Dead chuffed with Norton India oilstones: they're finer than you think
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Norton’s website rates India stones at 25 to 35 microns, that’s equivalent of 400-500 grits. But please read my personal anecdote, they are really finer than that.
———–skip this bit if you want to———–
Being a regular user of diamond stones and waterstones, I had only recently “discovered” these cheap yet amazing India oilstones. I was buying something off eBay and saw the India combination stone being sold by the same seller going unnoticed. Had never tried them before so I thought why not.Arrived with gunk, lots of it… Soaking in baking soda water for 12 hours did the trick. It also revealed the still clearly visible Norton marking on the side, which meant the stone was probably not that old. But it Had a huge cup in it so took some sandpaper to it.
I didn’t have a power sander but if you do and want to flatten an India stone, use it, that stuff really punishes your regular wet and dry. Took me 30 minutes during which I also had to resort to a concrete block as I ran out of sandpaper. And that was just the fine side. The coarse side is yet to be flattened… This really proves how well India retains its flatness if properly used (mine must have been abused previously).
—————–now comes the important bit—————–Then I tried sharpening chisels and plane blades after coming off of a 250-grit diamond stone. Well, I was utterly impressed:
At first I sharpened with moderate pressure on the bevel side, it produced a surface as fine almost my 600-grit diamond stone, maybe equivalent to 500 – not too bad, especially since it works just about as fast. My other hardware-store cheapo oilstone is much slower yet produces a rougher surface. Gave it another few strokes on the back and the burr was turned back onto the bevel.
Then I went back to the bevel again but lightened up the pressure in order to remove the burr as well as get a finer surface, that’s when I got a semi mirror polish on the blade. The pressure I sharpened with made all the difference in the world: the surface is almost as fine as that produced by my 1000-grit waterstone. I’d say it’s about the equivalent of 800-grit waterstone or diamond stone.
The edge? Even finer than what my 1000-grit waterstone produces. It slices through both paper and endgrain pine with much more ease. I’d even go as far as to compare it with a 2000-grit waterstone. I’ve also found that using circular or figure-8 motion creates a finer surface than pushing and pulling straight along the bevel. Not sure why, probably a bit like using a rasp straight along vs straight along and also moving across a bit, creates less “grooves” on the surface.Tried the same technique with waterstones and diamond stones. Curiously lightening up the strokes don’t have as significant an effect as it did on the India stone. There was some appreciable difference but unlike the India, it wasn’t a difference between 500-grit and 800-grit surface.
Now this little “test” was not scientific whatsoever and YMMV. But to those of you just starting woodworking, I strongly recommend giving these India stones a go. At 400-500 grit, they don’t look pretty on the data sheet when up against those 1000 grit waterstones and diamond stones, but my limited experience shows that they really are quite capable when used correctly. They also keep flat much longer than waterstones, makes chisel back lapping much easier.
The coarse-fine 2″ by 8″ is what I got and is probably best value, although I haven’t tried the coarse side yet. There are plenty on eBay but should you want a new one, a German supplier called Dictum carries them at 15 euros, half of what most UK suppliers sell it at.Well, sorry for the long post,
Will upload some pictures comparing the surfaces produced by the India and by the waterstones tomorrow.Why did we “abandon” such a wonder and took to the expensive waterstones in the first place…
Sam
9 March 2014 at 7:57 pm #28751I used india stone for years and yes they do produce a reasonable edge.
It was the standard thing to use before diamond plate and the introduction of water stones to the west.
I have a double sided india stone the carborundum side very course the orange side quite fine.
I think the main reason for using other stones is that you can work up in the grits to get ultra sharp edge. If you use course stone when sharpening it took a fair bit of work to remove the course scratches using the fine side of india stone. -
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