Are honing oils necessary when sharpening blades?

If you will check, most, if not all, good sharpening stones (Not diamond hones) will tell you to use a light oil, or honing oil, for best results... I simply went to the auto parts store and bought a quart of 5 wt. motor oil (NOT 5w anything...just straight 5 wt. oil).. It does as good a job as any honing oil, is much cheaper, and a quart will last for years.

How To Use Honing Oil

After using up the small container of honing oil that came with my sharpening kit I started using Mineral oil which is non-toxic. It's nice to know that everything is cool when sharpening my kitchen knives. Works great and is inexpensive. You can find it in the shelves in front of the Wal-Mart pharmacy.

Either oil or water. The purpose of the oil is to keep the stone from becoming clogged. Any thin oil will work fine.

You can use water instead of oil, and you can sharpen a knife. If you prefer oil, most light weight machine oils will work.

Oil only serves the purpose of limited friction between Knife and Stone. Therefore less wear on the blade. The blade is no more keener with oil than without.

You can use water or kerosene. The main thing is to float away the filings (honings?) whatever, so they don't imbed in the stone.

In my experience any quality oil will work. Lubrication is needed to get a good edge.