Originally Posted by
Luke Dupont
Stewie, I appreciate the helpful intentions, but...
Patrick's solution addresses my problem.
Yours does not (if you are arguing against using vaseline or some equivelent).
I know to use oil on my stones. My problem is that they (well, the two particular ones in question) continuously soak up the oil like a sponge and immediately become bone dry, no matter how much oil I put on them. Patrick's answer provides a logical solution that has yet to be ruled out.
Logic trumps any specs or manufacturer advice that you can find. Manufacturers do not include all possible relevant information in their product's description. Sometimes, for whatever reason, a stone may be in a condition which is less than optimal, and un-predicted or predictable but simply unaddressed. In that case, one has to use make a logical hypothesis, and test it. Moreover, frankly, manufacturers are usually far too conservative and narrow when it comes to advice regarding the best use of their product, because they know that people can be irresponsible or incompetent and don't want to be blamed for it. Baking a stone in vaseline definitely is not something that a manufacturer would recommend for liability reasons, even if it is a perfectly valid solution.
I can appreciate your point that it may possibly inhibit the cutting action, but currently, I cannot even get oil to stay on the stone long enough to carry the metal particles away, and it's the metal particles which are doing the most to inhibit cutting in the stone's current state. So on whole, I am not concerned, as the net effect is still likely to be very positive.