Oilstones stored in Kerosene

[Doug Mason]

I have read in various places that some people store their oilstones in kerosene. I am interpretting this to mean that they simply fill a bucket w/enough kerosene to submerge the stones--and then bring them out for use.Anyone familiar w/this practice? Pros/cons.

[David DeCristoforo]

Never heard of storing stones in kero but lots of guys use it instead of oil or cut their oil with it. It's good for cleaning stones too but it stinks! Oil stones generally don't need complete saturation like water stones do so it would be unnecessary to keep them immersed.

[Joel Moskowitz]

for arkansas stones it probably doesn't do much one way or another, but for india stones it will dissolve the oil fill in the stone and the stone will clog much more easily.

[David Gilbert]

I don't think that soaking or storing oil stones in kerosene will do them much good. I agree that the kerosene smells and it is also a serious fire hazzard.

I've been using lamp oil to lubricate all my stones (diamond, oil, and Scary Sharp sandpapers). It has almost no smell at all and lubricates very well. It also cleans off the gray sludge that seems to build up on the oil stones if you don't keep them well lubricated. My bottle of lamp oil is about a quart in size and describes the contents as "liquid paraffin" and as containing petroleum distillates. I don't know what lilquid paraffin is chemically but petroleum distillates are a refined set of hydrocarbons that are similar to kerosene but without the smell. You can even get it in different colors. I find that this works much better than heavier oils for sharpening my planes and chisels. I expect my current bottle to last for another several years......

[Don Orr]

Liquid Paraffin is also known as Mineral Oil. Lamp oil is a little thinner viscosity, probably due to the the "petroleum distillates". I use Mineral oil cut with a little Mineral spirits on my oil stones. Probaly very similar to lamp oil. Lubes well and helps keep the stones clean. I doubt keeping them in kerosene would be of any great advantage. Might not hurt natural stones but might be a problem with synthetic stones long term, depending on what is used to hold the particles together.