cleaning gunge of oil stone any tips

[Graham Orm]

WD40 and a paper towel with a squirt-dab-squirt-dab process. The WD lifts the gunge and the towel soaks it away.

 

[Cheshirechappie]

I am interested to know why baby oil works?

It's a light mineral oil. According to the blurb on my bottle, the ingredients are "Paraffinum Liquidum, Isopropyl Palminate and Parfum". The 'parfum' is pretty mild as parfums go, and I've no idea what the isopropyl palminate does. It's also 'hypoallergenic and dermatologically tested' apparently - so better for the old digits than a dose of diesel.

My bottle cost me £4-25 in Boots, and contains 500ml. A brief and unscientific search showed 3-in-1 oil at £3-95 for 100ml at Axi, and £2-25 for 100ml in Wilkinson's, so the baby oil works out significantly cheaper. I daresay a gallon of paraffin (or lamp oil) would be cheaper again.

It's just a thickening agent

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isopropyl_palmitate

Ah - thank you Carl - that makes sense. Paraffin is thin and runny stuff, and the baby oil is about the same consistency as 3-in-1, or maybe a bit thinner, so I can see how a thickening agent would help. As far as we're concerned it's good, because it tends to stay on the stone and not soak through instantly or run off the sides.

 

[Cheshirechappie]

I am interested to know why baby oil works?

It's a light mineral oil. According to the blurb on my bottle, the ingredients are "Paraffinum Liquidum, Isopropyl Palminate and Parfum". The 'parfum' is pretty mild as parfums go, and I've no idea what the isopropyl palminate does. It's also 'hypoallergenic and dermatologically tested' apparently - so better for the old digits than a dose of diesel.

My bottle cost me £4-25 in Boots, and contains 500ml. A brief and unscientific search showed 3-in-1 oil at £3-95 for 100ml at Axi, and £2-25 for 100ml in Wilkinson's, so the baby oil works out significantly cheaper. I daresay a gallon of paraffin (or lamp oil) would be cheaper again.

Mine costs 99p for 300ml in Aldi. Mind you, I go through about two bottles a week! :shock:

All the best.
Adam

Excellent information - I'll have a firtle in my local supermarket next time I'm buying the weekly baked bean ration.

How does one go about economising on oilstone oil? The oil can stay on the stone for so long - a working day perhaps - but it has to be wiped off periodically to remove the abraded metal, or things just start to clog up. I like to wipe my stones off completely at the end of a working day, so have to start fresh next time, but as I'm in the workshop about one day a fortnight on average at the moment, oil consumption is hardly excessive.

Does the pro just have to accept that oilstone oil is an unavoidable consumable, and live with the consequent cost?

 

[Jacob]

....
How does one go about economising on oilstone oil? The oil can stay on the stone for so long - a working day perhaps - but it has to be wiped off periodically to remove the abraded metal, or things just start to clog up. I like to wipe my stones off completely at the end of a working day, so have to start fresh next time, but as I'm in the workshop about one day a fortnight on average at the moment, oil consumption is hardly excessive.

Does the pro just have to accept that oilstone oil is an unavoidable consumable, and live with the consequent cost?

Yes unavoidable and don't be mean with it! It's not expensive - a litre would go a long way ( a year or so?). It goes further if you keep it clean with a rare earth magnet passed over the stone. In regular use you don't have to wipe it off each day - but you do if you are likely to leave it for long as it will dry and leave gunge behind.
I suppose if you were doing a lot of hand sharpening you might look at diesel oil, as the cheapest.

 

[Racers]

I guess water stones have the lowest cost lubricant but the highest wear rate, oil stones might cost about the same in the long run considering wear/lubricant costs.

Pete

 

[Jacob]

WD 40 5L for £21. Say £5 a year in normal use? Oil stones last for life. Won't break the bank!

 

[DTR]

WD 40 5L for £21. Say £5 a year in normal use? Oil stones last for life. Won't break the bank!

Factor in the price of a new spray bottle though; my one's naff and leaks everywhere (hammer)

 

[Billy Flitch]

As mentioned before I put mine in the dish washer a couple years ago, I use dish soap cut with water in a spray bottle to hone,on my oil stones ,water stones and diamond plate no problems yet and I don't think you can get cheaper.

 

[Cheshirechappie]

....
How does one go about economising on oilstone oil? The oil can stay on the stone for so long - a working day perhaps - but it has to be wiped off periodically to remove the abraded metal, or things just start to clog up. I like to wipe my stones off completely at the end of a working day, so have to start fresh next time, but as I'm in the workshop about one day a fortnight on average at the moment, oil consumption is hardly excessive.

Does the pro just have to accept that oilstone oil is an unavoidable consumable, and live with the consequent cost?

Yes unavoidable and don't be mean with it! It's not expensive - a litre would go a long way ( a year or so?). It goes further if you keep it clean with a rare earth magnet passed over the stone. In regular use you don't have to wipe it off each day - but you do if you are likely to leave it for long as it will dry and leave gunge behind.
I suppose if you were doing a lot of hand sharpening you might look at diesel oil, as the cheapest.

Diesel might not be the best option. Apart from the risk of contact dermatitis, health concerns are not really a problem ( http://www.hpa.org.uk/webc/hpawebfile/h ... 4947407341 ) unless you ingest it or beathe in too many fumes, but it's thin, runny stuff that won't stay on the surface of a porous stone such as the common or garden Norton India (unless you kept the stone in a diesel bath and fished it out when you needed to use it).

Then there's the smell - I don't mind it, but not everybody does, and it permeates everything. It's not as bad as petrol or white spirit, but having open baths of flammable liquids lying around in the workshop does add a bit to the hazards of fire, too.

Edit to add - a good soak in diesel might be a good first step in cleaning a clogged stone, though. Diesel makes a very good solvent for baked on gunge, and it'll get into the stone's pores and loosen deeply ingrained oil residues.

 

[G S Haydon]

I'm sure I was alerted to the idea of using baby oil from a post on this forum and when I searched "baby oil honing" in tinterweb there were a good few out there using it too. What attracted me was the lack of risk from dermatitis. I did not feel happy using straight petrol type stuff and Norton's honing oil is a little pricey which leads on to. It's low cost (we only have lidl in North Devon so no aldi for me, will check lidl next time though) and after using it how well it worked.
If I can get it for a quid from a german supermarket all the better. Once it's a £1 outlay any concerns on cost would be, for me at least, firmly on the shelf.

 

[jimi43]

Oil stone...if it's synthetic carbide type I'd be tempted just to ditch it in that condition and get a new one. They are two a penny on FleaBay.

AND...you can get some seriously good ones...I recommend this one:

CLICKITY CLICK

For finer work... and for reshaping and coarse work...a brand new India stone would suffice..it's probably what you have already...

CLICKITY CLICK

You will probably pay less for new ones than what it would cost for cleaning fluids for the old one!

Jimi

 

[Jacob]

Well yes except it might be worth cleaning off the surface of an old stone (3m Diapad + white spirit or thin oil) as you will have to do this at intervals even with a new one.

 

[MMUK]

I use old diesel to clean my stones. I remember having to drain the tank of my old Peugeot van after my lacky managed to put 4 gallons of unleaded in the tank. Being too tight to throw it away, I stored the 10 gallons or so and use it for cleaning.

As for oil, I use supermarket value brand mineral oil, usually 10/40 or 20/50, whichever is cheaper. Last load cost me £3.99 for a gallon.