[boar_d_laze]

Originally Posted by enny

i have sharpened my knives with vegetable oil before... worked just fine and i dont see the need to go and buy oil especially. it might be a bit cheaper but its only a few drops so whatever

Vegetable oil dries out, becomes very sticky and clogs the stone. It is very much a thing of "those who don't know any better," and the reason so many restaurant tri-hones sit abandoned and useless.

BDL

[welldonechef]

Originally Posted by DReed3

goood morning!

i was wondering if someone could chime in and tell me...where can i buy some oil to sharpen my knives? i borrowed 2 stones from a friend, but she didnt have any oil so i need to pick some up. i was hoping to avoid getting ripped off in a kitchen store if there is an alternative place to get some.

and what do i need to buy... mineral oil, right?

thanks

Dave

Right you are. A lot of cooks use vegetable oil when sharpening their knives. After a while the oil goes rancid, and your stone smells awful. Mineral oil will not go rancid, so it is your best bet. Make sure to clean your knife after you are finished sharpening it.

[boar_d_laze]

Originally Posted by welldonechef

Right you are. A lot of cooks use vegetable oil when sharpening their knives. After a while the oil goes rancid, and your stone smells awful. Mineral oil will not go rancid, so it is your best bet. Make sure to clean your knife after you are finished sharpening it.

You are soooooo right about mineral oil's superiority over vegetable cooking and salad oils. You can't repeat it too often or with too much emphasis:

DON'T USE VEGETABLE OIL ON STONES!

AND FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE, DON'T USE VEGETABLE OIL ON A RESTAURANT KITCHEN'S TRI-HONE!!!

Rancidity is the least of it. Most vegetable oils (including all of those you're likely to find in a kitchen), if left on the stone for any length of time, turn into a sort of very thick gummy residue. When you sharpen, the (fresh) oil mixes with swarf (aka the metal filings and dust that comes off the knife during sharpening); which works into the pores of the stones; then when the work is finished and the stone rests unused for a couple of weeks, the oil/swarf partially dries and clogs the stone; rendering it useless.

The stones can be thoroughly cleaned immediately afterwards with kerosene or mineral spirits; a metal brush and cleanser; run through the dishwasher, or boiled with dishwasher detergent in a pan; and stored dry. But that's an awful lot of maintenance to do after every sharpening session just for the convenience of not going to the hardware store for special purpose "honing oil;" or the going to the pharmacy for mineral oil and mixing your own honing oil with mineral spirits or kerosene (which you already probably have in your garage).

BDL

[enny]

thanks for the advice on veg oil, good thing ive only done it a couple of times.
started working with a new chef and he told me to use dish washing liquid for both water and oil stones. he has had his current stone for 2 years and it still works fine

[boar_d_laze]

Originally Posted by enny

... [I] started working with a new chef and he told me to use dish washing liquid for both water and oil stones. he has had his current stone for 2 years and it still works fine

Soap, eh? Sounds like it would be a good way to cut any grease which happens to get on the stone, but how would it help the sharpening process more than water? The idea of oil isn't to lubricate the stone -- in fact that's an unfortunate byproduct. Rather the idea is to keep the swarf from clogging the stone.

I actually tried soap, but moved back to honing oil, on to plain water, and then dry sharpening, after learning from a sharpening guru, excellent amateur cabinet maker, superb dolly-grip, great humanitarian and a close personal friend for many years, that the oil's purpose was not to lubricate the stone -- which like nearly everyone else I'd assumed to be true. Soap made maintenance a lot better than vegetable oil or WD-40, in the "First, do no harm," sense. But it sure made sharpening sloooooooooow. So, while dishwaser soap and scouring powder are effective parts of stone maintenance, I just don't see dish-soap as being more useful than a spritzer full of plain water.

Quality stones like Norton Indias or any Arkansas should last years and years -- needing only regular cleaning and perhaps a lapping and/or flattening every couple of years. That your chef got two years out of his, and it's still working like new (one hopes), shows that at least soap isn't hurting anything. A very good thing. The questions of how sharp his knives are, and how long it takes him to sharpen are also important.

At the end of the day, I'm agnostic on anyone else's method. Whatever works.

BDL

[enny]

you learn something new everyday.
you gave me something actually worth remembering =p
i always thought the oil was a lube, knowing this i will be sure to go and buy some proper oil for my rock
thanks for the info XD

i have one more thing i need to know though,
if an oil stone uses the oil to stop **** getting in its pores...
how does a water stone work ??