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Maybe, the stone grit settles out? Swarf can be very black. However, as a diamond fool I don't take chances. I have never done what you mention anyway.
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I've got a Norton multi stone too. I've never worried about it, as things get sharp enough for me. I suspect it settles to the bottom. The only real solution would be to change out the bath more often; I've maybe cleaned it out three times in 20 years, just keep adding.
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(10-21-2018, 11:33 AM)les winter Wrote: Any comments, other than ditch the oil stones, are appreciated.
I use those same stones in my sharpening. My oilstones live in a Norton Multi-Stone case, but I don't fill the base with oil. I squirt some WD-40 on the stones when I use them. My sharpening routine is a hybrid system based on Larry Williams' and Joel Moskowitz' methods, or at least the way they were doing it several years ago. The Multi-Stone is a great way to store the stones safely and to hold them during sharpening. You don't need to fill it with oil. Oil spillage as you move it around the shop would seem to be a greater problem than cross contamination of grits. Avoiding liquid mess in the shop is one reason I don't use water stones.
Mike B.
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(10-21-2018, 11:33 AM)les winter Wrote: I use Norton oil stones. Medium India, Fine India, Hard Black. I'm happy with this arrangement. I have the Norton Multi Stone case laying around. What I don't understand is if you mount your stones on that carousel and the stones share the common oil bath, how is it that the grit coming off the India stones doesn't get on and scratch the hard black.
Any comments, other than ditch the oil stones, are appreciated.
The grit contamination problem is very much dependent on the type of stones you use. For fine India and Arkansas stones the wear is so little that one does not even have to wipe off the oil when switching to a finer stone. My fine India had about 80,000 sharpenings on it when I stopped using it 35 years ago; it never needed flattening. I would be a little more cautious with the medium India. I would probably wipe off the tool after the medium stone, but not worry about putting the stone in a common bath.
A video of a Japanese craftsman putting all his stones in a single bucket of water raised some questions on some forum a few years ago. However, with more traditional water stones the grit itself is expected to break down as you sharpen so that if you lighten up pressure on the stone you get a much finer scratch pattern. With this type of abrasive a rogue particle would be quickly broken down on a finer stone, so the problem is much diminished.
I have never used the harsh, hard grit stones that some are selling today. I can imagine that more care might be needed in this situation.
