Oil on a Thuri

[Tomo]

Today I did the unthinkable. I used oil to hone on a Thuri. Everyone knows that you are not meant to do this. The old Escher labels even contain a warning specifically advising against it.

Apart from @Legion egging me on, I had a couple of reasons for doing this. Firstly, I prefer using oil. I get better finishes from oil with every other type of stone. The keenness of my Thuri edges has always been just short of where I like them. I had a spare rescue stone to test it on. The stone didn’t cost much and for all I know it has been used with oil in the past. I’ve also been playing around with Yellow Lakes recently. They seem to be a very similar material and I am getting fantastic results with oil.

I would not recommend trying this with a high value or mint condition stone. In fact I don’t recommend it at all. It’s breaking every rule there is about of honing with a Thuri. But I’m a bit of a rebel so I did it anyways.

Spoiler: What happened?

It worked great. Honing was smooth. The stone cleaned up easily with dish soap. The edge was like a Thuri edge just sharper. No big deal.

 

[Legion]

Today I did the unthinkable. I used oil to hone on a Thuri. Everyone knows that you are not meant to do this. The old Escher labels even contain a warning specifically advising against it.

Apart from @Legion egging me on, I had a couple of reasons for doing this. Firstly, I prefer using oil. I get better finishes from oil with every other type of stone. The keenness of my Thuri edges has always been just short of where I like them. I had a spare rescue stone to test it on. The stone didn’t cost much and for all I know it has been used with oil in the past. I’ve also been playing around with Yellow Lakes recently. They seem to be a very similar material and I am getting fantastic results with oil.

I would not recommend trying this with a high value or mint condition stone. In fact I don’t recommend it at all. It’s breaking every rule there is about of honing with a Thuri. But I’m a bit of a rebel so I did it anyways.

View attachment 1649369

Spoiler: What happened?

It worked great. Honing was smooth. The stone cleaned up easily with dish soap. The edge was like a Thuri edge just sharper. No big deal.

Nice. I didn’t really think the world would implode.

I’ve used oil on some shale stones, that I now think might be jnats, that were a bit of a pest to degrease after. But I got there after a few repeat trips to the dip, and no harm done. A slate should be easier than that. When those “water only” sticker were printed they had not invented Simple Green.

 

[SliceOfLife]

You sure it's a Thuri? That's a very black stone for a Thuri (could be the oil) and the end we see appears to have fractures in layers that aren't commonly seen in Thuris.

 

[Steve56]

You can also use glycerine, propylene glycol (cigar humidor and ice cream stuff), dishwashing dterergent, and many other water-soluble viscous fluids.

The Japanese do commonly use a water-soluble machine coolant called Duraron which stinks and is a pain to get out of a stone, but apparently it’s what many ‘pros’ use. I’m currently working on one that seems to have been used with a kerosene based something. This isn’t common though.

 

[Gamma]

Lots of woodworkers used oil on Slate hones.. That's a different thing but nobody died either. I've messed with oil on slates often actually, I've had enough of the stuff around here to try just about everything with reckless abandon. Personally, I don't see a point to it when honing razors, other than having said I did it. It seemed to have a limiting effect, definitely not a positive experience. For razors, i would not go there again. For heavy tools, I get it with the right slate. Some slate just turns to mush though.

 

[SliceOfLife]

Only real razor finisher I use with oil are arks. Maybe charns every now and then, but they're more of a soapy water stone for me these days (knives). Coticules are definitely different on oil; and I could see a reason for liking it; but again; water for me. Yeah honestly; only stones I use with oil regularly are my arks... and I think guys using them with water are nuts. So with Charns and Coti's maybe being the crossover stones (and I guess Tams can go in there too)... There's basically a hard divide for me

Oil: Arks and coarse sandstones (QC/Hindo/etc), Synths (India, Crysto)
Water: What else you got?

 

[Tomo]

You sure it's a Thuri? That's a very black stone for a Thuri (could be the oil) and the end we see appears to have fractures in layers that aren't commonly seen in Thuris.

Fairly confident on this one. It does look different with oil on it.

 

[thp001]

I tried this myself a long while back with one of those smaller 5 x 1 Water Razor Hones that come in the little wooden boxes. Worked fine. Lately I’ve been using WD40 on a Shobu Koppa. Again, works fine. There’s an extensive industrial literature on abrasives and lubricants and oils are almost always superior in performance to water or water based fluids. Part of this is that oil reduces wear on the abrasive particles themselves so they cut for a longer duration with higher material removal rates. The advantage to water or water based lubricants are reduced cost and environmental factors. Whether you’re mass grinding thousands of parts a day or rubbing a razor on a rock by hand doesn’t really change things.

 

[Steve56]

Good to see you again in the razor threads @thp001

 

[SliceOfLife]

I'd still lean towards no based on the scars on the sides, but it does look closer to one in those pics. Got shots of the ends?

 

[Empire straights]

My 3 year old daughter put oil on a small tan she snuck out of the drawer while I was honing knives. I was always curious as to how that'd work, guess I'll find out. I've read that oil was recommended against because it would garden the stone(I guess like it does turkey stones). I've always thought that a more crystalline tam would be tops. The tam/ woa I got had a much more crystalline feeling tam, it almost feels like novaculite, and my suspicions were confirmed and a more crystalline tam it amazing. The question, though, is...will putting mineral oil on a blue tam harden it?

 

[JPO]

I only have only one slate type hone. Slurry seems to do more harm then good. I think of the stone like an half cooked novaculite. To me it made more sense to use it with oil (wd40). I am not sure it provides better performance, but I prefer the honing sensation with oil.
When I play with mud and water I use jnat's or coticules.
My sample size is just one, so

 

[Legion]

I only have only one slate type hone. Slurry seems to do more harm then good. I think of the stone like an half cooked novaculite. To me it made more sense to use it with oil (wd40). I am not sure it provides better performance, but I prefer the honing sensation with oil.
When I play with mud and water I use jnat's or coticules.
My sample size is just one, so

My version of a half cooked novaculite, or rather that transitional point between slate and novaculite, is my Glanrafon. I tried it with both water and oil, and the oil edge was definitely more comfy on my skin.

So for me, oil on 100% of novaculite, and I prefer it on maybe 90% of slate (though I do not own a light coloured Thuringian, so factor that in).

Water only on some shale, mudstone, type stones. Oil either doesn't work better, or at least it is so close as to not warrant the mess of oil.

 

[thp001]

I've read that oil was recommended against because it would garden the stone

Never understood this theory myself, these stones have gone through millions of years of heat, pressure, etc to become what they are, but a bit of oil is supposedly meant to harden them? Now maybe if one is using the incorrect oil, namely, some kind of drying oil, that wasn't cleaned off correctly and polymerized on the surface, it would give the appearance of such phenomena but it still wouldn't be hardening the actual rock itself.

 

[Empire straights]

Never understood this theory myself, these stones have gone through millions of years of heat, pressure, etc to become what they are, but a bit of oil is supposedly meant to harden them? Now maybe if one is using the incorrect oil, namely, some kind of drying oil, that wasn't cleaned off correctly and polymerized on the surface, it would give the appearance of such phenomena but it still wouldn't be hardening the actual rock itself.

I don't know if I've ever put it to the test.

 

[SliceOfLife]

My assumption from harden was that the stone would soak up the oil and thusly stop slurrying in use because the absorbed oil would repel water.

 

[Legion]

My assumption from harden was that the stone would soak up the oil and thusly stop slurrying in use because the absorbed oil would repel water.

That makes sense. It would be paste, not slurry.