Turkish stone advice

[Vaughan]

Recently picked up a Turkish stone.

From those with experience with them I was hoping to get some advice as to how to proceed from here. The stone has a gungy coating typical of an old stone but appears to have very little wear. I know a lot of people soak Washitas in degreasers like simple green but not sure if there are any peculiarities to Turkish stones that warrant different treatment.
Would it then be worth flattening or at least reconditioning the surface and if so how? (Loose grit silica/diamond plate/concrete etc.)
And when it comes to use, what is your recommendation? (Small amount of mineral oil/full soak in oil/water/water and detergent etc)

Thanks in advance

 

[stringer]

Recently picked up a Turkish stone.
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From those with experience with them I was hoping to get some advice as to how to proceed from here. The stone has a gungy coating typical of an old stone but appears to have very little wear. I know a lot of people soak Washitas in degreasers like simple green but not sure if there are any peculiarities to Turkish stones that warrant different treatment.
Would it then be worth flattening or at least reconditioning the surface and if so how? (Loose grit silica/diamond plate/concrete etc.)
And when it comes to use, what is your recommendation? (Small amount of mineral oil/full soak in oil/water/water and detergent etc)

Thanks in advance

Degrease with simple green or something similar.
Flatten with loose SiC on a reference surface with water.
In use a small amount of mineral oil works best.

IMHO YMMV etc

 

[Vaughan]

Degrease with simple green or something similar.
Flatten with loose SiC on a reference surface with water.
In use a small amount of mineral oil works best.

IMHO YMMV etc

Was hoping you might comment haha. Thanks, I’ll give that a shot.
Looks like it’ll be tall enough for some in hand use. Will be reviewing some of your vids before giving that a crack.
Hopefully I’ve got a geniune article here.

 

[Legion74]

Funnily enough, I was using one of mine today, on one of the wifes stainless knives.

Simple green will clean it, but it will turn white once all the oil is stripped out. Don't stress, it is not broken. But you will need to soak the stone in oil before using it again, at which point it will return to its darker colour. It is best and easiest to flatten it while white. I use SIC, and then finish on 600 wet/dry or an Atoma 400. They are usually not crazy hard, so diamond plates work fine and shouldn't be damaged.

Then I hone much like an Ark or Washita with mineral oil.

That is 100% a Turk, and looks like a pretty fine example.

 

[Vaughan]

@stringer @Legion74
Regarding simple green. What sort of dilution do you recommend or are you using straight concentrate?

 

[stringer]

@stringer @Legion74
Regarding simple green. What sort of dilution do you recommend or are you using straight concentrate?

I use it straight. I keep it in a sealed plastic container with a screw top lid that's big enough for most stones. I use it several times until it starts to get moldy and then refresh. I usually soak stones for 3-4 days in simple green and then 3-4 days in plain water, changing the water a few times.

 

[Legion74]

@stringer @Legion74
Regarding simple green. What sort of dilution do you recommend or are you using straight concentrate?

Straight. How long I soak is dependent on the type of stone. A coticule can be done in hours, a Hindostan might take weeks.

 

[Vaughan]

Thanks fellas

 

[cotedupy]

Don’t overdo it with a Turkish and degreaser. 12hrs tops.

They’re quite different to Washitas in this regard.

 

[Vaughan]

Don’t overdo it with a Turkish and degreaser. 12hrs tops.

They’re quite different to Washitas in this regard.

What are the consequences here? Does the stone start to degrade?

 

[aporigine]

What are the consequences here? Does the stone start to degrade?

I’m quite curious too. I may have to amend my advice on a neighboring thread.

 

[Legion74]

What are the consequences here? Does the stone start to degrade?

I don't know if they degrade, but they often do have a lot of cracks and fissures in them, so could become more fragile if all the oil is taken out of the inside of the stone.

And, at the end of the day, there is no real reason to completely degrease it right to the middle of the stone. You just want to get all the old gunk off the surface, and maybe the outer skin to make it easier to lap. I usually can get that done by soaking it overnight.

 

[Vaughan]

Also, as far as oil goes, is mineral oil preferred or do you recommend something more viscous?

 

[Legion74]

Also, as far as oil goes, is mineral oil preferred or do you recommend something more viscous?

I just use the Diggers Paraffin (mineral) oil from Bunnings and it works fine. Back in the olden days they were shipped around the world in barrels of olive oil.

https://www.bunnings.com.au/diggers-1l-paraffin-oil_p1560010

 

[Rideon66]

Mineral worked great on my labeled Turk. Just ad a few drops now and then when you want to use it after an initial soak.

 

[deltaplex]

Also, as far as oil goes, is mineral oil preferred or do you recommend something more viscous?

I use light mineral on all my oil stones, works very well, no residues, easy to pick up a half gallon at the farm supply for very little.

 

[Vaughan]

It appears there is both a simple green all purpose cleaner (green liquid) and a cleaner degreaser (looks clear). Which of the two products are people using?

 

[deltaplex]

It appears there is both a simple green all purpose cleaner (green liquid) and a cleaner degreaser (looks clear). Which of the two products are people using?

The green one.

 

[Legion74]

Green.

 

[aporigine]

Green.

Simple!

 

[Vaughan]

Update for anyone that cares.

Soaked in simple green overnight.
Thinking I’ll condition the surface with a diamond plate but both sides are virtually flat. Haven’t put steel to stone but can’t help but feel I’ve got something worthwhile here.

 

[cotedupy]

What are the consequences here? Does the stone start to degrade?

I don't know if they degrade, but they often do have a lot of cracks and fissures in them, so could become more fragile if all the oil is taken out of the inside of the stone.

And, at the end of the day, there is no real reason to completely degrease it right to the middle of the stone. You just want to get all the old gunk off the surface, and maybe the outer skin to make it easier to lap. I usually can get that done by soaking it overnight.

As is so often the case - David has beaten me to it…

Completely degreasing something like an old Turkish effectively ‘dries it out’. And so can exacerbate fissures or flakiness.

Think of it like curing green wood, and how that can cause cracking sometimes if you try to do it quickly in an oven or something.

 

[Vaughan]

@Legion74 @cotedupy
What grit do you guys usually finish lapping on? I don’t have any loose silica and so opted to use my DMT Diasharp course. Wasn’t much to remove but it was still slow going. The plate is pretty worn though. I noticed that the lapped stone surface feels incredibly smooth. Perhaps as a result of my lapping choice. Is this going to reduce the stones effectiveness? Should I be aiming for a courser finish? Or will it sort itself out in use? (Ie friability)

 

[Legion74]

@Legion74 @cotedupy
What grit do you guys usually finish lapping on? I don’t have any loose silica and so opted to use my DMT Diasharp course. Wasn’t much to remove but it was still slow going. The plate is pretty worn though. I noticed that the lapped stone surface feels incredibly smooth. Perhaps as a result of my lapping choice. Is this going to reduce the stones effectiveness? Should I be aiming for a courser finish? Or will it sort itself out in use? (Ie friability)

I usually lap them to the level of my worn Atoma 400. The stones are fairly friable, so a knife would wear down a coarser finish pretty quickly anyway. I wouldn't stress too much, just get it flat and after a bit of use the stone is going to do what it does.

 

[cotedupy]

@Legion74 @cotedupy
What grit do you guys usually finish lapping on? I don’t have any loose silica and so opted to use my DMT Diasharp course. Wasn’t much to remove but it was still slow going. The plate is pretty worn though. I noticed that the lapped stone surface feels incredibly smooth. Perhaps as a result of my lapping choice. Is this going to reduce the stones effectiveness? Should I be aiming for a courser finish? Or will it sort itself out in use? (Ie friability)

Yeah - what David said above.

They are fine-grained stones. But do have a little friability, so speed up as you start to work a slurry.

 

[Vaughan]

@Legion74 @cotedupy @stringer
So I’m not sure what’s going on but my Turkish isn’t cutting like I expected. I’ve now put multiple knives on it and it seems to be barely removing anything even with heavy pressure in some instances. I was under the impression these stone typically cut quite fast. Not sure if it’s a particularly fine gritted example or the result of the surface I cut onto it with my heavily worn diaflat. Though I presumed that would have been resolved with the sharpening I’ve since done. Scratching my head a bit here…

 

[Legion74]

It may be a hard/fine example. I picked up a new one recently that is a bit like that, much slower than the average. It was also a major ballache to lap. Felt more like a hard Arkansas than a typical Turk.

What type of knife steel are you trying to sharpen?

 

[Vaughan]

It may be a hard/fine example. I picked up a new one recently that is a bit like that, much slower than the average. It was also a major ballache to lap. Felt more like a hard Arkansas than a typical Turk.

What type of knife steel are you trying to sharpen?

That matches my experience. I’ve tried ginsan ~59Hrc, CCK 1303 soft carbon and a cheap pairer with soft stainless

 

[Legion74]

That matches my experience. I’ve tried ginsan ~59Hrc, CCK 1303 soft carbon and a cheap pairer with soft stainless

If you give the stone a wipe with a white paper towel are you seeing much swarf?

Maybe the next test is to see how fine it is. Take a knife that is already pretty sharp and use the Turkey on it, and see if it bumps up how easily it shaves arm hair. It might be a stone that is just better at finishing, and not so hot for removing material. At least you will know that it is good for that at least.

 

[Desert Rat]

My modern Turkish is really fast, but I find myself not using it all that often because it's really hard to get crisp edges off of it. I could probably do better if I would clean the surface for the last few light strokes.

It's the opposite of your stone Vaughan, you might try raising a little slurry first to give it a head start.

The pros and cons of soft vs hard stones I suppose.