polishing oil

[centaura]

Greetings,

I've heard various different takes on oiling suiseki, and was curious what others did. I had been told once that the traditional way to oil a suiseki was to simply handle it, that the oils off of hands slowly oiled the stones to a nice polish. I was curious what to do with a stone that had deep, distinct mountain peaks that you could not fit your fingers between? Did you just leave the "valleys" un-oiled, or did you add another type of oil? Just curious.

-Cat

[mboatman]

Dish detergent. Put a very small amount WITHOUT water. The oily residue on the detergent leaves behind a longer lasting polish look, and its amazing how it brings out the colors....it does better than baby oil. Thats what i use in the short term. it does not replace the rubbing and handling for me though.