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Get the Quickest Edge With Crystolon Whetstones by Jerry
What is Crystolon?
As used in whetstones, Crystolon, like India, is a synthetic material as opposed to a naturally occurring one. Crystolon is actually made from silicon carbide. It is typically gray in color and is a very fast-cutting abrasive. Crystolon bench stones are usually, but not always, larger than typical whetstones running as long as 11 inches or more and 2 ½ to 3 inches wide. They are used to sharpen large straight-edge tools like large kitchen knives, plane blades, large chisels, draw knives, wood lathe cutters and spoke shaves.
What are Crystolon Whetstones used for?
Because crystolon stones are a coarse abrasive they are used to repair badly damaged edges like those with serious nicks or heavily worn areas or to bring up an edge to a basic level of sharpness when in a hurry and speed is more important than edge sharpness.
Should I Use Honing Oil with Crystolon Whetstones?
The silicon carbide crystolon stone is also an open pore stone so oil as a lubricant is a necessity. Not using oil on the crystolon stone will plug the pores with swarf