The great leather honing wheel oiling mystery solved, at last

[Ken S]

Yesterday in Hartville, we were using a new T4 unit for demonstrating. One of the tool being demoed was a half inch turning gouge. I watched as Rick prepared the leather honing wheel and the auxiliary disks. Having followed the numerous forum posts about oiling and overoiling the leather honing wheel, I was very curious. Rick made the comment that Tormek realized that the preferred oil was actually part of the Tormek Honing Compound. The new thinking is to just work in a double dose of honing compound at first use instead of using other oil. He applied some compound and worked it into the wheel with the side of a chisel. Then he applied the second dose of compound. Wow! No fuss, no muss. Then he just soldiered on honing edges.

I was impressed. No oily mess; no agonizing about which oil to use of how much. Just an extra dose of honing compound and we are off and running.

As a second observation, I noticed that Rick used less compound than I do and refreshed it less frequently. The honing wheel worked fine, and there was less mess.

i mentioned to Rick about how many problem posts had originated from the oiling question. I told him I wanted to share this with the forum, and am doing so with his blessing. For a young guy, he is pretty sharp!

Ken

[SharpenADullWitt]

You should have filmed it.

[Ken S]

Good comment. However, my last experience with moving pictures was shooting 16 millimeter football films for my coaches to do game post mortals in 1967. I am working on it. I do wish I could have shot some video yesterday. Video is a powerful learning tool.

Ken

[Rob]

Yesterday in Hartville, we were using a new T4 unit for demonstrating.

Have I missed something Ken?  Are you working for Tormek now?

[Ken S]

Rob, they told me they were on a secret mission for MI6 (pronounced "M Sixteen" by one of our National Public Radio reporters). They asked if I wanted to help try to find the BBC agent who had infiltrated. Being patriotic, I helped out.

While not a Tormek employee, I confess to having an overeager interest in the Tormek, what Herman would call a "sharpening hobby". I learned a lot and am in process of sharing that new found knowledge with the forum.

Ken

[stevebot]

I want to challenge the premise that the oil in the honing compound is adequate to condition a new leather wheel. When I used the tapered wheel set at the show it seemed very dry.  I reapplied compound several times and it never did get dust free.

I then decided to do a test.  I put a dab of compound on a cardboard and a paper surface. After a few minutes I wiped them off. Initially there appeared to be an oil stain but when I let them dry the stain disappeared. Little or no evidence of oil left behind.  I conclude the Tormek honing compound is water based and WILL NOT condition a new leather wheel. IMHO, of course.

Stig, care to weigh in?

[grepper]

Not according to the Honing Compound PA-70 Material Safety Data Sheet.  .  Looks like basically ammonia, oil and abrasives:

http://tormek.com/media/105177/pa70_material_safety_data_sheet.pdf

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION / CLASSIFICATION OF MATERIAL

No. Name CAS-No/EG-No Konc.(w%)   Classification: R-PHRASES
Petroleum distillates 64742-47-8/ <30% Xn R65, 66
(hydrotreated light) 265-149-8
Ammonium hydroxide 25% 1336-21-6/ <5% C, N R34, 50
215-647-6

[SharpenADullWitt]

As I hit respond, Grepper responded.
http://tormek.com/international/en/accessories/other-accessories/pa-70-honing-compound/

So besides the MSDS, the page above still recommends a light oil.

[grepper]

  And generally light petroleum distillates evaporate at room temp, so indeed; the wheel will dry out and get dusty.  I've seen that!

[Ken S]

Among my "ideas still in the thinking stage" is placing a plastic grocery bag over the leather honing wheel between sharpening sessions. Has anyone tried this?

Ken

[Stickan]

Hi to all,
It´s possible to use the compound without having oiled the honingwheel and the result on the edge will be very good. However, without the oil it gets dusty. I don´t like that and I am sure the user will not like it. So I always use light machine oil on my demo machines.

Stig

[Ken S]

I never thought of the oil keeping the leather from drying out.

I recently broke in a new (second) honing wheel as part of my experimenting with valve grinding compound. I could not find my mineral oil, so I just drizzled on a little three in one oil from the can. I worked it in a little and was good to go.

Ken

[arnman]

I bought my Tormek used about 6 weeks ago.  I don't know what was done to the honing wheel before I got it.

Overall I really like the Tormek, but one thing I really don't like at all is the mess from the honing wheel.  Excess honing compound drops from the wheel onto the machine and counter top.  I can wipe that up easily enough.  The worse part of this is seeing dust floating off into the air.  That is the same air I am breathing.

It sounds like if I can get a little bit of oil into my wheel it could keep the dust down.  The trick is just getting a little bit into the wheel.

I am wondering if holding an oil-moistened rag against the rotating wheel could help to transfer just the right amount.  The stories of over-oiled wheels makes me hesitant.

[Ken S]

If you have a lot of compound on the leather wheel, you might try rubbing the side (blunt) of a chisel while running briefly to see what comes off. I wouldn't think the oil moistened cloth would do any harm. Just go easy.

Good luck and do keep us posted.

Ken

[Herman Trivilino]

Excess honing compound drops from the wheel onto the machine and counter top.  I can wipe that up easily enough.  The worse part of this is seeing dust floating off into the air.  That is the same air I am breathing.

I would guess that a honing wheel can get clogged with old, dried up, honing compound. Based on the symptoms you're reporting, that would be my diagnosis. Do as Ken advised and scrape as much of it off as possible. You may have to apply some mineral oil to soften it up.

You don't want an over-oiled wheel, but if that's what it takes to get the old compound off, so be it. Then you can work in new compound and scrape away sludge. After a few cycles of that you will work out the excess oil.

I had over-oiled mine and managed to get it fixed up doing this. I would use the edge of a putty knife to scrape the sludge away after each honing session.