waterstone grit contamination?

[Stanley Covington]

Stanley; I am sharpening an iron to work some wood, not building parts for NASA. Its matters jacky chan to me if there is a bit of dust or contamination from the previous stone worked. If its a water stone, flush the top surface with a squirt bottle and get on with it. If its an oil stone, squirt some oil on the top surface and get on with it. A woodworkers workshop was never meant to be a dust free environment. imo

Stewie;

Its all good Stewie.

The man asked his questions about grit contamination, and we shared some answers. Simple as that. If this kind of fiddly stuff bothers you, just skip over it.

Sometimes grit contamination is a real problem, maybe not for you, but certainly for others. Over the years I have spent a lot of effort investigating, consulting with professional sword sharpeners (polishers), and experimenting to discover effective ways to get the best possible appearance on a blade.

But please recall that my posts, Derek's posts, and Patrick's posts all said it didn't make a difference for practical sharpening of the type you are referring to.

Stan

[Stewie Simpson]

All cool Stanley; the only thing that bothers me on forum sites is the growing trend to make sharpening sound much more complicated than it needs to be. If its made to sound overcomplicated, it has to be good news for the retailers back pocket.


You have a decent knowledge on the Japanese craft of Woodworking, Stanley. Over centuries, They were able to produce some of the finest edges on their chisels and plane irons. What type of stones were they using, Natural or Synthetic.

regards Stewie;

[Stanley Covington]

Natural stones, of course. Such stones can do things to steel that man made stones cannot.

[Pat Barry]

Please refer to controversial video in 'hesitiate to ask sharpening question" thread for a novel idea on drip irrigation method of fresh water application to your sharpening stones.

[Prashun Patel]

I can't speak to the higher grits, because I use Shaptons that don't require any soaking. But my flattening stone and coarser King stones share a pond. I swipe with a paper towel before using.

Also when going up in stones I tend to use a single paper towel to dry the blade in between stones. I am sure that towel has all the grits comingled. My cavalier approach to grit contamination affects the shininess, but doesn't seem to affect the sharpness.


I do find a cleaner stone gives a shinier surface, but I can't say it makes my blades any sharper.

[Patrick McCarthy]

Also when going up in stones I tend to use a single paper towel to dry the blade in between stones. I am sure that towel has all the grits comingled. My cavalier approach to grit contamination affects the shininess, but doesn't seem to affect the sharpness.

OMG Prashun, I am beginning to think you are truly a lost cause. I am just sitting here shaking my head in disbelief.
EVERYONE who knows anything about sharpening KNOWS that the best edge is ONLY possible IF you fold the paper towel correctly! Most all sharpening problems can be directly trace back to improper technique in folding the paper towel - - - - and I am assuming you are at least using the recommended grade of paper towel. My personal preference is a boutique brand made by a girl named Kimberly Clark . . . . and , in particular, her blue ones nicknamed Scott or Shop or both.
Of Course, this recommendation is hemisphere specific. If you are in a different hemisphere your choice of paper towel may be impacted, what with the counter-clockwise flow of the rinse water down the drain, etc, etc, etc.

[ken hatch]

Natural stones, of course. Such stones can do things to steel that man made stones cannot.

I'm not sure why nor do I really care but I couldn't agree more but with just one small caveat that the stone and steel "match".

Having said that I do have an unscientific opinion....it has to do with the random size and shape of the natural stone's abrading particles leaving more of a smooth matte finish vs. ordered relatively deep scratches from man made stones. Of course as always I could be full of 'it" and also YMMV.

ken

[Rob Luter]

Great advice, thanks. I also have plans in the works to replace all the harmful reactive air in my shop with an inert gas (dried and filtered). I'm down to argon or xenon. Any recommendations?

Argon works great and is pretty cheap. Get lab grade and it's already pure and dry. The downside is that if you breath it (and nothing else) you'll suffocate. I guess if you're committed to keeping your tools nice......

[Brian Holcombe]

I have had contamination, it's quite annoying so about once weekly I wash my stones (phrasing?) and work their surfaces in a sink under running water.

I use a spray bottle in the shop, but I have a backsplash and no nearby tools.

[Simon MacGowen]

I make allowances within my diary to commit at least 8hrs of prep work before the tool actually makes contact with the wood surface. Less time is needed if your just working the cutting edge on a leather strop.

Fantastic! The best post ever about sharpening! Can't believe that some people can get so obsessed with sharpening that in their minds, woodworking should actually be removed from the dictionary and be replaced with "sharpening" or "honing."

Simon