Diamond Stone Lubrication

[Cork7 Belly Flop]

About a week ago, I polished/deburred my edges in subzero (celsius) conditions
for the first time without fully considering the subzero part. Thankfully it's
not something that occurs very frequently where I live, but it got me thinking:

What are the differences between using plain water, 50/50 water/rubbing alcohol,
and oil (like this: https://www.sidecut.com/product/SEP_15.html) for diamond
stone lubrication? Do the latter two simply prevent freezing or are there other
reasons to use them over plain water?

 

[KingGrump]

Water is not only thing that freezes in subzero temps. Lots of body parts will freeze also.

Don't know about you, most of us have indoor heating nowadays. Lube freezing while tuning should never be a consideration.

 

[Fuller]

I just use water and a few drips of dish washing detergent. You want to feel some resistance and see the black residue collect on the polished surface. Whatever you use it's just transporting the removed metal away from the cutting surface.

 

[cantunamunch]

Ignoring the part about subzero conditions - this is not a reason different lubes exist.

Water is used because it is cheap, it creates a cutting slurry and it dries without leaving a mess.

Water/alcohol mix is preferred because it creates a cutting slurry, dries without leaving a mess, suspends fines better than plain water, and has a tendency to dissolve non-polar contaminants on the work.

Oil is *not* preferred for diamond stones because it sticks to diamond, doesn't dry without leaving a mess, and those that do dry create gummy residue on their way to drying. Save the oil for non-diamond stones.

 

[Cork7 Belly Flop]

Water is not only thing that freezes in subzero temps. Lots of body parts will freeze also.

Whoops, I meant subzero Celsius.

 

[Cork7 Belly Flop]

Oil is *not* preferred for diamond stones because it sticks to diamond, doesn't dry without leaving a mess, and those that do dry create gummy residue on their way to drying. Save the oil for non-diamond stones.

Sorry I meant a polishing oil like this one: https://www.sidecut.com/product/SEP_15.html

 

[Sibhusky]

I just mix denatured alcohol with water, mostly to keep the stone cleaner.

Since I'm not on the World Cup but can already outglide pretty much anyone on the flats, shaving a fraction of a second doesn't interest me. But the existence and description of this stuff is interesting. I would think that it would be pretty hard to credit .75 second to this oil over the course of a SG race, as opposed to any other variable, however. Which makes me question the entire description.

 

[JTurner]

Alcohol mixed with your water helps reduce surface tension so the water distributes much better on the edge.

 

[James]

On e upon a time I used the Svst special sauce.
An expensive non advantage as far as I could tell. You can generate significant heat with diamond stones, so something is needed. I’ve just defaulted to water.

The Sidecut stuff looks nice. Might be worth a try. But to clean diamond stones I just use water and a tooth brush. That stuff might be better, but it’s $17/0.5oz.

 

[Johnny V.]

Water and a few drops of Dawn. I've seen the "special sauce" in many catalogs. Kind of like the "brake retainer bands" which I substitute wide rubber bands from Staples at $4 a bag.............

 

[Atomicman]

I just mix denatured alcohol with water, mostly to keep the stone cleaner.

Since I'm not on the World Cup but can already outglide pretty much anyone on the flats, shaving a fraction of a second doesn't interest me. But the existence and description of this stuff is interesting. I would think that it would be pretty hard to credit .75 second to this oil over the course of a SG race, as opposed to any other variable, however. Which makes me question the entire description.

I use to use 50/50 Denatured Alcohol/Water. Don't really like the idea of oil on my bases.

Now use Razor Tune...........no lube needed!

 

[James]

Now use Razor Tune...........no lube needed!

Hey, by the time you’ve used 20 bottles at $25 per, you could buy a Razor Tune.
But there’s more!
If we include cost of the diamond files and metal files, it might only take 10 bottles.

 

[Atomicman]

View attachment 187949
Hey, by the time you’ve used 20 bottles at $25 per, you could buy a Razor Tune.
But there’s more!
If we include cost of the diamond files and metal files, it might only take 10 bottles.

 

[Karl B]

When hand sanitizer became highly recommended during the onset of Covid 19, I started using that diluted with water 50/50. The hand sanitizer is like 80% alcohol. I put it in an old hair spray spritzer bottle my wife had laying around and it works great and it's cheap too.

 

[Polo]

I use distilled water in a spray bottle and give them a squirt before use and sometimes another during then again after. I have a garbage at the end of my bench to catch wax scrapings. I'll hold it over the garbage can when I'm done and the spray from the spray bottle does a good job of washing off anything left on the diamond files. I use the same spray bottle to lightly mist the top of the ski when I roto brush so it's always on my bench anyway.

FWIW, if anyone is getting their side edge tools gunked up with wax then you need to obviously do a much better job of cleaning wax off your side edges. I'm always amazed at how many people either do a poor job of cleaning wax of their side edge or just flat don't clean them at all and then they're all in shock and awe when their side edge tools won't cut. Pretty hard for those things to work when they're plugged up with wax. I know it's unrelated to the topic but IMO, THE, most neglected and overlooked thing self tuners do is they lazyout on their scraping and that includes scraping/cleaning wax off the side edge.

 

[KingGrump]

FWIW, if anyone is getting their side edge tools gunked up with wax then you need to obviously do a much better job of cleaning wax off your side edges. I'm always amazed at how many people either do a poor job of cleaning wax of their side edge or just flat don't clean them at all and then they're all in shock and awe when their side edge tools won't cut. Pretty hard for those things to work when they're plugged up with wax. I know it's unrelated to the topic but IMO, THE, most neglected and overlooked thing self tuners do is they lazyout on their scraping and that includes scraping/cleaning wax off the side edge.

Where is the wax coming from? Waxing usually follow edge tuning. Unless the ski hasn't seen snow since the last waxing.

 

[Polo]

Where is the wax coming from? Waxing usually follow edge tuning. Unless the ski hasn't seen snow since the last waxing.

It doesn't always all come off just trying to ski it off.

 

[KingGrump]

It doesn't always all come off just trying to ski it off.

Then you are not skiing long and/or fast enough.

 

[Jacques]

About a week ago, I polished/deburred my edges in subzero (celsius) conditions
for the first time without fully considering the subzero part. Thankfully it's
not something that occurs very frequently where I live, but it got me thinking:

What are the differences between using plain water, 50/50 water/rubbing alcohol,
and oil (like this: https://www.sidecut.com/product/SEP_15.html) for diamond
stone lubrication? Do the latter two simply prevent freezing or are there other
reasons to use them over plain water?

As said above, a mix of denatured alcohol and water is best. You can get it at most any hardware store.
Because it reduces the surface tension of the water, it helps tremendously to keep the stones clean, thus good cutting action, and longer stone life.

 

[mdf]

I use water/alcohol mix in a lab wash bottle. Easier to direct than a spray bottle. Something like this: