Claudio wrote: "Re vegetable oils on sharpening stones!"Not sure if everyone is
aware that some kinds of edible oils available at your grocery stores will
crosslink and harden up to provide a finish?  For example, walnut oil will
harden up and cure with in a few days in warm weather.  This is an inexpensive,
non-toxic finish that you might have a use for (bowls or whatever). "
Walnut oil is one of the classic drying oils. Until the nineteenth century it is
always walnut, not linseed, that appears in recipes for printing ink. And I
think, a bit less certainn of this, that it was favored by many artists for oil
painting. I don't know the plusses and minuses of the different oils, though,
except that walnut oil was apt to go rancid.
The "wayzegoose" was the big annual outdoor festival for printers, combined with
making the year's supply of printing ink. The oil was brought to a boil in an
enormous kettle, which was why the party was outdoors and out of town. Major,
major fire risk. The temperature was checked by holding stale bread in the oil
on a long fork; the heat of the oil could be checked by how well the bread
cooked. When the oil was ready, the fried crusts were eaten as a delicacy, and
the carbon, litharge, and other ingredients were mixed in. The delicacy ssounds
a lot more appetizing as "fried in walnut oil" than "fried in printing ink."

Tom Conroy