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- Jun 4, 2010
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That's the sequence. In all honesty, I'd consider picking up the King 800 or 1k to use with the 4k, and just use the 200 grit alumox stone for rough work. Not that the Arkansas stones aren't a good choice, but they might not compliment the 4k. In all reality, the 1000 grit Arkansas on your Tri hone should be in the neighborhood of the 4 waterstone as far as finish goes, so your two finishing stones should be comparable in terms of results.
By using the King 800 or 1k and following with the 4k you get a continuity of abrasives and the technique will flow a bit better. It will work OK the way you're intending anyway, but often you will get better results by using all one kind of abrasive in stages as it tends to give more predictable results. For a final finish, or a real coarse starting abrasive, not a big concern. Its in the middle part of the progression that you don't want to jump from abrasive to abrasive if it can be avoided.
The shoulder calibration is very simple but has to be done a few times to get the hang of it. On finishing stones, or anytime you're grinding and feel that you're "loosing touch" on the stone, the instinctive reaction is going to be elevating the spine to increase feedback, oftentimes without conscious action. Be aware of this and instead, lower the spine till you feel it lightly grinding the intersection of the shoulder and the bevel. Whether using a leading, trailing, or scrubbing (both) motion this will work. Don't hog away, just a few light passes - once you identify the difference, elevate the spine a small amount till you feel the feedback lessen/taper down. Now you know you're somewhere on the bevel and have given yourself a fresh tactile calibration and correct angle to hold the edge.
When starting out, you can actually work a few times from apex to shoulder to give yourself an idea of how convexed the bevel is becoming and to differentiate the feedback of the shoulder from the feedback of the apex- the apex feedback will be very similar to the shoulder but different enough to feel. On a convex edge you can do the same thing, just lower the spine till you know for sure you're not on the apex and slowly elevate the spine. As you feel it starting to catch, you know right where the apex is and where to concentrate your attention to shape the convex the way you want it.
As you start in with a polishing stone you should calibrate by finding the apex and the shoulder, and once located stay just off the shoulder. This is what I meant earlier when I suggested working from the shoulder toward the apex. Your new grind marks should advance from shoulder to apex as material is removed. This will keep your bevels more flat and at or just below the target angle you came off from the last stone.
We're starting to get into some "intermediate" freehanding principles here, go slow and use the coarse and medium stones until you feel like you have good control.
As for stropping, don't use the soft side unless the leather is at least as firm as pine. You must have a different strop for each compound.
Edit to add:
As you grind down from the shoulder, you'll eventually run into the apex and feedback will increase again compared to working the bevel flat. The flatter you make the bevel at each stage, the faster you'll get to the higher feedback zone where you're removing steel from the apex and generating a (smallest possible) burr. Another reason to get real good with the coarse stones - it will save a lot of time on the successive steps.
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