What type of coolant would work best for this use and what would be the best method for its application?
I've done that a couple times. It is really difficult to get the coolant to the wheel - stone interface, where it matters. Since you asked "best"
I would have to say DoALL coolgrind system, where the coolant is induced through a side ring, and flings out the rim of the wheel through centrifugal (Ok, modern, "centripetal") force. Putting it mostly right where needed. If this is combined with flood, there is not much more to add.
For stones, water with a surfactant (dish detergent) will work fine, but may rust your equipment.
I use Cimcool 95 because it's what is in the DoALL tank anyway. diluted about 25:1. More dilution may be "better" but then the quipment rusts. 25:1 seems a nice balance here for anti-rust qualities.
I have also used Trim Mist, aprox same dilution on the B & S grinder. I never tried it, but if you can arrange some sort of container to hold the stone submerged, it could be useful.
You might think soaking the stones ahead of time would make a difference, and it can't hurt. But the water does not really penetrate that deeply and is so small in volume (flashes off instantly at the wheel interface) that it should not be the only source of coolant.
It may be easier to just flatten the Arkansas stones with another coarse diamond hone by hand.
Other sharpening stones can be made flat on the side of a concrete block with lots of water, or by dragging them around on rough concrete with water, too. It's easy to crack a hard arkansas with too fine a diamond grind and inadequate coolant.
smt
