Beginner 2nd stone selection

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Nautique1228

Joined
Dec 26, 2018
Messages
2
Hi guys, I got a soft Arkansas 10x3x1 for Xmas. This is my first stone and have basically zero experience in hand sharpening. I also got John Juranitchs book and read up on that already. I’m really only going to be sharpening kitchen knives. I do competition bbq and need to keep my knives sharp for slicing brisket and pork, for picture perfect presentation. The knives I have currently are Victorinox Fibrox. The stone came labeled as “coarse” 400 grit. So I was going to purchase a hard black stone to go along with it as to hopefully meet my sharpening goals. But my research has lead me to find that a soft Arkansas is actually fairly fine. (I understand the natural stones are measured by density) So my question, is the soft Arkansas fine enough to get my desired results or should I buy something finer? And is this corse enough to start on or should I get a India stone or something similar? Thanks for your help.
 
Naut, your soft Arkansas stone is plenty fine enough for your work. It will break in closer to 500 grit. That's a generous size stone, someone liked you at Christmas. You will need something like a Norton IB-8 coarse/ fine India. This will take you a long way while giving you good edges. They are not expensive,
about 25$ to get it to your door. Simple steels like kitchen knives don't require anything more. Happy cooking, DM
 
Dave is right, that was a nice stone you recieved. His stone suggestion is a good one too. Welcome to BF, I (We) hope you hang around.
Happy Holidays!

Russ
 
Yea I’ve learned a lot of info already. That’s why I started to lean towards the coarse stone first. And yea I was completely surprised by the gift. It was the in laws that got it for me too! My slicing blade is 12” long so I’m also glad they got me the big one. Thanks for you help.
 
As usual, David Martin David Martin is correct. I often only use a soft Arkansas for my kitchen knives. I like the edge. I do usually make a few swipes on a CrO-loaded strop but I'm trying to learn strop on the stone itself.

As David said, something courser can be nice to repair damaged edges. The number one piece of gear you can equip yourself with right now is a permanent marker (I like red) for marking the edge bevels. A lighted loupe is nice too.

We bought our son in law the full Victorinox butchering kit for breaking down his game animals and he loves them. I do a full sharpening of all of them for him before hunting season started. They sharpen up wonderfully but the steeply curved cimitars can take some practice. I would also say, that if you take one of them down to a courser stone, be very mindful of what you're doing. That steel responds quickly and you can go too far and bugger up the edge. Ask me how I know. :oops: Nothing that can't be corrected, just unnecessary work.

The key is to do your best to keep them sharp. As much as possible, try to not have to do full sharpening but rather edge maintenance and touch ups.

A good steel or two would probably be a good idea. Believe it or not, there's a lot to know about steels and I'm afraid I'm not educated enough to talk on that but these fellas can help you out there.

Then, hit YouTube and soak up info. And there's tons of great information here and some very knowledgeable and generous folks here who are always willing to help.

:)
 
Nautique1228 said:
Yea I’ve learned a lot of info already. That’s why I started to lean towards the coarse stone first. And yea I was completely surprised by the gift. It was the in laws that got it for me too! My slicing blade is 12” long so I’m also glad they got me the big one. Thanks for you help.
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A Victorniox scimitar shaped slicer is a very good knife for the work you do. I cut meat and used that one only in a 10". With in-laws like that, keep that girl happy. After a show and a day of slicing brisket your knife will likely need some stone work. Take it to the India using mineral oil and lightly hone it. Then finish
it off on the Arkansas. You'll have it ready for the next show. Don't rush through it. Check the edge and feel for a burr and remove this edge leading. When you
feel NO burrs it's ready. Good luck, DM
 
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