A good tip on an excellent whetstone.

Yvsa

Yvsa

Joined
May 18, 1999
Messages
15,395
Saw a thread over in the Camillus Forum talking about Jerry Fisk's* choice of a whetstone and then later down the thread a place to get them very reasonable.

You can order them from here if you so desire....http://eknifeworks.com/webapp/eCommerce/index.html

They're the 175th Anniversary Edition Norton Coarse and Fine Oilstones already pre-oiled, Jerry Fisk uses WD-40 on his so it must be good.
I also bought the Crystolon in Coarse and Fine. The 1" X 2" X 8" stones are only $9.99 each!!!!
The 6" stones are of course cheaper.
The total on mine was $25.97 for everything. I ordered them the 27th and they were here yesterday!!!!
Sent USPS....

*
Just in case some here don't know who Jerry Fisk is......
Jerry is a living American National Treasure. The honor was bestowed on Jerry for the wonderful contributions he has made in the hand made and custom knife world.

Just thought y'all might like to know abouth the Norton Whetstones since not everyone visits all the forums all of the time.:)
This is an excellent price!!!!:D
 
Yvsa - thanks for tip!

Kinda painful for me, though, cause I just ordered a set of Arkansas stones...:rolleyes:

By the way, the link posted is just for the commerce section of eknifeworks. Put "norton 175" in the site search at the top and it will come up.
 
SWMBO (She Who Must Be Obeyed): "What's in the box that arrived today? It's not more knives is it?"

Me: "No snugglums, it's just my sharpening stones."

SWMBO: "Stones? You mean you're buying rocks?"

Me: "Kinda, but, uh, useful ones..."

SWMBO: :rolleyes:
 
LOL!!!:D :eek: :D

I went through this exact thing yesterday evening!

I get a long squarish package.
SWMBO asks "what's that?"
I say "Sharpening Stones"
She starts "Why do you....?"
I open the box to see that it was NOT my sharpening stones but a package of blades I'm going to build handles for! :eek: (that she didn't know about)
I catch my breath, smile, and gently lower the lid and keep explaining why I need sharpening stones...;)
 
:o
Guess I should qualify that the whetstones are the Fine India Stone with the Coarse combination.:o

Anyway, Dan for $10.00 I would encourage everyone to get at least one of these.
I really do think you will like it much better than the Arkansas Stones overall!!!!
I spent a couple of hundred dollars a while back on several whetstones of different types, even got some Japanese Waterstones.
I've still to put the honing oil in the large set of three stones set in the famous triangle configuration, as a matter of fact I don't know where they're at right now.
I put them in my shop room and they have disappeared!!!!!!

Hey!!!!!!!
Just thought of something!!!!!!!
Maybe I can put one of the ornery grandkids in there at a time.:) :rolleyes:
Maybe they will disappear!!!!;) :rolleyes: :D
 
These are a very good deal for the money, you get a lot of stone for very little. However if you can afford it, Japanese waterstones will cut cleaner with a more even finish. However the waterstones break down faster to achive this performance and thus need to be lapped more frequently. The difference is in the binder. The India hones use a vitrified bond which is more masking than the resin bond used on Japanese waterstones.

-Cliff
 
a package of blades I'm going to build handles for
Click to expand...

You're a man after my own heart Pen. Lurking somewhere in the footlocker I just shipped to the 'Stan, is two good Swedish knife blades, carefully wrapped and sealed in wax. If I get bored of squashing camel spiders, I'll scrounge up some local hardwood (the Hindu Kush mountains are part of the Himalayan chain, so I might luck into some oak)and have something to keep my hands busy.;)

Sarge
 
Sarge,

Any chance you'll be bringing home some extra?

...do you accept cash? ;)

Dan

...imagining Sarge out in the woods hacking apart Afgani trees with his WWII... :eek:
 
for the tip on the stones. I have a bunch of older stones that I either need to level or pitch, and those stones would make a pretty good replacement.

I sharpen my wife's kitchen knives to keep her happy. before that, I was just another weird collector of knives to her. I've trained her tho, and now she can spot a cheap-o stainless knife of frilly decorator out of a crowd of blades, and (most importantly) she can spot the good blades now.

Case in point: some buddies in my band knew I was into knives and swords, so they figured they'd go to this Indian(India) store and pick up some blades for my birthday. When Lea saw what they got (decorator stainless katana and a dirk), she had to bite her tongue. She knew it was decorator crap, and that a person who owns multiple ancient and antigue pieces from around the world would be less than impressed. I tried to act pleased and I was gracious for their sentiment. Instead of being rude, I later gifted them with some real blades that I etched, and explained what made this a real knife.
(The Hakagure says that It is important to educate yourself and your friends, otherwise we all walk around acting like we know things we don't.) Perhaps it'll sink in , but they just don't have the passion I do for edged weapons/tools.

Keith
En Ferro Veritas
 
Dan,
I don't go around indiscriminately whacking trees anywhere I go in the world. If I need wood to make something, I try to harvest from a thicket that will benefit from the thinning. I'm not a "tree hugger", I just try to have some respect for creation since we're all part of it. If I do find some wood over there good enough to make knife handles I'll bring you some back. Cash? Your money's no good on that matter, beer's another story.

Ferrous,
We can all learn from your good example. Gifts should be accepted in the spirit they are given regardless of their material value.

Yvsa,
Thanks for the heads up. Norton stones have been a part of my knife experience for a long, long, time. Here's something that might give you a chuckle regarding knife sharpening. Yesterday some of my guys decided to shave their heads prior to our deployment. I told them they were girlie men and proceeded to shave my head with one of my old home made knives ground out of a file. A bit clumsier than my old German straight razor, but same basic technique. How was this former file sharpened to such a fine edge? Nothing more than my mini chakma and a leather strop loaded with Flitz metal polish!

Sarge
 
Sarge,

No offense intended. I only chop fallen trees, as well.

I was just commenting on a humurous pic in my mind's eye of you and your shaven head swinging a big 'ole khuk around clearing the land deep in Afghanistan...Kujo-turned-Godzilla! :eek: :eek:

I made a deal with my wife that if I lose 40 lbs. she has to shave my head - clean.

10 down, 30 to go...;)


oh, and Yvsa = thanks for the link :rolleyes: :D
I couldn't resist and went ahead and got one. I already know where it will go on my new bench.
 
Cliff,

Thanks for the comparison to Japanese waterstones, as I've got a set and have been wondering how they compare to others I've not tried. My feeling was the rapid dishing was worth it to get such fast,smooth cutting. I've even contemplated getting a couple of duplicates for sharpening larger knives with convex edges where I feel the absolutely level surface is not that inportant. That way, I'll have less lapping to do on the stones used for flat bevels.
 
Originally posted by pendentive
I made a deal with my wife that if I lose 40 lbs. she has to shave my head - clean.

10 down, 30 to go...;)

oh, and Yvsa = thanks for the link :rolleyes: :D
I couldn't resist and went ahead and got one. I already know where it will go on my new bench.
Click to expand...

Dan you will not be sorry!!!! Jerry uses this hone for the final edge on his knives and just strops across his palm I think it said.
These hones give you that nice toothy edge that cuts!!!!
I've had a small one for many years that was fine for the little knives, but it needs lapped really bad to get the embedded steel in it off.
I was lazy one too many times and it clogged up on me.:o
Oil absolutely of some kind Must be used on them!!!!

If you were me you would only have 1 more pound to go Dan. I've dropped 39 pounds since the 1st of the year, gained 1 1/4" in heighth and lost 6" around my gut!!!!!!!!!:cool: :D :cool: :D :cool: :D
 
I wish you luck on the weight loss Dan, I'd sure like to be as trim as I once was. I'm pretty much guaranteed to lose 20-30 lbs. before I get back. No beer, no snacks, and food that all tastes the same after the first couple of weeks. Plenty of walking and carrying stuff, that and "camp" sits at about 6,000 feet, a bit rarer air than central Texas. Going to try and add some yoga and Tai Chi to my physical training program. At age 43 everything still works, just not near as good as it used to :-(

Sarge
 
Yvsa = thanks again. It's hard not to trust Jerry's word...
Congrats on the weight lost and height gained...:confused: Wow!:eek:

Sarge = back in Guate I lost over 20 lbs. in 3 days. I hiked to the top of a distant mountain with no food and 2 lbs. of water, and plenty of diarhea. Took 11 hours to get to the top. I weighed myself on a corn scale just for kicks and came in around 150. I thought it must have been broken and shrugged it off because I had weighed myself in at 174 the week before. I was sick as a dog for 2 straight days and didn't eat a thing. Finally, on Sunday, I got my appetite back and warfed down some food and came back down the mountain. Took only 5 hours this time.;) I weighed in at 162.

This time last year I weighed in at 260-265. I'm now down to between 240 and 245 - depends on the day. Granted, I've certainly added some muscle since my Guate days, but I figure if I make it down to 215 or so, I'll feel pretty good about myself. I'm 6' even and have a pretty big set of bones. Never was thin, even at ~170 I was still wide...
 
How much "lapping" will these stones take? Are they bonded abrasives all the way through, or are they some center section with abrasives bonded on the outside? Do you ever wear one out?

Just wondering, and also, thanks to Yvsa, I'm ordering one today!
 
Originally posted by swede79
How much "lapping" will these stones take? Are they bonded abrasives all the way through, or are they some center section with abrasives bonded on the outside? Do you ever wear one out?

Just wondering, and also, thanks to Yvsa, I'm ordering one today!
Click to expand...

Swede the one I have has never needed lapped because of wear. They're about 1/2" thick on each side for a total of 1 inch thickness so last a good long time.
There's no soft center section on the Norton Stones.

And all of y'all are very welcome.:)
 
Yvsa - help me out on this one.

It seems as though the norton stone is more suited to harder-edged blades.

My tri-stone setup works better for softer steels.

Is my analysis flawed, or do I need both?
 
Originally posted by pendentive
Yvsa - help me out on this one.

It seems as though the norton stone is more suited to harder-edged blades.

My tri-stone setup works better for softer steels.

Is my analysis flawed, or do I need both?
Click to expand...

Dan the Norton should do well with either hard or softer steels. The idea behind the Fine India Norton is that it leaves a more aggressive cutting edge than other whetstones while still being able to shave hair.
I'm pretty sure I saw where Jerry Fisk used WD-40 on his Norton, you might try it and see if the results are different.
I've long been a proponent of highly polished edges so this is all new to me.
How does the tri-stone setup work on harder steels? The tri-stone being Arkansas stones should be noviculite which is a natural stone.

I'm of the opinion that a man can't have too many whetstones.:)
 
As you might imagine, the arkansas set of stones takes a lot more work to get an edge on a hard blade. However, it put a edge on softer steels quicker than the Norton.
 
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