Academy Notes and Tips - Clean Cuts

Academy Notes and Tips

JAN/FEB 2004
Volume 47/Issue 1

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Project Articles
• A New Kitchen
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• Gallery Rail Paper Towel Holder

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Academy Notes
Clean Cuts - Pt. 4- Using Oriental Waterstones

Service Pointers
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Safety Tips
Router Safety

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Bandsaw Cover and 6" Drum Sander Sleeves

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From the Shopsmith Woodworking Academy
Clean Cuts -- Part 4--Using Oriental Waterstones
Printer friendly PDF copy of article (609K)

Using them well
You'll soon notice that cutting steel with these softer, more porous waterstones feels a lot different than cutting steel with an oilstone. In fact, using a waterstone is a lot like dragging a huge chunk of chalk across a good, dry chalkboard. There's a pleasant resistance...a feeling of control. As you push your tool's edge across the surface of the stone, it will tell you that the steel is being cut. This is in contrast to the feeling you get when using a well-oiled Hard Arkansas oilstone, for instance, where your tool seems to float frictionless across the stone's surface...with little or no feeling of resistance.

There's also a difference in the sound when using these stones. Some claim the sound of using a coarse waterstone starts out low and a little dull...then, as the edge gets sharper, begins to increase in pitch. At the point of the highest pitch, they judge the tool's edge to be sharp. For many, it's this combination of increased “feel” and “sound” that gives them a clearer mental image of what's actually happening...than what they get when using oilstones.

So, how fast do they really cut steel? Our tests indicate that a coarse silicon-carbide oilstone cuts faster than an 800-grit (coarse) waterstone...which, in turn, cuts a lot like a medium India oilstone.

A caution: Since waterstones are more porous and thus, “softer” than oilstones, you must be careful not to gouge or dent them with your tools. Narrow-edged and round-edged tools should be honed on the stone's edge to avoid damaging its surfaces.

First step for use: FLATTENING
How soft are waterstones? The stone-flattening process that should ideally occur before each use of the stone will answer this for you. Waterstones...just like oilstones...must be flat to produce a true edge. An irregular stone will only transfer its irregularities to the edge of the tool you're sharpening (see Fig. 3).

Fig. 3 All benchstones - whether oil or water lubricated - MUST be FLAT! Check this prior to each use.

To flatten the surface of a waterstone, start by using a sheet of 220-grit, wed/dry silicon-carbide sandpaper or the sanding screens used by drywallers. Place either type of sheet on a solid, flat surface such as a sheet of glass or a scrap piece of laminated countertop. Use one hand (as shown in Fig. 4), positioned in the middle of the stone to rub it flat, keeping your sandpaper or sanding screen thoroughly wet throughout the process.

Fig. 4 Flattening a waterstone. Keep one hand positioned in the middle of the stone.

You'll know the stone's flat when all the surface marks from previous honings are removed. It also helps to dry the stone with a rag, then check it by holding a straightedge across the surface as you hold it up to the light. If light shines through where the straightedge meets the stone's surface, you're not finished. All in all, it's a quick, easy process that's a lot faster than flattening an oilstone. After flattening, it's a good idea to create a small, 1/32" to 1/16" wide bevel on each edge of a waterstone to make it less susceptible to chipping and gouging. Just a few strokes of light pressure is all that's needed.

Continue . . .