Stones that never load up

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The Chosera 400 seems to have a magical property of always rinsing clean with just water. The SG220 also.

Is this a property of coarse stones? It can’t be, because people complain that the 120 glazes.

What other stones never glaze, never load, never need a nagura to clean? And why?

This is a practical question because I want to keep a set of stones in the vehicle to whip out when I visit friends, that I don’t have to scrub or lap clean every time I put them away.

I know a lot of people just wipe the swarf with their fingers but I’m a bit prissy.
 
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This is a practical question because I want to carry stones in the vehicle which I can whip out when I visit friends, that I don’t have to scrub or lap every time I put them away.
Can't help answer your question because I know frickall about stones relative to the rockhounds around here, but I admire your willingness to keep a car kit for helping out your buddies.

Sharpening for your friends and family is like building them a computer, suddenly you become the IT guy and they're calling you every time they mess something up! 😂
 
BBW and Coticule. Pretty much any JNAT. But usually you're raising slurry, not expecting the stone to do it all, so that would be cheating.

You're using "load up" in a different way than is usual, or at least in a different way than I think of it. I think of "load up" as meaning that the stone starts really losing effectiveness without a refresh, not "I can see a black stain of swarf." My Suehiro Gokumyo 20K stains easily, but does not load up easily.

Complicating all of this is that a stone that stops cutting effectively using one pressure, might never do that at a higher pressure. My most-used stones, Shapton Glass stones in the range of 500-10K, only stop cutting after a lot of very light pressure strokes, which only happens to me with razors. It's something I have taken advantage of from time to time. But they do stain.

Refreshing seems to be required only very rarely on vitrified diamond stones, like JKI's 800.

Otherwise, I guess I would suggest that the darker the color, the better, so you don't see the embedded swarf.
 
For sharpening away from home I liked to use a DMT Fine and a black Ark. Clean them both with a soapy sponge when done. Neither need soaking or flattening, and you can wipe them dry with a paper towel.

For heavier work I would consider bringing the DMT XCoarse or Diaflat-95 but I haven’t actually done that yet.

Edit: I haven’t actually sharpened away from home in a long time. I might consider swapping the black Ark for a Dan’s hard or Dan’s Washita. Neither of these load up but they are porous so they do not dry immediately. I prefer the toothier edge from the hard or Washita and they are more affordable than the black. With the black you want to limit the time spent on it to avoid removing all the teeth. Even if you remove all the teeth, you can do a few swipes back on the DMT Fine to add some bite back. Tough call. The convenience of immediately drying is nice when you are in the go. As you can see, I am an Arkoholic.
 
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Interesting q., because as @Rangen pointed out, the terms 'loading', 'glazing' and 'clogging' get used in slightly different ways by different people, to mean slightly different things. Below is just how I use the terms, other people may be different.

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Clogging - Very few stones are prone to clogging; only quite hard ones that cut on porosity, Washitas and India stones come to mind. Swarf can become embedded within the pore structure and reduce their efficacy. This is why oil is preferred for them, because it has a lower surface tension than water and is better at cleaning the stone in very small pores.

Glazing - Is when the abrasive on the surface of the stone becomes rounded through use. This tends to happen on natural stones for two reasons; firstly Silica is softer than Aluminium Oxide and Silicon Carbide, secondly natural stones are usually relatively hard in comparison to synths. Synths are specifically designed to release abrasive, so the surface doesn't glaze. You can glaze the surface of synths, but it's rare. India stones can glaze because they're insanely hard. Or if you try flattening harder waterstones (Shaptons &c.) with AlOx sandpaper - that'll cause them to glaze, because the two abrasives are same Mohs hardness.

Loading - This I imagine is what your q. was mostly about @mengwong, and it's slightly more complicated than the previous two. Sligtly more difficult to know exactly what's going on, but it seems like the binder and swarf kind clump together and stick to the surface of the stone. Looks like little black spots and feels almost a little bit bumpy. I've only ever seen this on synthetic stones, famously the mid and higher grit Superstones which load in seconds. But steel type also affects this, repeated sharpening of cheap stainless for instance will make Shapton Pros load after a while. Pressure plays a part too.

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The quick answer to the original question is what @M1k3 said above. You'll never encounter these issues with very muddy stones; King Deluxes, Ceraxes &c. But given the premise was also about convenience, that might not be desperately helpful. Muddy stones are often soaking stones, they're messier, and they require flattening more often.

I tend to use a coarser Washita for this purpose, or a combi I made with a Washita and a Crystolon. For a waterstone though, I think the answer (as is so often the case) is: SG500.

Or do what I did yesterday cos one of mine was getting quite thin and I needed some height clearance, so I created the combi that we've all been waiting for. The two best waterstones in the world, lovingly epoxied together, this right here is an SG500 stuck on top of an Ouka:


IMG_5915 (1).jpg
 
the binder and swarf kind clump together and stick to the surface of the stone
Yes, that’s what I had in mind – “yuck, the black stuff is not coming off, I need a nagura to clean this, or maybe a flattener to lap away the crud”. I could use my fingers but that only gets off maybe 75% of the dirt, and risks enraging my manicurist. King 6000 prime example.

Thanks for the disquisition as always!
 
I see Sharpal are muscling in with the equivalent of an extra-fine/extra-coarse for half the price of the DMT!
https://a.co/d/6as7lT0

UltraSharp also in the game
https://a.co/d/fpzf5D3
Interesting! I wonder if the "Brand Name" has better adhesive?

My only diamond plate experience is that DMT and a knockoff Atoma 140 from CKTG. Sucks major butt on metal but is a great lapping/flattening stone. Noticed a drop off in cutting speed fairly quickly but a la VG10 it's held "good enough" for 1.5 years or so
 
FWIW - when I went and visited Jules (Kippington) a few years back, he'd apparently pretty much got rid of all his stones. And from memory sharpened mostly on a couple of small, worn, cheap, Chinese diamond plates, followed by an SG4k. And when on the road / sharpening for friends - just the diamond plates.

So probably I imagine a very good call from @Mr Kooby Shemayrew and @SwampDonkey.
 
Thanks. I might get that.

I see Sharpal are muscling in with the equivalent of an extra-fine/extra-coarse for half the price of the DMT!
https://a.co/d/6as7lT0

UltraSharp also in the game
https://a.co/d/fpzf5D3

I've been using the UltraSharps for a number of years now. 300, 600, and 1200. I like them and use them for other people's knives almost exclusively now.
 
SG220 indeed seems to never loadup or clog. I've done extensive thinning / reprofiling jobs and it just keeps on cutting. Of course it dishes so you have to flatten anyway, but it's nice not having to refresh the surface as often.

Curiously the only time mine loaded up was when thinning vintage carbon Sabatiers.

I’ll bookmark this as I have the JNS 200 & 400 stones coming later this week.

I enjoy the JNS 1000 a lot but it does load up like most stones

I'd love to hear more about those 2!
 
The BBB “super vitrified” stones barely load at all. It’s about the only hard stone I’ve seen pull this trick off.

Even the resinoid diamond stones from various sellers are pretty dang good. Five seconds with a cleaner stone and they’re ready to go again, unless you’re hogging tons of metal.

I think plates are really what you’re after. If I wanted an “in the car” set I’d get the perforated DMT stones. I specifically dislike the solid metal plates. After a lot of experimenting and heartache, the Swiss cheese ones are the way to go. Cut quickly forever, feel pretty good to sharpen on considering. Wouldn’t be heartbroken if my car got robbed. I’d cry if I lost my BBB.

Cheap stainless can be a pain to deburr, esp off diamond. So I like a BBW with the plates to deburr. Or a soft ark/washita. Something with a good reputation for eating burrs for breakfast.
 
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