard of the vaseline treatment before. I do have one of the tri-stones which were oil-filled and retain that by sitting in the mineral oil. I've had it for a long time and don't even know if they are currently available.
Chandu
I Waxed The Badger.
They do make the IM313 still. Though they are expensive, especially with the Arkansas, which now a days is soft Ark. They used to sell it with a Norton Hard Ark. For the ones available today you are looking at $200 + depending on which model you want.
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- #14
Thank you, I am encouraged to try the above method.
What did not work:
In the past, I tried heating the stone under a light, and smeared vasoline on the surface. The stone accepted a lot of vasoline, but it was a fail (oil still soaks through the stone).
Thanks everyone. I have a pocked Norton India that does keep oil on top of the stone, but my big bench stone does not keep oil on top the stone, it just soaks through.
J.
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- #15
I heated the stone with a lamp, and smeared in a significant amount of dollar store chest rub that I don't like. I think I did this in the past. I think the k1 dissolves it pretty fast in use.
Instead of k1, I picked up some 2.00 Walmart laxative to try. Hopefully it is thicker, and does not wash out the petro. jelly.
If this fails, I have two more ideas.
Instead of k1, I picked up some 2.00 Walmart laxative to try. Hopefully it is thicker, and does not wash out the petro. jelly.
If this fails, I have two more ideas.
Chandu
I Waxed The Badger.
I think you are right. Oils dissolve oil. The more volitile it is the greater the effect, so K1 would eat it away faster. I use simple light mineral oil on the India. Sometimes on a very hard Arkansas, where mineral oil might be too heavy I will use some honing oil I got in an order from Dan's long ago. Smelling it, it is not just simple mineral oil, it's thinner, yellower and has a kerosene scent or something similar. It's great on Arkansas stones, since they are used with oil, but generally not oil filled to any extent.
I think the laxative oil is just mineral oil, so it won't dissolve your petroleum jelly as easily or maybe much at all in practice.
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- #17
Equate mineral oil, laxative and lubricant, worked great first time out. It stayed on top of the stone.
It is WAY more viscous than k1. I wanted to cheap out and stay with k1, but that failed in this situation.
I use k1 on Arkansas stones. Which are largely reserved for my razors. Arkansas stones are WAY less permeable.
Live and learn. Make a theory and test. I appreciate everyone's patience. I may report longer term results in the future.
I remember watching an experiment in PETE School, simulating a thin fliud trying to push a thicker fluid through a rock (Enhaced Oil Recovery). Eventually the thin fluid cut through.
It is WAY more viscous than k1. I wanted to cheap out and stay with k1, but that failed in this situation.
I use k1 on Arkansas stones. Which are largely reserved for my razors. Arkansas stones are WAY less permeable.
Live and learn. Make a theory and test. I appreciate everyone's patience. I may report longer term results in the future.
I remember watching an experiment in PETE School, simulating a thin fliud trying to push a thicker fluid through a rock (Enhaced Oil Recovery). Eventually the thin fluid cut through.
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- #18
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