Getting rid of the mess water stones make

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Drafter
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Getting rid of the mess water stones make

Post by Drafter »

Ok so One of my issues with the ep is the mess the stones make. So I opted for the 140 and 400 diamond then the 400 ep and 1000 grit stones then polish tapes I am thinking of opting out of the polish tapes completely and was wondering if I could go strictly diamond then jump to a strop not sure if finishing on a diamond stones would be to toothy I want toothy reason for opting out of polish tapes but I don't want it feel like it was sharpened on a bench grinder . I already have the 140 and 400 maybe I could do 7 micron then 3 micron diamond strop?
Radar53
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Re: Getting rid of the mess water stones make

Post by Radar53 »

Hi Drafter & welcome to the forums.

Yep I seen pictures of some pretty messy rigs and with the stones being upside down while in use, any mud or liquid residues can tend to run onto the knife and then onto the rig itself.

So I try to limit the amount of liquid residues as much as possible. Here's what I do. If a stone needs or benefits from a soaking (read some Nubatamas & some of the EP standard stones plus others) I give them a good soak until there are no more bubbles coming off the stone, remove them from the water and dab them down with a paper towel so that there is no free water about. From there with the soakers and also with the true splash & go stones, I am very stingy with the water I add.

As an aside I add water from the small bottle that comes with the EP, which I fill with water plus half a dozen drop of quality car shampoo. Other people use other additives, but I find that the above works really well for me.

From here I turn the stone face up and add some drops of water to the grinding face of the stone & spread that across the surface using my finger. I let it soak for a few seconds and then dab the surface with a paper towel so that it is moist without being liquid or wet. Hope that makes sense?? Run some strokes and check that the surface is not drying out. (You can hear & feel it if its getting dry.) If it is drying then step & repeat the addition of some more drops. Its harder to describe than actually do and you will get the feel and hang of it after a few times. This pretty much fixes the issue of mess everywhere for most applications.

Apart from use on the harder & more difficult PM steels, I far prefer to use whetstones. Better feel, better feedback, better control & in my opinion a better choice of finish.

I hope that this helps.
Cheers Grant

Just because you're not paranoid doesn't mean they're not going to get you!!
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