Got a Japanese water stone as a gift a while back, and last night, while installing a deadbolt, my chisel said "If you'd sharpen me more than once in
10 years, this door would be finished by now". :-) The funny writing on the stone's box is of no help. How long do they need to be soaked before use?The presoaking time can vary on the dimension of the stone. Because I use mine so often, I leave them in a covered plastic tub. And if you wish to do that and have a shop area which might freeze, you can add some antifreeze to the water. Then you are armed and ready at any time to sharpen.
Wayne
Varies a lot depending on the stone, particularly the coarseness of it.
A stone is "wet" when you can splash water on the top surface and it doesn't sink straight into it. For my hard stones (mainly the fine stones) this is a matter of a few splashes and letting them sit for a moment. For the 1000 King "brick", it's an hour's soaking in its pond.
My stones up to 1500 grit are stored wet, in Tupperware boxes. I keep them inside the house to avoid frost, and a splash of TCP stops algae growing. Stones finer than this, or natural stones (because of their cost), are stored dry and soaked as needed.
In use, a "stone" doesn't cut, the wet slurry on the top does the cutting. So keep it wet, but don't try to wash it clean. I just dribble a bit from my fingertips.
This one says "1200" on the box. It's 8x3 by 2" thick. Into the water it goes! I need to use it by the end of the day.
"Doug Kanter" wrote in news:BtOfd.831$ snipped-for-privacy@news02.roc.ny:
I took a sharpening class at the local adult ed. One of the takeaways was a piece of plexi, with three or four grits of good wet/dry sandpaper affixed to it, plus a small leather strop.
This now lives in the 'portable' toolbox, for edge touchup on a moment's notice.
Dull chisels and planes are a misery, and a danger, to the operator and to the workpiece.
Patriarch
"patriarch snipped-for-privacy@nospam.comcastDOTnet" "Doug Kanter" wrote in
Well, luckily, my chisels have been used very little, and stored in a way that protects their edges. They're not dull, but at the same time, they've lost that nice, almost-scary-sharp edge.
Does the anti-freeze do anything to damage the properties and/or strength of the stone?
I have delayed buying a tormek because my shop is unheated and I live in CT where at least 3-4 months of the year I'll have temperatures below freezing. I never really thought of using antifreeze because it seems that the chemical would do something to the stone, but maybe I'm completely out to lunch about this.
How long have you been doing this (and I'm assuming you haven't had problems or else you wouldn't still do it)?
Mike
According to Leonard Lee in his book The Complete Guide to Sharpening, soaking in antifreeze is a bad idea, as some af 's can dissolve the resin bond.
I use scarry sharp, so I don't have a lot of experirnce with stones. But I've heard that water stones saturate faster if you stand them on a long side and leave the other long side 1/16" proud of the water bath. This allows a pathway for the air to flow out. If they're totally submerged the water can trap the air.
till the bubbles stop coming out.
It should fill in about 30 minutes or so. Avoid the anti-freeze though, it can affect the binder.
It's not the kind of stuff you want to have a lot of skin contact with.
Nope - no antifreeze. I usually keep my house above 32 degrees. The houseplants like it that way. By the way, if you want to mystify your friends, do what I did: Put the stone in a stainless steel mixing bowl to soak. For about 20 minutes, the bubbles released must have created some sort of vibration because the bowl was making a tone similar to what you get when you run your wet finger around the edge of a lead crystal wine glass, but at a much lower volume. I thought the bubbles themselves were doing it, but when I grabbed the bowl, it stopped.
This could be the next big New Age thing, now that wearing crystals has become a tired idea. :-)
A half hour should be enough. While in use, keep a drip on the stone or use a spray bottle.
Had mine - about 4 different grits with 3 mounted on wood - soaking for the past 20 years in a covered plastic bucket to which I add a tablespoon of bleach to keep any critters and algae down.
Whatever kind of wood ( teak ?) and glue was used, it has NOT hurt them a bit and they are like new.
I change the water about once or twice a year.
OK....so I need to soak my stone for 20 years before I can use it? :-)
Thanks to everyone for the tips provided. The stone worked beautifully, making the chisels razor sharp. So well, in fact, that while juggling the chisel between two hands to grab another tool, I sliced the f**k out of one of my fingers. It was like a paper cut - didn't notice it until I spotted the blood on the floor. But, that's OK. The striker plate in the door jamb is installed like a work of art. :-)
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