Advice on my hand sharpening stone and strop research

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sqchram

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Jun 22, 2012
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After much reading, particularly guides, videos and posts by knifenut1013 and Sharpski, I've come up with a plan of acquisition of sharpening equipment and I would like your advice.

Experience - some sharpening of kitchen knives and cheap knives on a 1000 grit whetstone.
Metals - right now most exotic is Crucible S30V, hopefully Duratech 20CV / Carpenter CTS-XHP / Crucible S35VN and similar down the road.
Goal - to hand sharpen and hopefully come out with a knifenut-like tree-topping and hair whittling polished edge. Why? Cause its cool and I want to learn/try. :)

I currently have a Minosharp Medium #1000 grit whetstone which as best I can tell equates to 18 microns.
All my knives are in good condition, and I'd prefer to hold off on a coarse grit to save the budget unless I regularly need to do heavy repair work, which I don't anticipate.

My planned progression would be as follows:
18 micron - Minosharp whetstone #1000 grit
9 micron - DMT D8E diamond stone
3 micron - DMT D8EE diamond stone
1 micron - Hand American diamond spray on balsa wood

By using my existing stone in leiu of a DMT D8F (25 micron) stone I hope to save some money in this regard, so what I would need to purchase would be a DMT D8E, DMT D8EE, Diamond spray, and balsa.

Other considerations I'm still on the fence about is I've seen some TEMO pastes and they're not too expensive. Should I perhaps get a 1.5 micron and a .5 micron? Also it seems Wicked Edge has a combo 1 and .5 micron 1ml diamond paste syringes for a good price. Perhaps try that before investing in a diamond spray?
 
A 1k waterstones is not a single Micron size but a range likely from 15-18 or possibly a even greater spread. I would strongly recommend against mixing stones as you have planned, having a waterstones in the middle is more of a problem than a solution.

Stick with one type of stone and you will be better off in a stone set.
 
You could pick up a 6 inch fine dia-sharp for $30 and sell it later when or if you wanna get an 8 inch. They get finer and mellow out with use so I don't think there's a shortage of people who would wanna buy a used fine.
 
knifenut1013 said:
A 1k waterstones is not a single Micron size but a range likely from 15-18 or possibly a even greater spread. I would strongly recommend against mixing stones as you have planned, having a waterstones in the middle is more of a problem than a solution.

Stick with one type of stone and you will be better off in a stone set.
Click to expand...

No no, I stated that I'm equating the 1000 grit whetstone as approximately 18 microns. Thus it would be my coarsest stone.

I'm currently perusing United States Products Co compounds and awaiting to hear feedback on another thread. I'm ordering those DMT stones before amazon shipping closes for the day! Oh, and a 7-layer SAK and Fiskars hatchet :)
 
Doesn't really matter, mixing stones as you have selected does not work. You would be better off with a 4k stone as it would polish higher and only be one more step. The mixing of abrasive is the real problem, a better progression would have been...

Coarse DMT
1k waterstone
4k waterstone
 
knifenut1013 said:
Doesn't really matter, mixing stones as you have selected does not work. You would be better off with a 4k stone as it would polish higher and only be one more step. The mixing of abrasive is the real problem, a better progression would have been...

Coarse DMT
1k waterstone
4k waterstone
Click to expand...

Ah, well I already own the 1k stone and was hoping to use that for any heavier shaping, then finish with the two finer DMT stones, then finally strop. Since I already own the whetstone I was hoping to save some money - think it'll fly? I could always order a coarser DMT stone.
 
My DMT 6x2 DMT set (no EEF) arrived this morning, not exactly a replacement for my 8x3 DMT but I notice that 6x2 is much flatter than 8x3. I agree with Knifenut - in general don't mix abrasives. If I don't care about the look, I can just use DMT XXC-EEF + diamond/cbn strops + plain leather; for look & consistency I heavily depend on 1K & 5K synthetic waterstones for pre-finish edge.
 
Hmm, should I plunk down for a coarse and fine DMT stone then? From my reading I like the DMT in the fact that they last a good long time and don't really scallop.
 
sqchram said:
Hmm, should I plunk down for a coarse and fine DMT stone then? From my reading I like the DMT in the fact that they last a good long time and don't really scallop.
Click to expand...

IMO - go with fine dmt (25microns) since it's (diamond more agressive) equiv to 320-400 waterstone, plenty of bite less deep scratches. Get XC (skip C) later if you reprofile alot.
 
Thanks for the advice! - Also you would want a 25 micron even for factory finished edges? Or should I give a shot with the extra fine and see if it can pull the grind marks out first?
 
No point in getting the Fine DMT unless your making a set. A 1k waterstone does the same job, same scratch.
 
What do you want?

Diamond or waterstones?

Waterstones polish much finer, beyond 4-6k its hard to compare to much but polishing compounds. The problem occurs when trying to sharpen steels with high wear resistance.

Diamonds work best on the most wear resistant of steels, in this case the problem occurs when trying to sharpen metals with lower alloy contents and lower levels of wear resistance. The diamonds gouge the metal instead of cutting it.

What you get with one you cannot have with the other, thus the reason for not mixing stones.
 
I'm aquiring the dmt stones. Your first reply confused me. Anyway i'll see what happens and post up!
 
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