Favorite oilstone "oil" and why.

[Kyle89]

So what's your favorite oil (or not oil) that you use on your oilstones?

Personally I have mountains of mineral oil and have every intention of using it up, but haven't experimented with much other than that. I've tried dawn dish soap on my arks and it was fine for knives, but I'm afraid I'll lose my grip with soapy fingers when finishing a razor. I know some guys use glycerin, watered down mixes of stuff, olive oil,WD-40...

If anyone has a story of "man once I tried Smiths I haven't looked back" or something similar, I'd love to hear it.

Is your preferred libricant due to ease of cleanup? Cheap? No stink? Or is it based on edge results?

I'd love to hear what you use and why.

 

[Herrenberg]

Once I tried Norton Honing oil, I never looked back.

It doesn't smell at all, which is more than I can say for a lot of things people use.

It has the right viscosity for the job, or at least the viscosity that suits me.

Haven't really done any thinking beyond those two criteria, nor had any notion that I needed to.

 

[Wid]

I like a mixture of Mineral oil/trans fluid/Diesel fluid
60/20/20

Dans is pretty nice too.

 

[Legion]

I use Diggers Paraffin oil (mineral oil).

People say plain mineral oil is too thick for honing razors, but I've never had much problem, especially when the weather is warm.

 

[Gamma]

Depends. outside of mineral oil, I don't like using petroleum oils. Not into saturated stones leaking oil and stinking. I like the smell of 3-in-1 but in the garage, not inside my house. Not really a big fan of honing on mineral oil either but I"ll use it sometimes just because it's there. Don't really like the feel of honing with oil on my hands.

I choose what to use based on mood really. I get the same edge using water/soap as I do glycerine/water. I just like the way one feels over the other sometimes and I might just grab mineral oil because it's right in front of me. There are two other oils that I use one cleans up with just water and that's a major plus for me. The other is sorta unobtanium and not something I'd recommend looking for.

Used Smith's honing solution once - felt weird, like it had silicone in it, didn't like the feel.

 

[Empire straights]

Plain old cheap mineral oil or lather, that's it.

 

[Christian1212]

I've used Dan's oil, nortons oil, and ballistol. Dans has been my favorite. I have used lather/soap and water mixtures but I don't enjoy the feel as much.

 

[cugel]

Baby Oil. Only thing I have tried on an Ark. It seems to work fine for me. The smell I could do w/o though.

 

[Legion]

Baby Oil. Only thing I have tried on an Ark. It seems to work fine for me. The smell I could do w/o though.

Baby oil is just mineral oil with that scent added. It's probably the cheapest way to go, but I pay the extra for basic mineral oil because the smell of baby oil is yuck.

 

[Wombat ESQ]

Spit, cheap, organic, on tap anytime
or
Diesel, the scented variety

Oh, why? Me father used spit, and in a tannery where trimming hides was 8hour a day knife use diesel was the option of choice, a stone lasted six? maybe twelve months only, four trimmers stoning knives twice a day? the best of them would just push a knife through a bull hide, no sawing it through.

 

[marv]

Kerosene and diesel oil work well, but they smell too bad to be used in the home. I always keep my Turkish Oil stones in oil. I have a village house 65 km away from the city. I use them in my workshop there. I only oil my arkansas or other oil stones when I'm going to use them. I usually use thin oil like Singer machine oil or baby oil. sometimes Wd40 etc. To be honest, these are all usable oils and I don't notice any huge differences.

 

[Legion]

Kerosene and diesel oil work well, but they smell too bad to be used in the home. I always keep my Turkish Oil stones in oil. I have a village house 65 km away from the city. I use them in my workshop there. I only oil my arkansas or other oil stones when I'm going to use them. I usually use thin oil like Singer machine oil or baby oil. sometimes Wd40 etc. To be honest, these are all usable oils and I don't notice any huge differences.

You keep your Turkeys in a bath of oil? I've thought of that, but I've gotten to the point where it would have to be a big bath. They do dry out though, if you are not using them regularly.

 

[marv]

@Legion Yes, I keep them in oil all the time. I live in Turkiye. These Turkish Oil stones are the most popular stones used in Turkey from past to present. Carpenters, cutlers, etc. Almost everyone uses Turkish Oil stone. The way I mentioned.

 

[Alum of Potash]

I don't have favorites as a rule. For me it has to do with viscosity. At a more aggressive level, I appreciate an oil with more viscosity, such as mineral oil (aka paraffin oil) whereas at a finer level, I prefer less viscosity (such as Singer sewing machine oil or any such light machine oil).

As for vegetable oils, I'm still working on finding the magic bullet there. Perhaps good old olive oil might be the trick, moving from extra-virgin cold pressed (more viscous) towards more refined olive oil designed to be used in cooking (less viscous).

That said, perhaps there is an argument for starting out with a less viscous oil at the start (so as to have a "heavy hand") before ending with something more viscous at the end (so as to have a "lighter touch")? That would seem to run counter to the slurry to water finish argument in using natural water stones though, if that's a feasible analogy.

 

[sexy beast]

I don't use oil at all. I dish soap and tap water. Around 1/15 or 1/10 ratio depending on the brand of dish soap. Works well for me over the past few years on my Arks and I'm thinking of using it on my coticules on my next honing session as an experiment.

 

[Kyle89]

Enjoyed reading these answers, thanks guys. I'll never forget finding my Hindo and trying to figure out what amalgamation of fluids the thing must have been doused in. I'd love to ask the original owner his rationale but I'm sure the answer would have been "because that's what I have" and rolled with it. I keep it at my parents house because I don't want it in my place haha.

I had a conversation with a friend of mine who either uses either WD40 or Olive Oil, which I thought was really interesting and made me curious as to what ya'll personally use. Wasn't expecting so many different answers.

 

[Empire straights]

Enjoyed reading these answers, thanks guys. I'll never forget finding my Hindo and trying to figure out what amalgamation of fluids the thing must have been doused in. I'd love to ask the original owner his rationale but I'm sure the answer would have been "because that's what I have" and rolled with it. I keep it at my parents house because I don't want it in my place haha.

I had a conversation with a friend of mine who either uses either WD40 or Olive Oil, which I thought was really interesting and made me curious as to what ya'll personally use. Wasn't expecting so many different answers.

I would highly recommend plain mineral oil on a hindo.

 

[duke762]

Try stuff and see what you prefer and can stand the smell of. I use mineral oil on carbo's and courser India's. Rarely will I use mineral oil on Arks of any type. Maybe on Washita's, if I'm doing grinding that I should have done on India's or carbo's.

My thing is WD-40 and if you've never tried it, give it a shot. Fine India's, Washitsa's, and my Black\Trans finishers, all get the WD-40. I don't mind the smell, I've never seen anything lift swarf and keep it suspended like WD does and the watery consistency\low viscosity, is the bee's knee's for Black\Trans Arks. I works nice on Coticules and some impervious slates (silk stone) also.

 

[Empire straights]

Try stuff and see what you prefer and can stand the smell of. I use mineral oil on carbo's and courser India's. Rarely will I use mineral oil on Arks of any type. Maybe on Washita's, if I'm doing grinding that I should have done on India's or carbo's.

My thing is WD-40 and if you've never tried it, give it a shot. Fine India's, Washitsa's, and my Black\Trans finishers, all get the WD-40. I don't mind the smell, I've never seen anything lift swarf and keep it suspended like WD does and the watery consistency\low viscosity, is the bee's knee's for Black\Trans Arks. I works nice on Coticules and some impervious slates (silk stone) also.

"Try stuff" if the best advice in the whole thread.

 

[Empire straights]

Try stuff and see what you prefer and can stand the smell of. I use mineral oil on carbo's and courser India's. Rarely will I use mineral oil on Arks of any type. Maybe on Washita's, if I'm doing grinding that I should have done on India's or carbo's.

My thing is WD-40 and if you've never tried it, give it a shot. Fine India's, Washitsa's, and my Black\Trans finishers, all get the WD-40. I don't mind the smell, I've never seen anything lift swarf and keep it suspended like WD does and the watery consistency\low viscosity, is the bee's knee's for Black\Trans Arks. I works nice on Coticules and some impervious slates (silk stone) also.

Side note, I was unaware WD-40 had a smell and that sounds awesome on an india. I've been tempted to soak an india down with a can of rem oil.