beginner knife sharpening?

[Bill3152]

I know. I have plenty of them. I have chosera from 600 to 5k. And suehiro 10,15 and 20k. King is slow and soft compared to a chosera. And even a harder chosera isn't a great choice for super steels. Unless you have loads of free time. And the king need constant soaking. Chosera and diamond plates are spray and go. I know.you can.keep the king in water for when you need it.

 

[Blues]

I know.you can.keep the king in water for when you need it.

I do, alongside my shop sink in a small, shallow plastic tub. It's certainly not my go-to stone what with Matrix Diamond, Venev, DMT, Shapton Glass, Spyderco Ceramic, and a boatload of other excellent hones vying for usage...but it has its place.

 

[Bill3152]

I do, alongside my shop sink in a small, shallow plastic tub. It's certainly not my go-to stone what with Matrix Diamond, Venev, DMT, Shapton Glass, Spyderco Ceramic, and a boatload of other excellent hones vying for usage...but it has its place.

I hear you! But this thread is about beginner knife sharpening. As a first purchase its a dud imo because it won't be able to handle many steels. The soaking thing and needing lapping. New guys may not realize they are using a severely dished stone. Having said that I'm out. It doesn't matter to me what someone else uses. I just wanted to share my experience with it.

 

[Blues]

I've already addressed above, for the OP, the value of other useful recommendations made here by our members...both guided or freehand for the beginning sharpener. I'm simply taking issue with your seeming recalcitrance, despite agreeing with you that such a stone is not necessarily the best option available. 'Nuff said on the topic.

 

[Wogger]

I hear you! But this thread is about beginner knife sharpening. As a first purchase its a dud imo because it won't be able to handle many steels. The soaking thing and needing lapping. New guys may not realize they are using a severely dished stone. Having said that I'm out. It doesn't matter to me what someone else uses. I just wanted to share my experience with it.

You have a point there, maybe I'm looking at this from the perspective of already having the experience. For someone with zero knowledge just starting out a diamond stone that requires no maintenance is probably better.
I still think the king is a great stone to learn "stone sharpening" on. It's cheap enough to just throw out once you dish it out beyond repair. After all trying to keep a stone flat is part of learning sharpening.

 

[Wowbagger]

If I had to do it over and only have two stones I would get a great coarse stone such as the Shapton Pro 120. There is another stone I have been impressed with of late from Gritomatic. It is just a small six inch stone for the Edge Pro; maybe they make it in a larger stone you would have to do some research or call them. The stone is the T2 150 stone. I like it because it is coarse and hard but able to then refine an edge with light passes.

Add to that the DMT extra, extra fine 8,000 diamond stone. The only one I have found that is really super fine is their tiny stone that fits in their Aligner sharpening jig. I mostly just use it while holding the stone in my hand.

Apex and or reprofile on one of the coarse stones then micro bevel using the 8,000 diamond stone.


PS: I have to say I am a VERY strong advocate of the Edge Pro once one has gotten all this hand sharpening nonsense out of their system.

 

[Wowbagger]

It's cheap enough to just throw out once you dish it out beyond repair. After all trying to keep a stone flat is part of learning sharpening.

I disagree and agree all in one paragraph. How do you like that

The stone can't get so dished it is beyond repair. At the very least find a cinder block and rub it on that until it is mostly sort of flat. A hunk of thick glass and some silicon grit doesn't cost much to use to actually nicely flatten the stone on.
And most definitely you are correct when you say keeping a stone flat is part of learning sharpening.

PS: my first real water stone was the King 1000. My hand sharpening improved immensely when I started using much more coarse stones to first apex with ~ 220 . . . 150 or 120 even better.

 

[lutejones]

That’s my impression too,
Trying to learn on a 1k stone could be very frustrating.
With a coarse one you could make bigger mistakes but you have a lot of feedback and actually can see the results of what you’re doing

 

[Blues]

That’s my impression too,
Trying to learn on a 1k stone could be very frustrating.
With a coarse one you could make bigger mistakes but you have a lot of feedback and actually can see the results of what you’re doing

I don't think anyone advocated that. But I may have missed it.

 

[lutejones]

.

Just pick up a King 1000/6000 wet stone and start sharpening every knife you own. Even butter knives if you want, you just need to put some time in and you'll be able to put any edge on any knife in no time. They can be had for 40 or 50 bucks.

I don't think anyone advocated that. But I may have missed it.

In this thread most advocated for a coarse option, but generally in other sources is recommended quite often (YouTube for example)And there are a ton of videos and tutorials with this kind of recommendation of start around 1k grit.
and though here in bladeforums could be good advice, being knife knuts most knives’ edges won’t be disastrous to begin with, for people trying to sharpen a neglected kitchen knife seems a lousy solution, in my opinion of course.
Cheers

 

[Blues]

Yeah, I don't think I'd want to start sharpening my butter knives with a King 1000. Neither the dog nor the wife would find me very companionable in the aftermath.

 

[Wowbagger]

here in bladeforums could be good advice, being knife knuts most knives’ edges won’t be disastrous to begin with

That's it; once the edge is prepared with the coarse stone if it doesn't get too dull one can get along well for a while with the finer stones.
Some factory edges are disastrously steep angled though and to get the all important "proof of sharp" arm-shaving-edge some times (often) it takes a coarse stone to produce an angle that can shave from a hand sharpening job.

I suppose it is redundant for me to say that; most everyone is saying that here.
Speaking of redundant I will say my sharpening jigs can easily produce not only shave sharp but hair whittling edges on combined angles of 54° and greater. It makes me twitch thinking of trying to do that with a stone on the order of 8,000 hand held.

 

[Mr.Wizard]

There is another stone I have been impressed with of late from Gritomatic. It is just a small six inch stone for the Edge Pro; maybe they make it in a larger stone you would have to do some research or call them. The stone is the T2 150 stone. I like it because it is coarse and hard but able to then refine an edge with light passes.

I believe the largest T2 stone they make is 1" × 1" × 6". If you please, have you used other coarse BORIDE stones to compare?

 

[firefighterguy]

What’s a good 3 stone beginner set up? I have a wicked edge but I really want to learn freehand. How is this set up:

Shapton Kuromaku 320 grit, 1000 grit and 5000 grit?

 

[Eli Chaps]

What’s a good 3 stone beginner set up? I have a wicked edge but I really want to learn freehand. How is this set up:

Shapton Kuromaku 320 grit, 1000 grit and 5000 grit?

There's been a lot of good input in this thread already, I surely have limited exposure to all that is out there, and it is really going to depend on what you're after and what you're sharpening but my recommendation at this point in my life would probably be:

***All stones would be 8" x 2 or 3"***

1. Ultra Sharp Combination Diamond. Either the 300/1200 or 400/1200. I have the 300 grit plate and really like it.

2. Either a Baryonyx American Mutt or a Norton Course Crystolon

3. Norton Fine India

I think a kit like that would handle most steel types and blade sizes you'll come across. Not ideal for certain types, but a good all purpose setup. These days I lean more to courser edges so that might influencing my suggestions. It's hard for me not to recommend a soft Arkansas as I love them, but they have specific application so not really suited as a do-all when high-hardness steels and such can be put into the mix. But if there was a fourth stone option, it would be that or some type of polishing stone. Maybe a good strop setup would cover it though.

Here's a similar thread you might find helpful: https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/a-four-stone-gp-bench-stone-kit.1612819/page-2

 

[willc]

What’s a good 3 stone beginner set up? I have a wicked edge but I really want to learn freehand. How is this set up:

Shapton Kuromaku 320 grit, 1000 grit and 5000 grit?

I think that is a very good progression as long as you are not sharpening any super high vanadium steels.

The Shapton Pros are excellent stones, not my favorite but very good.
Although some may think redundant I would sub the 5K with the Pro 2K.

I think the 1K and 2K are the best stones in the Pro line.
The 320 gets pretty muddy and the 5k is a bit slow and loads easy.
I use both these stones but they make me work a little harder to get the desired result.