Old English oil stone: what to do with it?

[Samon]

Hello, I've been rummaging in my tool closet and in a large crate I store sharp tools and gun parts I found an old English oil stone I had bought a while back just sitting there, only having been used about twice by me. It measures about 4", 1" , .5"

It's a nice stone and perfect pocket size, if I recall correctly it's medium-fine and put a nice shiny edge on my knife. But.. I've since aquired a Sypderco doublestuff for my decent stuff and have a crappy (faulty) dc4 stone to sharpen the mucky blades.


This is the stone,




so what do you guys reckon I should do with it.. keep it? use it? get a leather holder made for it and use it as my axe stone? or just pass it on?

Cheers, Samon

[MartiniDave]

Use it, make a holder for it and use it to sharpen anything that needs it, that's what I'd do anyway.

Dave

[Wook]

My experience with traditional oil stones has been mixed. They'll get a blade to the state that most laymen would call it sharp - as in drag your finger across it perpendicularly and think "ooohhh that's a fine edge".

However they don't seem capable of getting a blade to what I personally would call sharp - that is so sharp it shaves the hair off the back of my hand as well as my razor.

However,despite what you may read on this here knife obsessed forums "layman sharp" is more than adequate for an axe that is to to be used for splitting firewood. So the oil stones are perfectly suited to getting a blade into usable condition. They are nice and rough too and make a good first stone for changing or repairing the grind on a blade.

"Scary sharp" is only really needed if you're going to be carving etc. For this role, modern ceramics are undoubtedly better.

[Samon]

Use it, make a holder for it and use it to sharpen anything that needs it, that's what I'd do anyway.

Dave

hmm.. that's what I wanted to do originally, get a hand made belt pouch for it but didn't go through with it because I already had various other pocket jobbies. I could just take the dc4 pouch, remove the stiching and sew it back together inside out so the leather can be used as a strop (like the double stuff) and store this stone inside it.. I keep the dc4 in my bushman sheath pocket anyway.

* @ wook, I've made a knife of mine go from dull to hair popping with this stone, it's not as fine as my ceramics.. but it is good enough to get a decent edge. I'd say 'sharp' is sharp enough for my axe, I don't need to polish and refine it quite like my knives, just can't be arsed or see the need!

[Samon]

I gave this little stone a go yesterday on my axe and it was good, I've decided to keep and use it! I have also ordered some leather thread (artificial sinew) and as the stone fits perfectly in the dc4 leather slip I will be unstitching and turning it inside out (then re stitching) so the good leather can be used a strop, like it should have been in the beginning!

Does anyone know where to get natural stones cut to shape?

[Dingo]

you will need a diamond cutting blade, i dont know wether the standard ones that are readily available will cut that oilstone, you may have to make a trip to the local headstone maker and ask nicely

[MartiniDave]

I use an awful lot of oilstones, both for bushcrafting and professionally as an engineer. I've never really found an oilstone to give a poorer finish than a waterstone of the same grit/grade. You do get more mess with an oilstone in the form of an oily slurry, rather than the waterbased one with waterstones. I do find oilstones a lot more robust than waterstones.

Anyone else got any thoughts?

Dave

[Samon]

ah ok, it's just I've seen natural slate for sale on ebay in large ammounts, and thought it might be worth looking at getting it cut into usable oil stone sizes as finding them new these days is just not gona happen and relying on 40+ year old stones shouldn't be the only option (if you want slate that is).

Oil stones may make a little mroe mess but they do last longer and are tougher. I use a little water with the oil stones I've used, as I find oil a little mucky and water does a good job. Specially if you clean the stone properly before use then only use water.

[Vulpes]

The old oil stones aren't bad to keep around in the shed, garage, etc. I've got 3 of them, in wooden housings. Work alright when you want to sharpen up a plane quickly.