I have Norton Crystolon bench stones. I use them with water only. I also use a Spyderco Sharpmaker for blade touch ups. I havent tried any of the diamond stones, but may at some point.
Ken onion with blade grinder attachment. With various belt grit and adjustable speeds you can easily touch up and sharpen anything. Flat grinds need attention to angle settings.. A simple leather strop can do more than i first thought possible.
Well I bought the KME and my brother in law supplied the first knife as in most things there is a learning curve. Plus forgot about the arthritis in my joints. I also have the K O and it does not get the the corner by the tang. I have sharpened this knife before and left a round part of the blade to the tang,plus I went past the end of the belt and rounded the point. First was to figure how it works, I got past that and put the knife in the clamp knife holder. I also bought an angle measuring tool and the first measurment I took was 17.3 degrees, I flipped the knife and measured 17.5 degrees, combined 34.8 degrees which I think is a good for the first time. I started with a 600 grit diamond stone and with a sharpie to mark the blade it hit pretty much the whole blade missing a few spots. I also started on the corner by the tang and could tell this will do the job of squaring the corner and also started on the tip which I could tell it would get it nice and sharp again. Had to take a break my shoulder was hurting holding it above this whole unit. Never thought about having pain. The next day I flipped the knife over which is very easy and no movement and started on the opposite side, I was getting an amazing results using mineral oil on the stone. Time to switch to the 1500 grit diamond stone and do the blade again. I was not using any pressure and just a back and forth movement. Very , Very Sharp. better than the Ken Onion but is time consuming. I will use the KO because of the pain, The Ken Onion does get knives sharp very quick which I like. It is not as accurate as the KME. Thank You everbody for all of your help. JOE
Thanks for posting back and telling about your decision and the results. So many times people ask for recommendations or help and never respond back.
I'm surprised you were having shoulder pain. Do You think it would help the pain if you place the KME on a lower work table. So that your arm was lower and you had better ergonomics? Or one video I saw, says the knob on the end of the stone holder, for tightening the stone into place, is 1/4 20 thread. He said that is easily replaced with a round knob from a hardware store. That would give a different handle, that I think would give a more comfortable hand and arm position. O.B.
I use the stand and hold the handle of the knife. I don't put any pressure on the stone while moving it.
