6000 Waterstone.

[mudman]

Bought myself a nice big 6000 waterstone at Woodex to get something a bit finer than the 4000 I already have.
Tried it out on the blade of my new bevel-up jointer.
With the 4000, I usually just spray some water onto the surface and then rub a nagura over it to work up a slurry. However, with the new stone, when I sprayed it, the water sank into the stone almost instantly. I wasn't able to raise a slurry with the nagura either, seemingly because the stone was dry.
I tried reading the instructions but they are in Japanese. :?

Am I doing something wrong here? Do I need to soak the stone perhaps?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[MikeW]

Hi Barry,

Can't help with the Japanese writing--and probably not with the stone. Just wanted to say I have never experienced a waterstone that fine which soaked up the water like that.

Perhaps you could soak it, use the nagura and use it to see what kind of finish the metal receives. It's possible it was mis-packaged.

That said, I personally would think about keeping a waterstone that fine which required soaking.

Take care, Mike

 

[MIGNAL]

I have the King brand 8000 grit waterstone and it's quite easy to work up a slurry. I don't spray the stone but drizzle an amount of water so that it runs off the stone, leave it to soak for a few minutes before sharpening. I think the coarser grits are supposed to be permanently bathed in water but not so the finer ones?

 

[engineer one]

i bought a fine white stone last year from turners retreat, and have found it difficult to get this to provide a slurried surface too,
mine is a SUEHIRO 6000-1 on a wooden base.
be interesting to flatten too.
what i found was it picked up a lot of black muck, and was difficult to
break the "stick" between stone and tool. gone back to my King Bear.

certainly the story is to keep the coarse ones in water, the
fine one misted or whatevet to keep wet, then use the nagura.
but who knows??? :?
paul :wink:

 

[JesseM]

I have a Norton 8000 and when I first used it it seemed a little dry. I soaked it for about 10 minutes and flattened it a few times and it finally started acting like my other stones. I don't know why it was different at first, maybe it was sitting around for a while. I have a King 4000 and 8000 and neither were that way initially. Needless to say the Norton seems to be as good now.

BTW I usually don't use a Nagura myself, although I do have one. I use a diamond stone to flatten it. Usually after several strokes it starts building up a slurry anyway.

 

[Anonymous]

Barry

That sounds more like a 1000 grit stone. In my experience, 1000 grit soak up water that is sprayed on it like a sponge - I have two 1000 grit and both do this.

However, my 6000 does not soak it at all and behaves like your 4000

You should not have to soak a 6000 grit and I am thinking you may not actually have a 6000 grit stone :?

 

[mudman]

Thanks for all the replies everyone.

I must admit that I was wondering that if I could read the box that it might say 'oilstone'?

Definitely a fine grade stone, you can tell the difference between it and my 1000 grit one.

Didn't get much of a chance to play with it last weekend so I'll have another look at it tonight.

Intersting that Jesse experienced the same thing as me and that the Norton appears to be similar.

I was wondering if this particular stone needs an initial soaking and thereafter just the misting as usual? I think that I'll give it a go after an initial flattening this evening and let you all know how I get on.

 

[mudman]

Well, I've flattened it and given it a thorough soaking and then it works a treat.

It is the SUEHIRO 6000-1 on a wooden base like Paul's and it doesn't behave very well if dry.
It seems to be a very porous stone for such a fine grade and I'm not sure if I like it. I like to be able to just pull the fine stone out of the drawer, give it a light misting and then it's ready to go.
I've left it on the bench to dry out a little and see if it will work with a light misting tommorrow.

 

[engineer one]

like you barry i like the king idea when you can just mist the final one,
but left to dry out. the white one seems not to be so good,
wonder why??

paul

 

[JesseM]

I am no expert on these things but I know the Norton stones are a synthetic compound. Real japanese water stones are a type of clay I believe. So maybe the compound used is better for cutting, but more porous. I think what has happened over time with my Norton is the grit fills in the holes and it becomes less porous. Maybe a consequence of it being dry for a very long time.

Just a thought.