I know, in a coldly intellectual way, that wading into any kind of internet “discussion” (read: argument) is pointless. Not only does it never end in convincing anyone, the stakes are so low that the energy is totally wasted. That being said, the position I have found myself in leads people to ask me my position on any number of contentions issues regarding Japanese razors and stones. And so here I am, preemptively striking as it were, on the issue of soaking stones.

The sad thing about this argument is, it actually has some real impact on people. Basically, it goes like this: some people leave their Natural Japanese whetstones in water for extended periods of time. Some people argue that this is actually damaging to the stones, and should not be done. I am a member of the latter camp. Why? Well, let’s take a look at the arguments for the practice.

1.)    The initial argument used by soakers is that the stones are unaffected by water, as the mines that produced them are “wet.” In addition, the stones themselves were formed millions of years ago under the ocean. I’ll ignore the second part as utterly irrelevant. The first part is true, yes: there is water at the mines. Not pools of it or anything, but since these are mines there is the inevitable spring of water seeping from the walls. I’ve seen pictures, and you know what? The areas where the springs come out are inevitably covered in rust and mineral deposits…like the skin on the back of a Japanese hone, but NOT in the useful stone. So prior to cutting the stone from the natural rock walls, the useful part of the stone is protected from water.

2.)    The second argument used by soakers is “I did it for X months and noticed no ill effects.” *sigh* Get back to me in a couple of years.

3.)    Finally, and this is the key, they argue that soaking these hones helps make it easier to produce slurry from very hard hones. At which point, I facepalm myself into oblivion. Why? Because if soaking a stone in water for a long period of time makes it easier to produce slurry (which I have experienced myself) then it is clearly affecting the stone by breaking down the bonds of the matrix holding the abrasives. Which, by my book, is damaging the stone: once those bonds are weakened they can’t be restored. The water is leaching minerals out of the stone and there is no way to put them back.

I’ve been told the same thing by several hone wholesalers: stones that have been left in water for long periods of time degrade. They lose a range of desirable qualities, and thus it should be avoided. I know a couple of professional knife honers. One of them leaves his hones in water, and from my very unscientific research (I asked all of them) he goes through hones much faster than those who do not. Proof? No, but enough for me.

Additionally, there is a very real risk of “delamination” when you soak hones. These stones are layered, like very dense shale, and if any of these layers are slightly loose then water can penetrate the crack and weaken it, leading to a split there. This is not the worst thing, it can even lead to two nice hones, but it can also lead to a pile of little flakes of uselessness.

Basically, my argument is this: There is no evidence of benefit at all to soaking Japanese natural hones. None. There is, however, reasonable evidence of harm from it. So why do it? Why take the risk?

So there you go, someone on the internet is wrong.

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