Most of my sharpening stones are water stones and it is what I have typically used. My Father owns some BEAR branded stones (that I do not use, but expect to have someday), and I was recently given a couple of stones.
One of the stones says BEAR brand Medium India Oilstone MB6, Another Norton Product. I maintain a reference document that lists a Medium India as roughly 53 microns or close to a 220 - 240 grit sandpaper here in the states.
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I also have this combination stone. I am not sure precisely which it is since it contains no markings, but I am pretty sure that it is a Norton / Bear Crystolon stone. Medium and course or Medium and fine, not sure which.
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So I was using the Crystolon to sharpen my hatchet and I thought "hey, this is an oil stone, I should put oil on it".... So I added some mineral oil to the stone, and it just pretty much disappeared into the stone like a bit of water on a dry sponge. Not having ever used these before, I was unsure if this was normal or not, so I simply stopped. Figured I should ask before I just kept dumping mineral oil onto the stone.
So, what is a good regiment for this stone? I am a bit embarrassed that I have no idea. I don't want to clog it up or render it unusable. I assume that I can flatten it the same as I would my water stones.
I suppose that I also never gave much thought as to how I should sharpen my hatchet. I have been using it a lot lately so I need to sharpen it. I think that some people uses files rather than stones. I should probably just google it, but, obviously I chose to use this stone, and it did a pretty good job, but it felt awkward, and I don't really have a good way to hold the head while I sharpen it. Wait, I should not hijack my own thread.... So, how do I use those oil stones?