Gentlemen, Many times distilled water is mentioned for use in honing. I would like to discourage that idea and offer some evidence. Distilled water is an excellent solvent and will ‘grab’ minerals wherever it can, including from metals. My dad was an electrician at a national laboratory and worked mostly on air conditioning units including specialized units for computers. They used to use stainless steel pans to collect condensate from the AC units to prevent electrical problems, and in 4-6 months, the condensate, which is distilled water, would eat through the stainless steel pans. The chemists called it ‘hungry water’. And it is. A bit closer to home, the image below is a grubby sandstone drink coaster that I use in my shop. The condensate from the glasses actually. eats up the sandstone as you can see in this image. I periodically lap it and use a wire brush to clean up the dark areas, but this time after lapping it to remove the unstable material (sand), I decided to photograph it before wire brushing it as the dark areas make the large pits show up better. Could it damage a hone? To be honest I do not know but I believe that it is wise to avoid distilled water. It will certainly damage sandstone over time! I use high pH spring water as it has a lot of minerals in it and the high pH prevents any staining of carbon steel. I’ve only seen that staining once or twice, while polishing a kitchen knife in the manner of a sword and using tap water! Steve
If distilled water will eat a stainless steel pan in a matter of months, what is the water chamber inside my steam iron made of?
Just to be clear, i dont know why condensate water eats through stainless steel, other than when distilled water is made, it has a ph of 7, which is neutral. Not acidic, not basic. Now, when distilled water is exposed to the atmosphere, it will absorb Carbon Dioxide, and will lower the ph, and make it acidic, pretty rapidly. This is probably why it will eat through stainless steel, easier than stabilized tap water that contains minerals, which make it more difficult to absorb the CO2. Distilled water, inside an iron isnt exposed to the atmospheric CO2 as much. That's about all my Chemistry degree is worth, on this site.
Silly goose that won’t work, that’s the glass bottle! You need the plastic one, lol. They do make great bottles, I’ve used one for years.
Must be about 10 years ago now somebody on SRP was talking about pure water and honing and I remember somebody on there discouraging the use of Distilled Water, your thread reminded me of that.. I made a joking statement about my Well Water which is pretty high in minerals being the secret to my "Honing Prowess" since it was "Slicker" then normal water.. To make it even more outrageous a few people actually took that seriously and either wanted to buy a gallon or were arguing that my well water wasn't actually slicker.. ****SMDH*** But yes I have heard that Distilled water has it's uses but to be careful how you use it Thanks for reminding me
