History advice- knife sharpening
 

Grandads attic. I inherited a lot of old tools.
Need advice on two tri-stone sharpening tools. Big boys, possibly from a butcher or meat house.
One is labeled Norton. Well worn.
The other is labeled
Not to be sold
Property of
Sorensen Company
East Brookfield Mass

Stones in good shape.

Is the Norton stones available and are these really rare?
A neat connection to grandad.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1742165601.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1742165647.jpg

very cool

Norton abrasives still makes a tristone sharpener and the stones are replaceable. But first I owuld try just flipping them over and see if the other side is flat.

Cool to have the family connection

I use Norton Stone for sharping in my shop at times. Good product. We have a Makita power water stone now.

Any barbers in the family?

cool old design for holding the water bath...

Going to check the reverse side of the Norton stones.

Oil bath tri stone, no water. But could be!

Going to check the reverse side of the Norton stones.

Oil bath tri stone, no water. But could be!

Just check. Worn stone was able to use reverse side.
Other stones flipped in past.

Any suggestions for oil to use? 75 weight gear oil?

Norton still makes quality abrasives to this day. Good company.

I'm not certain about Sorensen; I think they also used to make knife sharpeners, and am assuming they were acquired by somebody else. A search for Sorensen Company knife sharpeners brings up quite a few antique sites.

My recollection is that sharpening oil is more like mineral oil - very light.

^ Yes - light oil on the stones

not sure about this. I think you could still get a killer edge with the warped side.

if you're only honing convex edges.

if you are doing say, single bevel Japanese knives you need the flatness. heck, first step is to flatten the stones and build a slurry.

my parents vintage grocery store had a giant version of that thing. I was crazy warped down.