Calling all neander sharpeners like myself, curious on how to thin down Norton oil without using stinky fumy kerosene, is there a real thin petroleum based product that would be perfect? I find the Norton to be rather too thick in many instances of flattening and honing, blade simply sliding over the stone, not effectively touching it, any advice please?
Thanks all,
Ethyl Acetate?
OMS, odorless mineral spirits, also used as oil paint thinner.
Ray
Had to think about that a little more and yes, your oil should be soluble in ethyl acetate (EtOAc). It has a fruity, estery smell. More pleasant than petroleum based solvents.
Disclaimer: (to prevent a flame war) Although fairly non-toxic, I will not make any other claims as to the safety of EtOAc. Read MSDS before use. Use in a well ventilated area. Use at own risk. etc...
Use less, and it won't be as "thick". The oil should penetrate the stone slightly as the blade is being worked over it. If the manufacturer doesn't say to thin it, then why do so? Thinning might defeat the purpose. Why not write to them and ask their opinion? Otherwise, try mineral spirits.
Use scented lamp oil. Personally, I just use the kerosene.
No clue about Norton oil. I have never used it. I do use Japanese camilla oil and sometimes the oil for air compressors. Both are quite fluid and work well IMO, on many stones. As it happens, I do most of my sharpening on waterstones, so the oil thing is a sideline.
This is why I ask, other than my experience with the oil's thickness. In this page you can pick out some good details as to what is going on with oils for honing and the differences in stones. If everyone in this threads reads all of it, you'll see where I'm at with it, it is a really good read, and enlightening.
Page: "The joys of Arkansas stones":
Seems my favorite idea so far, thanks for that but read my last reply.
Yeah but I am leary of loading the stone with the scents of anyt kind as well as parafin, like it's related to wax?
petroleum based solvents.
of EtOAc. Read MSDS before use. Use in a well
Cool thanks for the fair warning.
Norton oil is nice, you can lube all kindza basic things with it, door hinges, manual egg beater drills, electric fan spindle bearings too, but it seems to be too thick for sharpening on a stone. The camellia is too expensive for that but I am curious about that compressor oil, is it like really thin stuff? Maybe a little thicker than mineral spirits or kerosene?
"AAvK" wrote
For some notes about honing fluids, try a look at my web site - Sharpening Notes - Fluids for Honing.
Jeff G
All "oils," vegetable or mineral are mixtures of various molecular weight ingredients. Take the mineral spirits and thin to get that perfect compromise between abrasion and float.
Paraffin (wax) is just oil made of the heavier fractions.
Dot 3 Brake Fluid works well as a honing oil.
I've switched over to waterstones, but used to use oil stones and brake fluid.
AAvK wrote:
There is unscented lamp oil, which is deoderized kerosene.
ummmmmm. Kerosene... ummmmmm.
Reminds me of jet fuel... That's a bad smell?
Barry
Forget the expensive honing oil. Most of it is just mineral oil. You can buy it on sale at Walgreens for $0.65/ pint. It comes in just the right viscosity for honing. Bugs
My knowledge of organic chemistry is pretty sparce but from what I remember:
There are different structures found in oils. In petroleum oils a common base 'structure is a six carbon ring There are aromatic, aliphatic and parraffinic molecules. In one of the first two, I think it is aromatic, a typical ring is joined to more than two others forming a chickenwire like structure. In a Paraffinic molecule the rings are joined end-to-end by a single bond from one carbon in one ring to a another carbon in the next forming straight chains.
Thus two oil molecules with the same molecular weight can have very different properties. Petroleum distilates may be characterized by the proportion of one of these structures to the others thus haing a high or low aromaticity or parafinicity.
Generaly speaking, paraffinic molecules make good lubricants. Pennsylvania grade crude has a high paraffinicity, hence its reputation for lubricating oils (e.g. Quaker State).
Kerosene, as I recall, has a high parafinicity. I don't know if paraffin wax has a high paraffinicity. It would be ironic if it did not.
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